The purpose of this practicum is to describe the destructive use of alcohol among Southeastern Idaho Indians. This practicum is based on John and Irma Honigmann's (1) theory of· "loss of stake. " It is John and Irma Honigmann' s contention that whatever may be the social functions of drinking, and whatever the personal reasons, having a stake in society tends to induce people to conform to the norms of society with regard to drinking behavior. The three case histories in this practicum will illustrate more of what is meant by the theory of stake in society.

It was the purpose of this study to determine the influence of the Seminary program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the development and persistence of certain desired religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices of its graduates.A student questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of determining student responses, opinions, and attitudes on various phases of their religious lives as they were influenced by their seminary training. The questionnaire was based on certain beliefs and practices which the investigator felt were indicative of the beliefs and practices which characterize those living in harmony with the tenents of the LDS faith.

As one studies the history of Cache Valley, he becomes increasingly aware of the presence of church-sponsored cooperative stores, farms, and mills, in every community in the valley. True, there are only scattered remains of a once rather extensive movement, but there is enough evidence to cause one to wonder what influence the cooperative enterprises had in the settlement of Cache Valley. This study has been made to determine the extent of this contribution and to preserve as much information as possible concerning a very important phase of the settlement days in Cache Valley.This study includes only the period from 1865 to 1900. These are the important years of church-sponsored cooperative institutions in Cache Valley. The general plan of cooperation was introduced formally in the October Conference of 1868. There were a few cooperative stores in operation prior to this time, however. The movement grew to magnanimous proportions before dwindling to a mere trickle by 1900. There were only a few concerns that extended beyond this date.Data for this study has been obtained from many sources. Newspapers, journals, and other manuscripts have been the most valuable sources. Other important sources have included personal interviews, secondary sources, and company records.

Recently the need for a more clearly defined structural basis for American local history has become acute. Concepts used in national history often fall short of the needs of local history. As a result, both professionals and amateurs are producing a rash of community histories without the benefit of adequate guidelines.This thesis draws together a number of concepts useful in the development of American local history as a viable academic field of study. It tests these concepts in presenting the history of community in Winder, a small, rural population set in southeastern Idaho.

The Latter-day Saints were good colonizers, possibly because they were repeatedly forced by persecution to seek new homes in the wilderness. Having established themselves in Salt Lake Valley (1847), they began almost immediately to expand their domain. Their Prophet, Brigham Young, sent groups of Mormons to colonize the surrounding valleys, and within a few years there were many Mormon settlements beyond the bounds of Salt Lake Valley. Bear Lake Valley in southeastern Idaho and northern Utah was one of these early settlements.Star Valley--thus named by Moses Thatcher, an Apostle in the Church who thought it was a "star among valleys"--lay in the territory of Wyoming some sixty miles beyond the Bear Lake Valley. Because of its extreme isolation it was slow to attract permanent settlers, although it was used for sumner pasture by the Bear Lake people and it was traversed by many Oregon immigrants who followed the Lander Cut-off.

The most interesting and important place in the world is where a man lives. His home becomes the finest place on earth regardless of its merits in relation to other habitats. After years of residence the history of the country takes on reality and significance and a long acquaintance reveals elements of romance and adventure that enhance ones love of his surroundings. This is one of the reasons for this thesis topic. During a young impressionable life the stories of Indians, trappers, pioneers, rustlers and polygamist, have been constantly a part of the environment of the author. Long trips in the mountains hunting, fishing, camping, and logging have added to this feeling of veneration and fondness for the country. Others have written many of these early events down but a complete synchronization does not appear in any one place. Added to the fondness for the region is a genuine feeling that here is a peculiar chapter in western American history that has not been completely written. This section of Idaho has been entirely neglected by most historiographers. Even the reports of the Territorial Governors were silent on the settlement and conquest of this region. Whether this neglect has been purposefully or innocently done is not fully clear.

<p> The legacy of disposal practices for radioactive and other heavy metals has resulted in highly contaminated soils at the INL facility in Idaho Falls. Microbial effects on the mobility of a suite of metals (U, As, Cr, Co and Zn) within INL vadose sediments were assessed over a range of solution metal concentrations and biological activity through batch experiments. Sediment associated metals in the bulk sample as well as individual soil compartments increased as a function of total solution metal concentration. System specific trends in partitioning coefficients emerged, reflecting complex interrelations among biological activity, solution metal concentration and the specific metals involved. </p> <p> Results of this study clearly show that cyclic linkages between metal concentration and biological activity play a role in metal sediment biogeochemical behaviour. Differential impacts of biological activity on metal solid retention as a function of solution metal concentration were observed. This result may reflect feedback of metals on the microbial population such that the extent and/or nature of microbial activity is concentration dependent. Typically biological activity has a stronger effect with increased concentration, changing from a beneficial/neutral impact to an increasingly negative effect across the concentration range. The degree of this effect, and whether positive or negative on soil metal retention was however, element specific and dependent on the degree of biological activity. </p> <p> This is one of the first studies to evaluate the relative affinities of a suite of metals for the solid vs. solution phases over varying metal cocktail concentrations and levels of biological activity. My results indicate that differing affinities occur across this suite of metals, and that their relative affinities are non-linearly dependent on both the levels of metal and biological activity present. These results indicate that successful prediction of metal behaviour in complex natural systems, based on mono-metal laboratory experiments is likely limited. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This study examines the controversy regarding Hells Canyon on the Snake River, North America's deepest gorge. Throughout the 1950s, federal and private electric power proponents wrangled over who would harness the canyon's potential for generating hydroelectricity. After a decade of debate, the privately-owned Idaho Power Company won the right to build three small dams in the canyon versus one large public power structure. The thesis concludes that private development of Hells Canyon led to incomplete resource development. Further, support of private development led to extensive Republican electoral losses in the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s.

