Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Rainfall and the resettlement of the Pacific Northwest(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Griffis, Corey Lane Rowlett; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Catherine Dunlop and Mark FiegeThe Pacific Northwest has a reputation for rainfall. The region's relationship with that reputation is not uniform: some love it, some hate it, some deny that it should even exist. But this reputation -- and the role of rainfall in regional identity and everyday life -- has historical roots. This thesis considers rainfall as a powerful environmental force with profound impacts on the history of the Pacific Northwest. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, diaries, letters, advertisements, promotional pamphlets, newspaper articles, travelogues, and other primary source documents, this thesis reframes the imperial and colonial history of the Pacific Northwest through the lens of rainfall. I cover the period between 1543 and about 1900. My argument is that rainfall has had visceral, embodied impacts on how Euro-Americans encountered, perceived, and experienced the Pacific Northwest for almost five centuries. Rainfall played a key role in discouraging almost all interest in permanent colonial settlement from 1543 through around 1830, and the rainy season profoundly shaped the rhythms of both the maritime and overland fur trade. Throughout this period, Indigenous knowledge of rainfall formed a point of leverage against imperial power. Beginning in the 1830s, American promoters flipped the script, emphasizing rainfall in narratives of the Northwest's potential as a haven for white agrarianism. Just like early navigators and fur traders, however, settlers struggled to adapt to the rhythms of the rainy season, which created new forms of isolation and inequality. The response of settler society to rainfall's power has been to terraform the environment to try and control how rainfall manifests upon the landscape. As climate change fundamentally alters human-environment entanglements and reinforces structural inequities in how people experience weather and climate, it is also challenging our senses of place, of home. Rather than seeking new ways to dominate our changing environments and insulate ourselves further from the elements, we need to imagine new ways of living with weather and climate that are resilient, equitable, and grounded in the everyday dignities and indignities of being human. By learning to live with rainfall, we can redefine what it means to call the Northwest home.Item Interrelationships of precipitation, soil moisture and spring wheat production in northern Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1954) Aasheim, Torlief S.Item Agricultural implications of weather control(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1954) Pavelis, George A.Item Analysis and prediction of streamflow and precipitation data(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 1971) Cunningham, Alfred BenjaminItem The effect of unit weight and rainfall intensity on the erosion of unprotected slopes(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 1968) Rowlison, Dale LeroyItem The relationships among precipitation, range vegetation and range cattle production in the plains region of Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1973) Ballard, William GlenItem A rainfall simulator study of soil erodibility in the Gallatin National Forest, southwest Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1988) Schmid, Ginger LeeItem Frequency of peak flows predicted from rainfall frequencies(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 1968) Robinson, LeeItem Predicting dominant species on grasslands at the National Bison Range, Moiese, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2014) Garcia Neto, Narciso; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Clayton B. MarlowUnder ecologically sustainable conditions, a landscape should retain representative climax vegetation. Thus, a method to predict the climax species component of a functioning vegetation community is an important tool for restoration projects. Based on descriptions of the Palouse Prairie grassland the National Bison Range managers selected bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, and rough fescue as target species for management and restoration objectives. An indicator called Relative Effective Annual Precipitation (REAP) was created by Montana Natural Conservation Service (NRCS) to express the amount of water available to the plants, at a specific location, taking into account precipitation, slope and aspect, and soil properties. Using Geographic Information System (GIS) and REAP as the predictor variable, a map to predict the occurrence of species within grassland communities was developed to guide restoration and management efforts on the USFWS National Bison Range. REAP values were calculated for sample sites from three earlier rangeland assessments and related to actual field measures of the target species. Classes of REAP intervals were defined to bracket the range in value for each species. Classes were also created for target groups (bluebunch and fescue) sorted by genus. REAP values for sites dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass were significantly different from values for sites dominated by Idaho fescue and rough fescue (P < 0.0001). However, there were no statistical differences between REAP values for Idaho fescue and rough fescue (P=0.989).The mean probability of the REAP model to accurately predict the occurrence individual target species was 0.55 and for the target group was 0.64. NBR and should be dominated by grasses, but there were patches of conifer forest. The values of REAP related to the forest patches were compared against REAP values for grassland areas to learn if the model could differentiate between the two major cover classes. The REAP values for the forest patches were higher than values predicted for grasslands (P=0.0026). So, prediction of areas dominated by grasslands was different from forest sites. However, the discrimination between Idaho and rough fescue was not successful.Item Evaluation of native grass sod for stabilization of steep slopes(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2004) Stone, Kenley Michelle; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Douglas J. Dollhopf.The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the ability of native grass sod to establish on several different steep slope environments. Specific objectives were to (i) measure plant growth characteristics on slopes with native grass sod treatments compared to other plant establishment methods, (ii) compare runoff, sediment yield, and infiltration rates on slopes with native grass sod to other plant establishment methods for a peak 10 year 24 hour storm event, (iii) model sediment yield on native grass sodded slopes compared to other plant establishment methods using RUSLE version 2.0, and (iv) evaluate the economic cost of using native sod compared to other plant establishment methods. The sites selected were a highway fill site with a 40 % slope, a ski slope with a 35 % slope, and abandoned mine waste with a 70 % slope. Treatments included native grass sod, redtop sod, broadcast seed, broadcast seed with a straw blanket installed in 2003 and 2001, and broadcast seed with hydromulch. During the 2003 growing season, mean perennial grass production of native grass sod was significantly greater (14 to 190 fold) than the other treatments on all three sites. Mean basal and canopy cover were significantly greater for native grass sod than the other treatments during both the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons on all three sites. In 2004, mean perennial grass production of native grass sod was significantly greater (7 fold) than the other treatments on the highway fill site. On the mine waste site in 2004, mean perennial grass production of native grass sod was significantly greater (6 fold) than the broadcast seed with the straw blanket installed in 2003. When a peak 10 year 24 hour precipitation event was applied on the highway fill site, native grass sod and the broadcast seed with the straw blanket treatments had significantly less runoff and sediment loss than the broadcast seed with hydromulch treatment. RUSLE2 estimated sediment loss for native sod (4929 kg/ha/yr) to be four to five times less than the other treatments. A cost analysis indicated that native sod would cost two to eight times more than the other treatments. However, native sod provided complete and immediate erosion control where the other treatments could not.