Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Towards a more-than-human geography of the Yellowstone River(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Bergmann, Nicolas Timothy; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jamie McEvoy; Jamie McEvoy, Elizabeth A. Shanahan, Eric D. Raile, Anne Marie Reinhold, Geoffrey C. Poole and Clemente Izurieta were co-authors of the article, 'Thinking through levees: how political agency extends beyond the human mind' in the journal 'Annals of the American Association of Geographers' which is contained within this thesis.This dissertation conceptualizes the Yellowstone River, flowing more than 670 miles from its headwaters in the mountains of northwestern Wyoming to its confluence with the Missouri River in western North Dakota, as a more-than-human assemblage. Specifically, this dissertation asks the following overarching research question: How does a more-than-human approach to understanding the Yellowstone River further geographical conceptualizations of human-environment relationships? In order to answer this question, this dissertation investigates the more-than-human aspects of both historical and contemporary environmental conflicts within Montana's portion of the Yellowstone River Basin. Chapter 2 examines the relationship between instream flow water law, Montana Fish and Game, and the Yellowstone River Basin. Drawing from both critical legal geography and political ecology, it furthers understandings of instream flow water law as relationally co-constituted through both human and nonhuman forces. Chapter 2 also traces the influence of Montana Fish and Game's more-than-anthropocentric ethical position on interpretations of the 1973 Montana Water Use Act. Chapter 3 uses a morethan- human approach to examine the relationship between myth and the Yellowstone River. Specifically, this chapter combines existing geographical understandings of myth with theories of assemblage and affect in order to historicize and denaturalize mythic belief in the Yellowstone as the longest undammed or free-flowing river remaining in the United States. Chapter 4 advances more-than-human understandings of political agency through a reframing of human thought as a co-constitutional assemblage of human and nonhuman elements. Relying on a comparative case study approach and qualitative interview data from two Montana communities located along the lower Yellowstone River, this chapter supports its theoretical claims through an embodied and affective analysis of the communities' divergent flood risk perceptions. Chapter 5 closes this dissertation with reflections on the value of using a more-than-human geographical approach.Item Impacts of low summer streamflows on water resources in the Jefferson Valley : historical responses and future challenges(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) Leone, Alex Michael; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Julia Hobson HaggertyIn an attempt to understand the complex interrelationships between climate, water infrastructure regimes, and water governance this thesis examines relationships between drought and water use in the Jefferson River Basin in southwest Montana. The Jefferson River is one of the three great headwater streams of the Missouri River and is itself comprised of the Beaverhead, Big Hole and Ruby Rivers, encompassing a substantial drainage basin of 9,532 sq. miles. The Jefferson's unique hydrological position inherently situates the basin "at the end of the line" of water users and flows at its confluence have plummeted to 200 cubic feet per second (cfs) during extreme drought periods, leaving little water in the river to appease appropriators along the river's remaining 80 miles. The Jefferson River (and all of its important tributaries) is highly utilized for agriculture, resulting in chronic dewatering during peak irrigation demand (typically July through mid-September). Persistent water scarcities over the last 15 years have tested the Basin's ability to sustain historic levels of agricultural production and maintain a commercial sports fishery. This thesis provides a resilience assessment of water resources in Jefferson Basin. RA's attempt to conceptualize dynamic interactions between linked social and ecological systems (SES's). Analysis of complex human use systems (SES's) is inherently interdisciplinary and necessitates a mixed methods approach. The RA completed for this thesis integrated physical analyses of the water use system (utilizing GIS, hydrology, climate and demographic data) with a qualitative survey of water stakeholders with the goal of understanding the processes that drive the Jefferson SES and identifying weaknesses that reduce resilience. Over the last 30 years the Jefferson Basin has benefited from a unique subset of water users and natural resource managers that have successfully worked to improve conditions in the face of extreme environmental challenges. This RA found that although it is highly likely that the Jefferson will be challenged by extreme conditions in the future (related to a changing climate), it is also evident that there is potential for the basin to transition into alternate and more resilient regimes.Item Controls on large woody debris distributions in Yellowstone streams(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2002) Rasmussen, James LeeItem Tree-ring reconstructed streamflow and drought history for the Bighorn River Basin, Wyoming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2011) Swindell, Bryan Cameron; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cathy WhitlockPredictions made by climate models suggest that in the coming decades the western United States will experience warmer temperatures, as well as changes in streamflow patterns. To better understand how climatic variability affects water resources and to critique current water-supply assumptions, water-resource management can benefit from proxy-based paleoclimatic information. Instrumental records of precipitation, streamflow, and snowpack are typically less than 100 years long and usually only capture a subset of the full range of hydrologic variability possible in a given watershed. This study presents water-year streamflow reconstructions for six gages in the Bighorn River Basin in Wyoming and Montana. The reconstructions are based on tree-ring data from various locations in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. The streamflow reconstructions are between 500 and 800 years long. Calibration models between the tree-ring data and the gage record explain up to 60% of the variation in gaged streamflow. Analysis of the reconstructions indicates that the 20th century was relatively wet compared with previous centuries, and recent droughts were matched or exceeded (in duration and magnitude) many times during the last 800 years. Pre-instrumental droughts also show strong spatial coherence across the entire Bighorn River watershed. These reconstructions can be used to develop more-robust water-management plans that take into account a broader range of conditions than those presented by gage records alone.