<p>The future success of agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas globally will be highly dependent on the ability of farmers and agricultural systems to adapt to climate change. Most of these areas, though tremendously productive, suffer from the same limiting resource: water. As that resource becomes more scarce and availability more difficult to predict, water managers and farmers will be forced to implement new, creative solutions to water supply challenges. This anticipated exposure suggests that an improved understanding of agricultural adaptation to water stress in such areas is critical to successful outcomes in these regions under a changing climate. This work focuses specifically on the adaptation strategies employed by farmers, strategies which are determined by farmers’ assessment of their exposure and sensitivity to a stressor as well as their capacity to implement changes. This process of implementing change to limit vulnerability is broadly referred to as adaptation. </p> <p> This project focuses on the Eastern Snake Plain of southeastern Idaho as a case study in agricultural adaptation to increased water stress. The Eastern Snake Plain (ESP) is a diverse and productive agricultural basin in the inter-mountain region of the American West. The region’s primary products are potatoes, sugar beets, barley, and alfalfa, as well as a significant volume of livestock dominated by dairy cattle, and each of these products forms a significant share of the total US market for that crop. More than 74% of this agricultural land is irrigated, inextricably tying both the future of agriculture and the future of the Idaho economy to water in the state. In the mid-2000’s, legislators and water managers from across the plain came together to negotiate a new water rights settlement, now known as the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP). The negotiations came in response to years of litigation involving groundwater and surface water conjunctive management in the region, and the resulting plan was designed to accomplish three goals: stabilize reach gains in the lower Eastern Snake Plain, replenish Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA) levels, and ensure sustainable water resources for agricultural, industrial, and domestic users across the basin. Though the water settlement was not directly caused by climate change, it is likely that water shortages will become more frequent under climate change, and this settlement represents a simulation of just such a shortage.</p> <p>Broadly, this work and the work of collaborators hope to understand adaptation and decision-making of groundwater farmers throughout the Eastern Snake Plain as they adapt to the on-average 12.9% reduction in water availability. This thesis is divided into three primary sections (Chapters 2, 3, and 4). </p> <p>Chapter 2 investigates tradeoffs in adaptation decision making, employing semi-structured interviews to learn more about tradeoffs as a framework for understanding adaptation more broadly. In particular, the work seeks to understand the types of tradeoffs present in ESP adaptation and when and how tradeoffs are implicitly or explicitly acknowledged. Findings indicate that tradeoffs occur both at the individual and regional scale and that shifts in crop patterns and irrigation water sourcing may have important implications for adaptation policy moving forward. </p> <p>Chapter 3 employs a household survey and statistical analysis to investigate the iterative and complex relationships between exposure, adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and vulnerability. As an early attempt to examine these relationships quantitatively in the context of US agriculture and water stress, the works focuses on laying out a clear theoretical and methodological framework for continued exploration of adaptation and vulnerability in this context. Findings indicate that under-theorized components of adaptive capacity like linking capacity and exposure to simultaneous stressors may play important roles in determining farmer vulnerability in the context of policy-induced water scarcity. </p> <p>Chapter 4 is designed to investigate and develop a novel tool for exploratory work in adaptation, examining the feasibility and predictive accuracy of an agent-based model of agricultural adaptation driven by social-psychological decision-making theories and parameterized using both secondary data sources and primary fieldwork. Findings indicate that such models may have the potential to produce well-informed macro-level patterns based on theoretically-informed micro-level inputs. This has important implications for the broader agent-base modeling community, and the work concludes with a call for further collaboration between agent-based modelers and social science theorists. </p> <p>Collectively, this work seeks to inform theory on agricultural adaptation and vulnerability, as well as explore the potential role of theoretically-informed agent-based modeling in investigating such dynamics. In doing so, it lays the groundwork for future exploration of these ideas in the Eastern Snake Plain and throughout the arid American West. </p>

Thesis advisor: Seth C. Kruckenberg / The Potters Pond migmatite domain (PPMD) is a heterogeneous zone of migmatites located ~10 km southwest of Cascade, Idaho within the western Idaho shear zone (WISZ). The PPMD is the only known exposure of migmatites within the WISZ over its ~300 km length, occurring where the shear zone orientation changes from 020° south to 000° north of the migmatite domain. Structural mapping within the PPMD has identified multiple generations of migmatite with varied structural fabrics. Leucosome layers were sampled from distinct migmatite localities and morphologies (e.g., metatexite, diatexite) to determine the timing and duration of partial melting in the PPMD. U-Pb age determinations of zircon by means of LA-ICP-MS document two periods of protracted migmatite crystallization during the Early and Late Cretaceous. Early Cretaceous (ca. 145 to 128 Ma) migmatite crystallization ages are coeval with the collision and suturing of oceanic terranes of the Blue Mountains province with North America, and the formation of the Salmon River suture zone (SRSZ). Migmatite crystallization ages from ca. 104 to 90 Ma are associated with Late Cretaceous dextral transpression in the WISZ. Field observations and geochronology of cross cutting leucosome relationships are interpreted to record deep crustal deformation and anatexis associated with formation of the SRSZ, subsequently overprinted by solid-state deformation and renewed anatexis during the evolution of the WISZ. These data are the first direct evidence of the synmetamorphic fabric related to the SRSZ east of the initial Sr 0.706 isopleth, and that the WISZ is a temporally distinct overprinting structure. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.