There has been recent concern regarding the regeneration and recruitment of aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the western United States. Forest management techniques have been employed in order to promote the regeneration and recruitment of aspen. We quantified aspen regeneration treatments in southern Utah, USA to better understand the factors driving aspen recruitment. Driving factors were identified by addressing two major research themes: (1) identify the primary ecological controls on aspen regeneration success; (2) assess the relative importance and influence of these controls on successful regeneration. Our definition of successful aspen regeneration requires the satisfaction of two criteria relating to height and density, respectively: (1) regeneration that has attained heights above the ungulate browsing threshold (e.g. >2m); and (2) regeneration that is occurring at a density that represents desired conditions for future stocking (e.g. ≥10,000 stems ha⁻¹). The primary ecological controls on regeneration success were identified using nonmetric multidimensional scaling, and Random Forests analysis was used to assess the relative importance and influence of regeneration controls. These analyses identified three primary factors that are responsible for regeneration success. These factors were (1) contemporary herbivory pressure, (2) site preparation technique, and (3) advance reproduction. Herbivory is the leading predictor of regeneration success, and has integral impacts on other primary regeneration drivers. We suggest considerations that can be made regarding regeneration drivers in order to enhance the effectiveness of aspen management in the future.

This thesis examines the central role that volunteerism plays in creating a strong sense of sense of place and community within the town of Rockville, Utah, located 4.7 miles from Zion National Park. Rockville has no commercial businesses within its boundaries and relies heavily upon the volunteer efforts of its residents to carry out the majority of civil services within the town. Drawing from interviews of the STP’s (a group of Rockville residents who volunteer on a regular basis), this thesis highlights how the act of volunteerism helps residents feel membership within their community. This thesis also looks at how the STPs’ participation in town socials, clean-ups, and helping neighbors affected by natural disasters, helps them feel a deeper sense of belonging within their community.

A study of closed circuit television systems was made which could be utilized t o supplement conventional teaching methods at College of Southern Utah. A basic , but complete studio installation for production work and radio-television class room instruction in addition to four , individual, self - contained installations a re recommended f or regular classroom use. All equipment is to be compatible and provide for complete interchangeability of tapes within the system. Present costs of distribution systems indicate that video t apes produced in the classroom, in the fi eld, or in the studio and played back in the class room would provide bette r utilization of available funds. It is recommended, however, that all future buildings be cabled with coaxial cable f or closed circuit te levisi on distribution . This form would be less costly and more versatile than microwave distribution. Included are re commendations of presently available, commercial equipment that satisfy the indicated needs.

Diet of cougars (Felis concolor) was studied from December 1978 to August 1981, on a 4500 km2 study area near Escalante, Utah. Prey eaten was determined from analysis of 112 animals consumed as prey, and from 239 cougar scats. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were the major prey item, comprising 81% of biomass consumed. Lagomorphs, large rodents, and smaller predators were also important components. Cattle comprised Motion-sensitive radio-transmitters were placed on 15 cougars, from 3 months to 7-9 years of age. Three parameters of the radio signal were used to determine activity levels during 6843 1-minute sampling periods: number of changes in pulse rate, predominant pulse mode, and signal integrity, based on 308 minutes of "known" acti vity. Cougars showed distinct crepuscular (sunrise, sunset ± 2 hrs) activity peaks (P Estimates of energetic costs of basal metabolism, and of activity, growth, and reproduction were used in a predictive model of energy cost of free-existence. Information on dietary composition, live weight and energy content of prey animals, and assimilation efficiencies were used to provide estimates of the frequency at which deer were killed (deer/day) and consumed (kg/day). Single adults were estimated to kill 1 deer per 8-16 days. Females with 3 large cubs would kill 1 deer as often as every 2-3 days. A known population of 8 adult cougars was predicted to consume 417 deer per year.

It is the purpose of this thesis to give an account of the significant events in the founding and development of the school, now known as the College of Southern Utah, Branch of Utah State Agricultural College, from the year 1897 to the observance if its fiftieth anniversary in 1947. This study comprises the two periods of growth during which the school was a branch of the University of Utah and later of the Utah State Agricultural College. The problem, thus, is the founding and development of the school during the two periods of administration.

