The headwaters of the Bear River in the Uinta Mountains of Utah provide a good setting in which to examine the influence of geological materials on stream chemistry. Ionic contributions to the stream-water from soils, vegetation, and the atmosphere generally are sparse enough that they do not mask the geologic contributions. Samples from 37 sites on the four major headwater streams and several minor tributaries were examined geochemically. Data derived from the samples allowed the construction of a hydrogeochemical weathering model specific to the study area. A significant feature of this model is that carbonic acid is the dominant chemical agent involved in geochemical weathering. The aim of this study was to examine the geologic influences on river chemistry. However, atmospheric contributions dominate the hydrochemistry through at least the first 10 kilometers of stream length for the easternmost three of the four major headwater streams. Except for the atmospheric contribution, surface-water chemistry is dominated by the groundwater chemistry, which is indelibly marked by the lithology the groundwater passes through. Other geologic factors in the study area that appear to influence groundwater chemistry, and hence stream chemistry, are the glacial till and outwash deposits and a major zone of east-west trending high-angle thrust faults. A technique for estimating the hydrochemistry of the groundwater based on surface-water chemistry and flow measurements was developed in this study.

The Bear River Valley Co-op Association was described in terms of certain changes that have occurred in its history, and analysis was made of how these changes relate to changes in the degree of local control by officers and members of the organization. The method used in this study was content analysis of records of the organization. The main sources of data were: The Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws of the organization for 1947 and 1964, and the minutes of meetings from 1968 to 1977. The study shows that the Bear River Valley Co-op Association today, as compared to the early period of its formation, has grown and changed from small-scale to a larger scale organizational pattern. This change is evidenced by a greater degree of formality and bureaucracy in its present organization than existed in the early period. Additional evidence is reflected in the greater concern for business matters today that formerly. Correlated with this change has been a decrease in local control which previously appeared as a predominant characteristic of the organization. This decrease is evidenced in some reduction of concern for membership relations and in a reduction in efforts to encourage local neighborhood and community discussion and planning in regard to common problems and needs of members

With the profound interest in regional planning by local administrative units to establish a more definitive criteria for policy implementation and framework for decision analysis, this study seeks to formulate a simplistic methodological approach in the construction of a fundamental tool for socioeconomic research. By utilizing the Bear River District as a case study, we have focused on the generation of basic informational requirements for manpower planning in analyzing the size, structure and distribution of the population and labor force; changes in the employment capacity of the region; sector interdependence; and historical economic base. Based on the results of the study, the input-output analysis has shown the predominance of labor-intensive industries which is indicative of low productivity growth. Specifically, the emergence of the services sector has been influenced partly by the expansion of the population base in the domestic market in view of its personalized character. However, such industries generate low income and employment multiplier effects in the economy due to their weak links with the other sectors. The projections of the labor force have depicted the changing working-age structure of the population and the divergent patterns in the labor force participation of the males and females in the Bear River District. On the other hand, the economic analysis of the demand for labor has depicted a gradual reorientation of jobs to more technical and mechanical operations. At the same time, there is a proliferation of part-time work which is more suitable for the employment of women in view of the time-flexibility it can offer between familial obligations and market activities. The historical economic base study has shown the various components of employment growth. Cache County has the most favorable distribution of industries while Box Elder County and Rich County represent regions losing employment. Generally, most of the industries are nonspecialized with a competitive advantage.

