Browsing by Author "Eggers, Margaret Joy Slack"

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Community based risk assessment of exposure to waterborne contaminants on the Crow Reservation, Montana
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2014) Eggers, Margaret Joy Slack; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Anne Camper; Tim Ford (co-chair); Crescentia Cummins, John Doyle, Larry Kindness, Myra J. Lefthand, Urban J. Bear Don't Walk, Ada Bends, Susan C. Broadaway, Anne K. Camper, Roberta Fitch, Timothy E. Ford, Steve Hamner, Athalia R. Morrison, Crystal L. Richards and Sara L. Young were co-authors of the article, 'Community-based participatory research in Indian country: improving health through water quality research and awareness' in the journal 'Family and Community Health' which is contained within this thesis.; John T. Doyle and Margaret Hiza Redsteer were co-authors of the article, 'Exploring effects of climate change on Northern Plains American Indian health' in the journal 'Climatic change' which is contained within this thesis.
The goal of this collaborative research project undertaken by the Crow Reservation community, Little Big Horn College and Montana State University Bozeman has been to improve the health of Crow community members by assessing, communicating and mitigating the risks from local waterborne contaminants. The Reservation's surface waters have always been greatly respected by the Crow people, valued as a source of life and health and relied upon for drinking water. About fifty years ago, rural families switched to home well water instead of hauling water from the rivers. Many families went from having an unlimited supply of free, good quality river water, to unpalatable well water dependent upon an expensive-to-maintain plumbing system. Tribal members questioned the health of the rivers and well water due to visible water quality deterioration and potential connections to illnesses and initiated this research project. We share what we have learned as tribal members and researchers about conducting community-based risk assessment and using our data to improve Tribal and river health. Initial research on river water quality revealed significant microbial contamination. Collaborations with several microbiologists revealed substantial E. coli and Cryptosporidium river contamination as well as Helicobacter pylori in home water supplies. We found that about 55% of home wells are unsafe to drink due to either mineral and/or microbial contamination. Depending on the river valley, 11% to 58% of home wells exceed the cumulative risk level of concern for mineral contaminants. Exposure to contaminated well water exacerbates the community's existing health disparities due to the confluence of the area's geology, extensive agriculture, lack of public environmental health education, jurisdictional complexities of reservations, already vulnerable health status and families' limited financial resources for mitigating poor quality well water. Limited resources as well as the links among ecosystems, cultural practices and public health will increase the already existing impacts of climate change on reservation communities. Flood frequency, late summer water shortage and fire severity are increasing while water quality is declining. Risk communication and risk mitigation, not just risk assessment, have been and continue to be central to our project and pursued through numerous venues and collaborations.
Riparian vegetation of the Montana Yellowstone and cattle grazing impacts thereon
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2005) Eggers, Margaret Joy Slack; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theodore Weaver
The objects of my research were two. To describe ungrazed vegetation of thirty sites well dispersed along the 500 mile length of the Yellowstone River. And to measure the effects of gazing on this vegetation by describing/comparing vegetation of these ungrazed 'control' sites with the vegetation of nearby grazed sites. Vegetation of the Yellowstone consists of three lateral bands on open shore (gravel or sandbar), willow thicket, and cottonwood forest. Their appearance on successively older deposits suggests control both by decreasing water availability (greater depth to water on inland sites with 'over deposits') and increasing age (overtopping, first by willow and then by cottonwood, and accumulation of shrubs). The primary longitudinal (downstream) change between foothill and plains sites, probably driven by decreasing rainfall, was the change of forest dominant from P. angustifolia to P. deltoides. The apparent failure of P. deltoides reproduction could eventually eliminate the forest zone. Grazing affects all of the five communities identified. With grazing, overall cover decreased in every vegetation type, with the greatest losses in sandbars, willow thickets and P angustifolia forests. Cottonwood seedlings were grazed on bars and in willow thickets.