Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Blake M. Belanger / The main streets of the Rocky Mountain West are the social, economic, and cultural centers of their respective communities. Often, these main streets may deteriorate or become abandoned as a result of edge shopping malls and strip style economic development. Thus, a downtown or main street redevelopment effort by the community can help to ensure these economic centers remain. Yet, too often, the redevelopment efforts are oversimplified and fail to integrate the most current street development principles and design initiatives that can benefit not only the community but also the surrounding environment. I n the modern American city, almost half of all daily trips are less than three miles and a third are under one mile. (McCann 2010) “These are distances easily traversed by foot or bicycle, yet 65 percent of trips under one mile are made by automobile.” (McCann 2010) This mobility trend has led to the foundation of programs and organizations that try to promote non-motorized travel. Although these initiatives respond to the human/physical environment, they are far from comprehensive. Today, an integration of smart ecological ideals is essential. How can the revitalization efforts of Rocky Mountain communities be guided to ensure they consider not only the built environment; but also the natural environment? The face of the future main street will be multi-modal and ecologically responsible. Yet, there is presently no clear method of combining the two. A union of the multi-modal principles behind Complete Streets and the ecologically responsible ideals green infrastructure can provide a framework for a new and more inclusive redevelopment approach. The merging of modern ecological and street design principles can lead to a comprehensive Main Street redevelopment program and therefore successfully guide the revitalization efforts of small Rocky Mountain communities in a way that is responsive to future development needs as well as the cultural and ecological aspects of the region. Main Street Evolved will provide a set of tools to guide Colorado Rocky Mountain Main Street redevelopment efforts by providing strategies and implementation guidelines that focus on balancing multi-modal ideals and ecological stormwater management techniques within a small-town mountain context.

This thesis presents stratigraphic, sedimentological and geochronological results from valley fill and glacial moraines of the Hope-Waiau Valleys in North Canterbury, New Zealand. The findings demonstrate that a substantial portion of the modern valley fill comprises in-situ sedimentary sequences that were deposited during the penultimate glaciation (OIS 6), the last interglacial (OIS 5) and during the mid-late last glacial cycle (OIS 3/2). The sediments survived at low elevations in the valley floor despite overriding by later glacial advances. Sedimentologically, the fill indicates deposition in an ice marginal zone and consists of paraglacial/distal-proglacial aggradation gravels and ice-proximal/marginal-subglacial sediments. Deposition during glacial advance phases was characterized by the sedimentation of outwash gravels and small push moraines while glacial retreat phases are dominated by glaciolacustrine deposits which are frequently interbedded with debris flow diamictons. The overall depositional arrangement indicates that glacial retreat from the lower valley portion occurred via large scale ice stagnation. Results from infra-red stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating gives evidence for five large aggradation and degradation phases in the Hope-Waiau Valleys over the last 200 ka. Combined with surface exposure dating (SED) of moraines the geochronological results indicate that glacial advances during OIS 6 were substantially larger in both ice extent and ice volume than during OIS 4-2. The last glacial maximum (LGM) ice advance occurred prior to 20.5 ka and glacial retreat from extended ice positions began by ~18 ka BP. A late glacial re-advance (Lewis Pass advance) occurred at ~13 ka BP and is probably associated with a regional cooling event correlated to the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR). The findings from the Hope-Waiau Valleys were integrated into a model for glaciations in the Southern Alps which uses data from a snow mass balance model to analyse the sensitivity of glacial accumulation to temperature forcing. Model results indicate that in the central hyperhumid sector of the Southern Alps ice would expand rapidly with minor cooling (2-4℃) suggesting that full glaciation could be generated with little thermal forcing. Some Quaternary glacial advances in the Southern Alps may have been triggered by regional climate phenomena (e.g. changes in ENSO mode) rather than requiring a thermal trigger from the Northern Hemisphere.