The structure of the western three or four miles of the Bear River range east of Logan, Utah, has many times been alluded to in papers written locally on Cache Valley and the related ranges. There has not however, ever been, to the author's knowledge, an investigation made of this portion of the range for the express purpose of determining its exact structure. Although the area specifically covered by this present investigation is greatly inadequate to base the whole west range structure on, the author believes that the facts brought to light by the specific study of this area, added to the facts already known of the rest of the range, will give a clearer and more comprehensive interpretation of the whole western Bear River range front. It was with this purpose in mind that the present investigation was made. The original outline for the study included an investigation of the paleontology of the section. It was found however, after a few weeks study in the field, that the fossils in the local section are far too scarce for any comprehensive study in the present investigation. The study herein described then will be found to refer to paleontology only where it is necessary or where fossil horizons were found advantageous over lithologic units for mapping of formations. The section represented here has several times been studied in part. With a study of these investigations, it was found that there was enough lithologic difference in most of the sections to make possible local correlation and mapping on that basis. In order to make the present paper more thorough and complete it seemed advisable to branch out from the specific area in a few cases and investigate other parts of the valley and range for further insight.into some of the problems confronted on the area. It was also found necessary to make a rather complete study of the literature of related areas.

A thorough collection of data was completed on Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) particpants in the Bear River Health District to help determine the nutrition education needs of that WIC population. Data were also collected on education, income, and ethnic groups form other states and districts in the nation for comparison with results of this study. The data collected in this study will provide an adequate data base for the future development of nutrition education materials for this district and perhaps other similar districts nationwide. The Bear River district participants, Logan clinic participants in particular, appear to be quite atypical in regard to education level and ethnic variation.

Diverted from its former course to the Pacific Ocean by basalt flows in Gem Valley, Idaho, the Bear River presently flows south into the Bonneville Basin. Constraining the timing of the river's diversion is pivotal to understanding the hydrologic budgets, and thus the climatological implications of the Bonneville Basin lakes. This study employs strontium (Sr) isotopes in mollusc fossils as a tracer of the Bear River water that entered Lake Thatcher, a small, closed-basin lake into which the redirected river flowed en route to the Bonneville Basin. The Sr ratios, combined with the temporal control afforded by amino acid geochronology and tephrochronology, were compared to mixing models constructed from the 87Sr/86Sr composition of the modern rivers draining into the basin to stimulate the Sr isotropic composition of Lake Thatcher. Strontium ratios of six fossil molluscs collected from the lower-most exposed section of the Main Canyon Formation (MCF) indicate that during the early Quaternary (>620 ka), Thatcher Basin was occupied by a locally fed, isotopically-enriched (87Sr/86Sr=0.71309) lake and did not receive input form the Bear River. Eleven fossils, collected from the uppermost exposed section of the MCF, indicate at least three course changes of the Bear River in the late Quaternary: diversion into the basin around 140 ka, diversion from the basin sometime between 140 and 100 ka, and finally diversion back into the basin around 50 ka. Hydrologic modeling of Thatcher Basin with and without the input of the Bear River suggests that water from both a Bear River-influenced or a locally fed lake is capable of filling the basin and causing it to spillover into the adjacent Bonneville Basin. Thus, the Bonneville Basin may have been receiving water from either the Bear River, or the Thatcher Basin rivers, significantly earlier than the ~30 ka previously proposed. Additional hydrologic modeling in Thatcher Basin suggests that a two-fold reduction in the effective precipitation as compared to modern conditions would be required to lower a locally fed Lake Thatcher the ~30 m necessary to account for the paleosol exposed in the uppermost MCF.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Utah State University, 1969. / Title from title screen (viewed Aug. 14, 2009). Department: Sociology. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references. Archival copy available in print.