This project was concerned with study of Neriage, Zougan, and Raku techniques in search of a creative, individual expression of the Southern Utah landscape. To find ceramic forms which would reflect its history, and show appreciation for its aesthetic characteristics of color, vastness and endless variety of form. In the development of this artist's philosophy, a potter artist has to acquire certain qualities of form and concepts which are of basic importance in the execution of his work. These concepts which are a part of his philosophy are first; truth to material. Since clay is a very versatile material it can tempt the artist to go beyond its normal character. It can be made to look like almost any other material. In spite of these other possibilities, however valid, there are to this artist only certain qualities that are truly characteristic of the earthy, geological character of clay. Second; the search of form-knowledge. An understanding of the internal as well as external structure or form and application of that knowledge to his own work. Third; the development of a personal direction. The concepts involved in the artist's work provide the necessary order in his experiments with form. The primary concerns to this artist were a feeling of monumentality in each piece of work and the development of a personal form by forced searching into a specific direction. A variety of stoneware forms were created utilizing wheel throwing, hand building, plaster press mold methods and a combination of methods. The Neriage ware was made from specially formulated clay bodies. The colored clays were mixed intentionally with red sand, grey sand, and metalic oxides into the special formulated clay body. The choice of Neriage and Raku ware were a satisfactory solution in the attempt to symbolize the quality of Southern Utah landscape. Although indicating influences from traditional Neriage ceramic works of Japan and marble ware from England, the Neriage ceramics of this potter are his own spiritual expressions inspired by the natural rock formations of Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Monument and Lake Powell.

Two common use grazing trials were conducted during two summer grazing seasons (1978-1979) on a typical shrubby grassland site on the Kolob Terrace, about 20 miles (32 km) southeas t of Cedar City, Utah, at an elevation of about 8500 feet (2600 m). Two animal units of ewes with lambs, or cows with calves, or both were stocked in each of six, one acre (0.39 ha) pastures. A five to one substitution ratio provided two single-species and one mixed (five ewes with lambs and one cow with calf) livestock treatments replicated twice . The pastures were grazed for nine days during which time two major experiments were performed.

Arroyos are entrenched channels characterized by near-vertical walls of alluvium and flat channel bottoms. Historic channel entrenchment in the southwest United States during the late AD 1800s and early 1900s has stimulated extensive research on these dynamic fluvial systems. The near-synchronous episodes of arroyo entrenchment and aggradation in Kanab Creek and other drainages in southern Utah during the last ~1 Ka has led many researches to argue that hydroclimatic forcings drive arroyo processes. These hypotheses remain largely untested, and there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the timing of these events and the specific mechanisms responsible for arroyo formations. Previous work established an alluvial chronology for the kanab canyon reach of Kanab creek, but it remained unclear if arroyo events in this reach were continuous with those downstream or synchronous with events in the disconnected arroyo in the upper basin. Using deailed sedimentologic and stratigraphic descriptions coupled with AMS radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, a new chronostratigraphic record of arroyo entrenchment and aggradation for kanab creek is produced in this study. Results suggest at least five periods of fluvial aggradation and episodic arroyo entrenchment during the middle-to late-Holocene, with aggradation occuring from ~6.2 to 3.67 ka (Qfl), ~3.2 to 2.5 ka (Qf2), ~2.2 to `.45 ka (Qf3), 1.4 to 0.8 ka (Qf4), and 0.75 to 0.14 ka (Qf5). This record is compared to regional alluvial and paleoclimate records to explore potential allogenic and autogenic forcing mechanisms. Rapid transitions from exceptional drought to pluvial periods are quasi-synchronous with regional arroyo entrenchment over the last ~1.5 Ka, but the lack of clear correlations amongst the regional alluvial records and between paleoclimate records beyond 1.5 Ka suggests that internal geomorphic thresholds are important controls on the timing of entrenchment in individual catchments. Previous research on arroyo dynamics has largely focused on the timing of entrenchment. The few studies that have investigated the processes related to aggradation have used historic observations, and not the stratigraphic record of arroyo deposits. In this study, the alluvial records from three reaches of Kanab Creek are combined to test models of the processes and geometric patterns of paleoarroyo aggradation. Results indicate that aggradation initially propagates upstream and then transitions to synchronous vertical aggradation along the entire channel profile as arroyos approach complete filling.

