Scholarly Work - Earth Sciences
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/8747
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Item Integrating Subjective and Objective Dimensions of Resilience in Fire-Prone Landscapes(2019-05) Higuera, Philip E.; Metcalf, Alexander L.; Miller, Carol; Buma, Brian; McWethy, David B.; Metcalf, Elizabeth C.; Ratajczak, Zak; Nelson, Cara R.; Chaffin, Brian C.; Stedman, Richard C.; McCaffrey, Sarah; Schoennagel, Tania; Harvey, Brian J.; Hood, Sharon M.; Schultz, Courtney A.; Black, Anne E.; Campbell, David; Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Keane, Robert E.; Krawchuk, Meg A.; Kulig, Judith C.; Rafferty, Rebekah; Virapongse, ArikaResilience has become a common goal for science-based natural resource management, particularly in the context of changing climate and disturbance regimes. Integrating varying perspectives and definitions of resilience is a complex and often unrecognized challenge to applying resilience concepts to social–ecological systems (SESs) management. Using wildfire as an example, we develop a framework to expose and separate two important dimensions of resilience: the inherent properties that maintain structure, function, or states of an SES and the human perceptions of desirable or valued components of an SES. In doing so, the framework distinguishes between value-free and human-derived, value-explicit dimensions of resilience. Four archetypal scenarios highlight that ecological resilience and human values do not always align and that recognizing and anticipating potential misalignment is critical for developing effective management goals. Our framework clarifies existing resilience theory, connects literature across disciplines, and facilitates use of the resilience concept in research and land-management applications.Item Engaging in Energy Communities: The role of the researcher(Montana State University, 2020-06) Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Jacquet, Jeffrey; Taylor, Suzi; Theodori, Gene; Walsh, Kathryn BillsThis workbook / planning guide was designed to support researchers who are studying the social impacts of energy development and wish to better understand and mitigate “research fatigue,” a state in which citizens of a community who are already experiencing massive change may be exhausted by additional attention from researchers, the media and others outside the community. The workbook can be used as a stand-alone resource or as a complement to the Understanding Research Fatigue online module. It will help students and early-career researchers strategically plan their approaches to working in energy-impacted communities in order to minimize the risk of research fatigue.Item Ranching Sustainability in the Northern Great Plains: An Appraisal of Local Perspectives(2018-06) Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Auger, Mason; Epstein, KathleenIn eight counties in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska characterized by high levels of intact Northern Great Plains grassland habitat, ranchers observe the following sustainability challenges: Land prices and lack of land for purchase Profitability Family succession and community change (depopulation) Notably, they do not anticipate extensive cropland conversion in the western edge of the Northern Great Plains. We observed differences in the experience of these challenges based on the ranch ownership lifecycle. In response, we recommend that conservation and government programs focused on sustainable ranching should adopt a framework for strategy and program evaluated based on the lifecycle framework. Assisting emerging ranchers, according to this research effort, will demand more than coming up with loan funds or extra forage. Rather it will mean rethinking the existing pathway that operators follow on the route from emerging to established ranchers. In addition, conservation and government programs and future research should address the impacts and patterns of land agglomeration in the Northern Great Plains.Item Land Use Diversification and Intensification on Elk Winter Range in Greater Yellowstone: Framework and Agenda for Social-Ecological Research(2018-03) Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Epstein, Kathleen; Stone, Michael; Cross, Paul C.Amenity migration describes the movement of peoples to rural landscapes and the transition toward tourism and recreation and away from production-oriented land uses (ranching, timber harvesting). The resulting mosaic of land uses and community structures has important consequences for wildlife and their management. This research note examines amenity-driven changes to social-ecological systems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, specifically in lower elevations that serve as winter habitat for elk. We present a research agenda informed by a preliminary and exploratory mixed-methods investigation: the creation of a “social-impact” index of land use change on elk winter range and a focus group with wildlife management experts. Our findings suggest that elk are encountering an increasingly diverse landscape with respect to land use, while new ownership patterns increase the complexity of social and community dynamics. These factors, in turn, contribute to increasing difficulty meeting wildlife management objectives. To deal with rising complexity across social and ecological landscapes of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, future research will focus on property life cycle dynamics, as well as systems approaches.Item Planning for the local impacts of coal facility closure: Emerging strategies in the U.S. West(2018-08) Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Haggerty, Mark N.; Roemer, Kelli; Rose, JacksonThis study considers the contours of the coal transition in the United States from the perspective of local planning responses to coal plant retirements in the U.S. West. Plant closures in the region affect a diverse set of geographies and have developed in a complex, uncoordinated policy environment. The study applies an assessment framework informed by economic geography and community planning scholarship to a dataset of 12 planning documents written by and for local communities experiencing coal facility closures. The findings highlight the absence of effective strategies to address lost local revenues, lack of connections between environmental quality and long-term economic resilience, and a range of levels of acceptance of the coal transition. Together, the plans demonstrate the negative consequences of an uncoordinated, contradictory policy environment for transition planning at the local level and the need for policy interventions to address issues of equity and efficiency in this process.Item Opportunities and Trade-offs among BECCS and the Food, Water, Energy, Biodiversity, and Social Systems Nexus at Regional Scales(2018-01) Stoy, Paul C.; Ahmed, Selena; Jarchow, Meghann; Rashford, Benjamin; Swanson, David; Albeke, Shannon; Bromley, Gabriel T.; Brookshire, E. N. Jack; Dixon, Mark D.; Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Miller, Perry R.; Peyton, Brent M.; Royem, Alisa; Spangler, Lee H.; Straub, Crista; Poulter, BenjaminCarbon dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere to limit climate change to 2°C or less. The integrated assessment models used to develop climate policy acknowledge the need to implement net negative carbon emission strategies, including bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), to meet global climate imperatives. The implications of BECCS for the food, water, energy, biodiversity, and social systems (FWEBS) nexus at regional scales, however, remain unclear. Here, we present an interdisciplinary research framework to examine the trade-offs as well as the opportunities among BECCS scenarios and FWEBS on regional scales using the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB) as a case study. We describe the physical, biological, and social attributes of the UMRB, and we use grassland bird populations as an example of how biodiversity is influenced by energy transitions, including BECCS. We then outline a "conservation" BECCS strategy that incorporates societal values and emphasizes biodiversity conservation.