This thesis presents a new GIS-based scenario volcanic risk assessment model called RiskScape Volcano (RSV) that has been designed for the RiskScape program to advance the field of volcanic risk assessment. RiskScape is a natural hazards risk assessment software tool being developed in New Zealand by GNS Science and NIWA. When integrated into RiskScape, RSV will add proximal volcanic hazard risk assessment capability, and enhanced inventory design; it presently operates outside of RiskScape by combining volcanic hazard models’ output spatial hazard intensity (hazard maps) with inventory databases (asset maps) in GIS software to determine hazard exposure, which is then combined with fragility functions (relationships between hazard intensity and expected damage ratios) to estimate risk. This thesis consists of seven publications, each of which comprises a part of the development and testing of RSV: 1) results of field investigation of impacts to agriculture and infrastructure of the 2006 eruption of Merapi Volcano, Indonesia; 2) agricultural fragility functions for tephra damage in New Zealand based on the observations made at Merapi; 3) examination of wind patterns above the central North Island, New Zealand for better modeling of tephra dispersal with the ASHFALL model; 4) a description of the design, components, background, and an example application of the RSV model; 5) test of RSV via a risk assessment of population, agriculture, and infrastructure in the Rotorua District from a rhyolite eruption at the Okataina Volcanic Centre; 6) test of RSV via a comparison of risk to critical infrastructure in Mammoth Lakes, California from an eruption at Mammoth Mountain volcano versus an eruption from the Inyo craters; and 7) a survey of volcanic hazard awareness in the tourism sector in Mammoth Lakes. Tests of the model have demonstrated that it is capable of providing valid and useful risk assessments that can be used by local government and emergency management to prioritise eruption response planning and risk mitigation efforts. RSV has provided the RiskScape design team with a more complete quantitative volcanic risk assessment model that can be integrated into RiskScape and used in New Zealand and potentially overseas.

Golden Gate Mountain appears as a spur projecting westward from the Tucson Mountain range. It is made up of the capping Cat Mountain Rhyolite, the slope - forming Amole Formation, and a variety of intrusions of differing compositions. The emplacement of the andesitic portion of the intrusions occurred during, and probably lasted long after, the deposition of Amole Formation. The hot magma fluidized the wet sediments. Part of the fluidized materials formed pipes and dikes of tuffisites and part was brought up into the basin and contributed to the sedimentation of Amole Formation. During upper Amole time the intrusion of andesite increased in intensity. Part of the basin rapidly subsided and thick deltaic sediments and graywacke were formed. The development of a hinge line accompanied this subsidence. The hinge line controlled the occurrence of fluidization which undercut the Amole beds. The beds slumped into the fluidized parts. The process culminated in forming a large orifice through which the Cat Mountain Rhyolite welled up. The orifice is reflected in the sedimentary beds by the development of a funnel- shaped structure in the central part of which the capping of Cat Mountain Rhyolite is located. The bordering brecciated Amole beds represent the associated slump effects.

The main rock unit exposed in the southern part of the Tucson Mountains, Pima County, Arizona, is the Cat Mountain rhyolite. It forms the eastward dipping slope and the western escarpment of the mountain range, capping the large fault blocks which make up the range. Petrographic and radiometric data combine to show that the Cat Mountain rhyolite, as originally defined, consists of two major ash flow eruption sequences. The lower sequence is less uniform and continuous than the highly welded characteristically jointed upper unit. A basal non welded unit is found along the western escarpment, a partly welded transition zone is found between the welded units, and a capping partly-to-non-welded unit is exposed in protected parts of the eastern slope. The volcanic history of the area began with the emplacement of a nuee ardente deposit forming the “chaos” unit. This was followed by two ash flow pulses through the same vents, and the sequence was terminated by the intrusion of spherulitic rhyolite sealing up the vents.