I studied the habitat characteristics of Mexican Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis lucida), a federally threatened species, in the canyonlands region of southern Utah. Vegetative and geologic features were measured within 10m wide belt plots at each current or historic nest/roost site. Based on our findings, past research, and species life history characteristics, I constructed a species distribution model (SDM) predicting Mexican Spotted Owl distribution in Utah for the Colorado Plateau region. The SDM was generated using the following inputs as important habitat variables: elevation, aspect, surface ratio, curvature, slope, geology, and vegetation. Program R was used for model development and generation. The SDM was generated using an ensemble model approach by combining three modeling techniques: random forest, logistic regression, and maximum entropy. This study combines measured habitat characteristics, with sophisticated geographic information system (GIS) tools and SDMs to provide managers with an informative and useful toolkit for Mexican Spotted Owl conservation. Chapter 2 discusses modeling techniques and SDM development. I detail how individual models were constructed using random forest, logistic regression, and maximum entropy and how these were combined into an ensemble model. Final models indicated that several vegetative and geologic characteristics were considered important habitat characteristics for predicting Mexican Spotted Owl presence within the Colorado Plateau. The SDMs produced eight distribution maps predicting Mexican Spotted Owl presence and probability of occurrence in Utah for the Colorado Plateau region. Chapter 3 explains the use of SDMs by managers and synthesizes findings of measured habitat characteristics for southern Utah. For habitat characteristics I measured a combination of vegetative and geologic features within 10m wide belts at current and historic Mexican Spotted Owl sites. Vegetative features measured included: height and species of all trees and shrubs, position of tree or shrub within plot, presence of canopy cover, and tree diameter at breast height (DBH). Geologic features measured included: geologic formation type, wall height, structure type, number of caves, and number of solution cavities. I found that canyon width and density of vegetation > 2.5 m tall were significantly correlated with Mexican Spotted Owl presence.

Arroyos are steep-walled, entrenched, typically ephemeral streams commonly found in dryland river systems that form when streams incise into previously deposited alluvial fill. Arroyos in the southwestern U.S. have been studied extensively following the historic period of arroyo cutting in the late 1800s and early 1900s A.D. The upper Escalante River in south-central Utah similarly began incising in 1909, and records evidence for past cut and fill cycles in well-exposed walls along the now continuous arroyo. Establishing robust geochronologies of past arroyo cycles in these fluvial settings has been difficult. Recent improvements in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (14C) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating provide an opportunity to link more highly resolved fluvial records to existing paleoclimate records. This allows hypotheses regarding the causes of arroyo cycles to be tested, and for the role of climate versus intrabasinal characteristics to be examined. One major objective of this research was to examine the applicability of OSL and AMS 14C dating in the upper Escalante, as both methods have proved problematic in similar settings. In total, 37 ages were obtained, 21 OSL and 16 14C ages. The Holocene fluvial history of the upper Escalante River was reconstructed using these age results and stratigraphic relationships. The chronostratigraphic record developed in this study suggests that at least six arroyo cycles have occurred in the upper Escalante since the middle Holocene, with incision occurring ~4.4 – 4.2 ka, ~2.6 – 2.4 ka, ~1.8 – 1.5 ka, ~1.0 – 0.9 ka, ~0.5 - 0.4 ka, and during the historic period of arroyo entrenchment. While semi-synchronous arroyo cutting (indicative of a climate signal) appears to have occurred in the Paria and Escalante drainages over the last 1 ka, correlations between proximal drainages are less clear prior to 1 ka, although this may be due in part to preservation effects. Overall, linkages to specific climate regimes and correlations to regional drainages are difficult to identify, suggesting that internal geomorphic thresholds are important in determining when arroyo entrenchment occurs in individual catchments.