Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-151).

Fire has influenced species composition within the Central Hardwood Forest for millennia. Since the last glacial retreat, Native Americans followed by European settlers used fire as a tool to manipulate their environment. This fire use by humans helped maintain the dominance of well-adapted oak-hickory species across eastern forests. By the 1940's, land fragmentation from increased settlement and actively enforced suppression policies effectively eliminated fire from the landscape. Without the disturbance of recurrent fire that alters succession, the fertile loess-capped hills of southern Illinois have undergone several decades of compositional and structural change manifested by encroachment of mixed mesophytic competitors that are maladapted to fire. Today, land managers seek practical methods to restore declining oak-hickory forests. Southern Illinois forests in particular are lacking information on how cutting and prescribed fire techniques can be applied to encourage regeneration of oak-hickory species. In 2002, five sites were chosen across the Greater Shawnee Hills geographic region for similar ecological characteristics. A factorial combination of thinning and a fire treatment consisting of two burns was used to test the response of understory components including: seedling density, seedling height, seedling diameter, non-tree cover and available sunlight. Results showed a distinct improvement in oak-hickory seedling competitive position as compared to non oak-hickory species. Seedlings of sassafras out-competed all other groups in this study and were the only species to increase in both density and height following repeated fire. The non-tree vegetation layer increased as a result of thin from below treatments, while burning had no effect on the amount of available sunlight. Generally, woody seedlings benefited from thinning based on their physiological adaptations and fire essentially acts as a filter selecting for traits of disturbance-prone vegetation.

Several reports of widespread establishment of mesophytic vegetation within oak-hickory upland forests have been documented throughout the Central Hardwoods Region. Previous studies suggest deviations from historic disturbance regimes may be a primary driver of vegetation change, necessitating the use of Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) guidelines to measure changes in forest structure. Current parameters of forest structure and fuel loading were assessed within mature oak-hickory uplands throughout the ecological subsections of the Shawnee National Forest, including the Greater Shawnee Hills, Lesser Shawnee Hills, Cretaceous Hills, and the Illinois Ozarks. Present species importance values and forest structure were compared with reference conditions developed from General Land Office records(Fralish et al. 2002). Current uplands contained an average 214.72 ± 16.52 SE trees/ac and 103.37 ± 2.16 SE ft2 BA/ac, while reference stands harbored less than 90 trees/ac with a range of 16 and 120 ft2 BA/ac. Due to the high levels of fragmentation and a lack of large contiguous upland stands within the Shawnee National Forest, stand level criteria for FRCC values were developed as opposed to landscape level FRCC values which are commonly used. FRCC values determined during initial surveys were compared with plot level ratios of forest structure parameters regarding oaks:mesophytes and xerophytes:mesophytes, yielding clear relationships between species composition and FRCC values. Fuel loading (tons/ac) was assessed as a determinant of FRCC values, however a significant relationship between FRCC values and fuel loading was not discovered. Since widespread deviations from the historic fire regime have taken place since the early 20th century, Fire Regime Condition Class values were found to fall into the FRCC 2 and 3 categories without any stands representing FRCC 1. This determination requires future management practices to follow Fire Regime Condition Class guidelines. The study proved that mesophytic species have become established within all canopy strata, with a strong probability of gaining future dominance without active forest management. Although it is clear that forest structure has deviated from reference conditions, a strong oak-hickory overstory component found throughout the study area provides a potential resource to sustain future oak-hickory upland ecosystems.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Garrett Adam Hoemmen, for the Masters of Science degree in Agribusiness Economics, presented on *April 3, 2013 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: REGIONAL WINE QUALITY REPUTATION: THE PERCEPTIONS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE SHAWNEE HILLS AVA MAJOR PROFESSORS: Dr. C. Matthew Rendleman and Dr. Bradley Taylor There is a growing consumer preference for regional or “"terroir"” based products (Guy 2011). The designation of AVA status has the potential to increase the development of consumer identification with regional wine products. The presence of a distinguishing terroir is one of the prerequisites for the establishment of a federally recognized American Viticultural Area (AVA) (TTB 2012). The TTB granted the Shawnee Hills, located in southern Illinois, this designation at their request in 2006 (MKF 2005). The goal of this project was to determine the economic impact of a regional reputation on a wine-producing region. The project examined two California wine-producing regions progressing in wine quality development and with an established AVA designation and a wine culture in place, the Lodi AVA and the Central Coast AVA. A regression model was used to measure the source of these regions' growth in grower return per ton (price). Our results show the importance of achieving an AVA designation, an increase of $173.73 –- –$179.60 in grower return per ton, as well as the formation of regional wine quality program for that AVA, an increase of $165.81–-– $372.88. A winery competiveness survey was administered to all owner/operators in the Shawnee Hills to determine whether the infrastructure was in place to sustain a regional wine quality program. The results found that Shawnee Hill's AVA winery owner/operators regard increases in regional tourism, growth in the U.S. wine market continuous innovation, unique services and processes, and flow of information from customers to have the most enhancing effects on their businesses, and that confidence/trust in Illinois state political systems, tax systems, and administrative/bureaucratic regulations were the most constraining factors. Further the Shawnee Hills AVA has growing competition, yet consists of innovative winery owners. It may currently lack external financial support, but with a community focus on product differentiation, the Shawnee Hills AVA has a chance to capture a portion of the growing market for regional products.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-168).

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Indiana’s state park system developed as a result of state centennial celebrations in 1916. Government officials created state parks as a permanent memorial that glorified the Hoosier pioneer spirit, which celebrated actions of white colonists as they confronted challenges of the new industrial twentieth century. However, this memorialization erased the Lenni Lenape, Miami, Potawatomi, and Shawnee tribes played in the state’s history. This paper analyzes the Indiana statehood centennial celebrations as sites of erasure of Native American contributions to state and national history. It examines how Richard Lieber, the founder of the parks system, and others built the state park system to understand the ways individual state parks commemorated that Hoosier pioneer spirit at the expense of Native American voices. Turkey Run, McCormick’s Creek, Clifty Falls, Indiana Dunes, Pokagon, Spring Mill, and Lincoln State Parks are critiqued in this analysis to illustrate how each park encompasses and presents the story of colonization.

No description available.