The Planet has entered a new epoch - the Anthropocene; where human activities, such as mining for and burning of fossil fuels, land-use change, and industrialization are actively disrupting the planet’s state. The rate at which climate change is occurring as a result of human activity is unprecedented in recent millennia and poses many threats through drastic changes in rain fall patterns, rising sea level, retreating glaciers, and an increase in extreme weather events. Mountain ranges and the plant and animal species that thrive in specific ‘life zones’ on the mountain slope are particularly vulnerable to the threats posed by climate change. As temperatures increase, these ‘life zones’ will essentially shift upwards - and flora and fauna either adapt to warmer conditions, or migrate to avoid extinction. This begs the questions, where will species retreat to when there is nowhere further up the mountain to migrate? Assisted migration has been proposed as a potential solution for species unable to adapt to climate change or unable to migrate, and involves the deliberate interference of humans in relocating species to habitats, outside their historic range, in hopes of preventing the species from going extinct. I examined key patterns within assisted migration research from peer-reviewed literature, to highlight the current state of assisted migration research and debate. My aim is to identify whether research favored certain species or geographic locations, to highlight the ethical dilemmas associated with engineering nature, and the potential assisted migration has for sustainable development in mountain ranges. I conducted a literature review and content analysis of 68 journal articles. The results suggest that assisted migration research is heavily debated from scientific, ethical, political and economic perspectives; with a largely theoretical debate and with limited transfer into field experiments. Furthermore, there is an element of bias in research focusing on plant species of economic value as opposed to other species. Moreover, many ethical dilemmas in assisted migration research exist, but no consensus as to whether assisted migration is ethically justifiable. Lastly, I suggest there could be potential for assisted migration for sustainable development in mountain ranges, however there is a need for inter/transdisciplinary research to collaborate in implementing assisted migration.

