Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Rivers of resilience: the ripple effect of community-based action(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Coe, Madison Lindsay; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Hugo R. SindelarProtect Our Rivers is a documentary film that chronicles the transformative journey of Sarah Nelson, a young woman who, after enduring profound personal losses, discovers her life's purpose in river conservation. Inspired by her first whitewater rafting trip, Sarah establishes the nonprofit organization Protect Our Rivers, which mobilizes volunteers to remove over 120,000 pounds of trash from local streams and restore the health of America's waterways. Through Sarah's story, the film explores themes of resilience, community, and the power of individual action in the face of environmental degradation and climate change. The film captures Sarah's tireless dedication to river conservation, juxtaposing her personal journey of healing with the renewal of strained waterways. Set against the backdrop of the pristine Salmon River and the urban stretch of the South Platte River in Denver, Colorado, the film underscores the importance of preserving rivers as vital ecosystems and sources of community recreation and well-being. Despite facing extreme pollution and degradation, Sarah's grassroots efforts demonstrate the potential for small-scale actions to make a significant impact on river health and community empowerment. Drawing stylistic inspiration from other verite-style environmental documentaries, stunning cinematography and immersive storytelling is embraced in the film to evoke emotional resonance and inspire collective action in its viewers. By highlighting the interconnectedness of environmental conservation and human well-being, the film serves as a poignant reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the planet's precious rivers. Through Sarah's story, Protect Our Rivers offers a beacon of hope and empowerment, demonstrating that one person's passion and dedication can create a ripple effect of positive change in the world.Item Power and perils of partnership: a lifecycles approach to understanding barriers to data use in Montana volunteer water monitoring programs(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Bean, Liam Francis; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sarah P. ChurchAs socionatural systems become more unpredictable due to increased anthropogenic interference, the need for responsive data-driven governance is apparent. However, there is a repeated assertion that public trust in science and the scientific process is eroding. Public participation in scientific research, or citizen science, is often seen as a pathway to rebuilding public trust in data collection and analysis while also being an effective cost-cutting measure as research funding becomes more and more difficult to secure. I developed case studies of five different volunteer water monitoring programs from across the state of Montana. Each case was primarily constructed from semi-structured interviews with various volunteers, program managers, and decision-makers. These cases explore how trust in volunteer water quality data was generated across stakeholder groups and if, and how, volunteer collected data are used in local governance processes. To explore the relationship between different volunteers, program managers, tributaries, monitoring equipment, and decision-makers, an approach inspired by actor network theory was adopted during the analysis. The five cases all had key parallels in their histories and while each case was distinct, all five seemed to pass through similar phases I describe as a generalized lifecycle. The four key phases of this lifecycle were: 1) an inciting incident, 2) enrollment of allies, 3) re-enrollment of allies, and 4) program evaluation. The second and third phases were key to understanding how data produced by volunteers would eventually be used. When programs enrolled alongside state actors like the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, volunteers and local community members saw decision-making processes as more legitimate, and volunteer water monitoring programs had a direct route to having their data used. However, the process of being enrolled alongside a different monitoring program or state agency created a problem with the salience of volunteer collected data, often making it less reflexive to community needs and less used in local governance processes. In addition, regular re-enrollment with new agencies, partners, and monitoring efforts allowed many programs to secure funding and paths to data use but hampered their ability to produce datasets for long-term trend analysis.