In western North America, quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is the most common hardwood in montane landscapes. Fire suppression, grazing, wildlife management practices, and climate patterns of the past century are some of the threats to aspen coverage in this region. Researchers are concerned that aspen-dependent species may be losing habitat, thereby threatening their long-term local and regional viability. Though lichens have a rich history as air pollution indicators, I believe that they may also be useful as a metric of community diversity associated with habitat change. To date, few studies have specifically examined the status of aspen's epiphytic lichen community in the Rocky Mountains. A preliminary study was conducted using 10 transect-based plots to assess lichen species substrate preferences between aspen and various conifer species and to gain basic knowledge of species diversity. Following this work, I established 47 plots in the Bear River Range of northern Utah and southern Idaho to evaluate the effects of forest succession on epiphytic macrolichen communities. Plots were located in a narrow elevational belt (2,134-2,438 m) to minimize the known covariant effects of elevation and moisture on lichen communities. Results show increasing lichen diversity and a decrease in aspen-dependent species as aspen forests succeed to conifer cover types. The interactive roles of stand aspect, basal area and cover of dominant trees, stand age, aspen bark scars, and recent tree damage were examined in relation to these trends. An aspen index score was developed based on lichens showing an affinity for aspen habitat. I present a landscape-level multivariate analysis of short and long-term factors influencing epiphytic lichen communities in aspen forests. Nonrnetric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination stressed the importance of succession and local air pollution sources in shaping lichen communities. I also investigated the role of historic human intrusions and climate on aspen forests and aspen dependent epiphytic lichens at the landscape-level. Implications of this work include 1) realization of nitrogen impacts on ecosystems, 2) the potential for using lichens as bioindicators for monitoring aspen stand health, and 3) suggestions for working with natural disturbance regimes to minimize human impacts on aspen and associated species.

A study of the spring and summer habitat preferences of blue grouse was conducted on the Bear River Range in northern Utah. The main objective was to determine the important factors associated with habitat selection by blue grouse during the breeding season. One hundred and two sampling areas, delimited by similarities in vegetation and topography, were thoroughly searched with a dog for blue grouse. Fifty-four bio logical and physical variables were measured for each sampling area. Chi-square tests performed on all variables showed 11 of the 54 variables to be significant at an alpha of 0.20. These 11 variables (li sted below) were considered to be the important factors influencing habitat selection by blue grouse. (1) search area type (2) area exposure (3) elevation (4) percent forested (5) understory density (6) primary cover species (7) secondary cover species (8) percent cover maples (Acer grandidentatum) (9) percent cover mixed brush (10) percent cover sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) (11) total acres The chi-square test only determined if a variable significantly effected habitat selection by blue grouse. To determine whether this effect was positive or negative, the percent occurrence of areas on which blue grouse were present, or absent, was determined. Results indicated that the most favorable blue grouse habitat was draws at 5,500 -6.499 feet elevation. This favorable habitat contained 1-10 percent cover by maples, or a higher percent of maple which provided a large amount of edge effect; the presence of mixed brush or sagebrush, a medium understory, and an area incline of 5-19 percent.

The study of environmental history suggests that nature and culture change all the time, but that the rate and scale of such change can vary enormously. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Anglo settlement in the American West transformed landscapes and ecologies, creating new and complex environmental problems. This transformation was particularly impressive in Cache Valley, Utah's Bear River Range. From 1860 to 1910, Mormon settlers overused or misused the Bear River Range's lumber, grazing forage, wild game, and water resources and introduced invasive plant and animal species throughout the area. By the turn of the 20th century, broad overuse of natural resources caused rivers originating in the Bear River Range to decline. To address the water shortage, a small group of conservation-minded intellectuals and businessmen in Cache Valley persuaded local stockmen and farmers to support the creation of the Logan Forest Reserve in 1903. From 1903 to1910, forest managers and forest users attempted to restore the utility of the landscape (i.e., bring back forage and improve watershed conditions) however, they quickly discovered that the landscape had changed too much; nature would not cooperate with their human-imposed restoration timelines and desires for greater profit margins. Keeping in mind the impressive rate and scale of environmental decline, this thesis tells the heretofore untold environmental history of the Bear River Range from 1860 to 1910. It engages this history from an ecological and social perspective by (1) exploring how Mormon settlers altered the landscape ecology of the Bear River Range and (2) discussing the reasons why forest managers and forest users failed to quickly restore profitability to the mountain landscape from 1903-1910. As its value, a study of the Bear River Range offers an intimate case study of environmental decline and attempted restoration in the western United States, and is a reminder of how sensitive our mountain ranges really are.