I examined the population genetic structure of three known subspecies of Glaucomys sabrinus from Appalachia, Washington State, and two previously unexamined populations from Mount Rogers National Recreation Area (MRNRA) in Southwestern Virginia. Mean FST (0.107) and an AMOVA (P G. sabrinus subspecies populations in the southern Appalachians are genetically differentiated. Glaucomys sabrinus at MRNRA were less inbred than expected. Gene flow, a consensus tree based on Nei's genetic distance, elevated heterozygosity and morphometric data suggest that the MRNRA G. sabrinus population is an intergrade of the two recognized Appalachian subspecies, G. s. fuscus and G. s. coloratus. I compared inbreeding and the level of parasite infestation in the two MRNRA populations of G. sabrinus and found that Whitetop Mountain (150 ha habitat) was more inbred than the population on Mount Rogers (400 ha habitat, P Strongyloides robustus were greater in the more fragmented Whitetop Mountain population, although the difference was not statistically significant (P= 0.278). A Mantel comparison of genetic diversity and parasite infestation among individuals did show a highly significant negative correlation (P G. sabrinus form a unique insular population with high genetic diversity that is nonetheless susceptible to increased inbreeding, and elevated parasitism caused by fragmentation. MRNRA G. sabrinus should retain endangered species status.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à un ensemble d’objets qui matérialisent différents types de souvenirs au sein des Alpes Occidentales. L’originalité de ces artefacts réside dans leur nature même : ils figurent tous l’idée de montagne sous diverses formes et pour différents motifs. Il s’agit tout aussi bien de monuments érigés au détour d’une rue ou sur une place centrale pour commémorer un exploit, une catastrophe ou l’oeuvre d’un homme en relation avec la montagne, que de stèles funéraires, profilées à l’image de sommets, érigées ça et là dans les cimetières, ou encore de plaques scellées à même le roc de la montagne.A partir d’une réflexion sur le façonnement de ces artefacts qui jouent avec la figure de la montagne, cette recherche interroge le rôle de l’espace dans les processus mémoriels et identitaires. Elle propose une lecture interobjective par l’identification, la spatialisation et la généalogie des différentes manières de mettre en scène le souvenir. Elle aborde également à partir de récits produits dans deux contextes spécifiques (Bessansen Haute-Maurienne (Savoie), Chamonix en Haute-Arve (Haute-Savoie)), selon une approche intersubjective cette fois, les relations que les hommes nouent avec ces artefacts, qu’ils vivent quotidiennement au contact de ces derniers ou qu’ils les contemplent de manière tout à fait occasionnelle. Cette démarche et ce terrain permettent de dégager les enjeux identitaires de la mise en visibilité des souvenirs et de souligner le rôle de l’espace dans ces processus.Cette thèse défend l’idée que les artefacts sont centraux dans l’établissement des rapports sociaux. Ils participent à la construction des mondes de chacun et jouent un rôle actif dans les relations à soi et à l’autre autour d’un ensemble de jeux d’échelles et de métriques. Les artefacts du souvenir seraient donc à la fois un ferment et un révélateur du fonctionnement identitaire de la société. Cette thèse vise alors à montrer qu’à partir d’un tout petit objet, il est possible de saisir de nombreux enjeux du fonctionnement de la vie en société, qui s’expriment entre autres par la recherche, l’octroi, la tenue, la défense d’une place. C’est en cela une invitation au développement d’une micro-géographie attentive aux individus, à ce qu’ils disent, à ce qu’ils font, et à ce qui légitime leur place, celle qu’ils veulent tenir et celle qu’on leur fait tenir, à travers les rapports sociaux qui se nouent et se dénouent autour de ces artefacts. / This PhD thesis considers objects materialising different kinds of memories in the Western Alps. Despite the great variety of these objects, they share a common specificity: they all enact the idea of mountain,through different shapes and for different reasons. They can be monuments along a trail, a road, a street or inthe middle of a central square in a city commemorating successful ascents, a mountaineering death, or the lifeof a mountain climber, or tombstones shaped like a mountain peak in a cemetery or commemorative plaques nailed on a mountains slope.Questioning the creation of such objects which are all designed in reference to the image of the mountain this research considers the role of spaces and places in identity-making and the process of remembering. I firstpresent an interobjective reading: identifying, spatializing and studying the genealogy of the different ways to showcase memory. Then I move on to an intersubjective reading: how do people in two specific contexts (Bessans in the Haute-Maurienne Valley, Savoie, France, and Chamonix, in the Haute-Arve Valley, Haute-Savoie, France) relate to these objects, whether they interact daily with them or only do so very occasionally ,when they happen to pass by them? This multi-face research method and the places where fieldwork took place have enabled me to understand the processes through which memory is made visible and the rolespaces and places play in such processes, as well as the identity issues linked to them.The central argument is that objects play a key role in the establishment of social relations. They helpto build inner-worlds and they play an active role in the relationships with oneself and with others, alongdifferent scales and different social relations to distance. Souvenirs, as objects of memory, are both the goadand the pointer to the production of identity in a society. From a very small object it is possible to graspseveral issues regarding how a society works, especially through the quest, the gift, the defence of a place.This PhD can be read as an invitation to develop a micro-geography attentive to individuals, to what they say, what they do, what legitimates their place ‑ the place they want to hold and the place they are put in ‑ and to the social relations that can fold and unfold through these objects.

This thesis examines the problem of mountain and water cults in traditional Vietnam, e.g. in the period from 11th to mid 19th century, as seen through primary sources. First the relationship between the state and the supernatural is examined. Then the water and mountain deitties, their cults, and practical aspects of worship are characterized in the general context of Vietnamese religious beliefs. Follows a more detailed study of some of the most important mountain and water cults.

The subject of this work is to describe czech mountains as a qualitatively different phenomenon from most of the other territory of the Czech Republic. The work is divided into four chapters. The first two chapters outline the theoretical background and methodology. On the basis of this methodology, the other two chapters analyse the landscape of the Bohemian Forest on three levels: natural, cultural and symbolic. The conclusion summarises the findings of field research carried out on the "Vintířova Stezka". Keywords: cultural representation, landscape, mountain ranges, spiritual dimension, cultural ecology