Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Community resilience in remote, resource-dependent communities: a case study of the U.S. coal transition(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Roemer, Kelli Frances; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Julia Hobson Haggerty; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.The United States is undergoing a significant energy system transition characterized by widespread retirement of coal-fired electricity generation facilities. In the next ten years, nearly 30 percent of the nation's coal power plant fleet will retire. The US West hosts a significant portion of these closures, with twenty-five generating units of coal-fired electricity retiring across six Western states. Retirements pose immediate social, economic, and environmental challenges for the localities and regions that host power plants and associated mines. Affected communities need to both plan for loss of employment and tax revenue and ensure thorough decommissioning and remediation of a major industrial facility. Successfully addressing the social, economic, and environmental legacies at coal facilities presents opportunities for enhancing equity and justice in rural energy communities. However, determining the appropriate policy and planning response to address challenges affecting fossil fuel-dependent communities drives significant debate over the implications of accelerating decarbonization in rural places. Interdependent social, political, economic, historical, and environmental processes influence community experiences of coal decline in the US West. This dissertation explores how such factors enable or constrain the resilience of coal-dependent communities to economic decline, where resilience refers to the capacity of a social system to mobilize its resources and respond to shock. This research is thus informed by and contributes to the multidisciplinary literature on resource geography, community resilience, and energy transitions. It makes the following contributions: (1) it investigates how federal and state policies influence community resilience pathways and decision-making at the local level; (2) it identifies and characterizes processes that constrain resilience or enable rural communities to overcome challenges and foster new trajectories; and (3) it identifies specific policies and strategies to support communities navigating energy transition and socioeconomic uncertainty. To make these contributions, this dissertation engages a mixed-methods approach, combining policy analysis and qualitative data collection to examine the coal transition in the US West at the regional and local scale.Item Rural gentrification(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2021) Matty-Huber, Cynthia; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigRepresentations and studies of gentrification largely focus on its impact in urban centers. Urban gentrification brings change in an urban area associated with the movement of more affluent individuals into a lower-class area. However, rural gentrification has been overlooked in documentary representations of gentrification. Rural gentrification occurs when wealthier people buy property in ranch and working-class areas, driving up property values. Both contexts share the difficult paradox that gentrification brings money into the impacted area, but it often comes at the expense of poorer, pre-gentrification residents who cannot afford increased property costs or taxes. The mountainous west of the United States has been an area of intense development in recent decades and many aspects of its character have changed with shifting demographics as a result of rural gentrification. This thesis, titled 'Rural Gentrification,' examines the unique role of documentary film in demonstrating the impact of rural gentrification through the eyes of, John Hoiland, one of Montana's last independent ranchers, who is the subject of my film 'For the Love of Land'. The film tells the story of finality, disappearance, and what it means to be the last of something in this rapidly-shifting terrain while bringing attention to that tragic position that these last remaining personalities of the old west find themselves in as the world around them changes. 'Rural Gentrification' argues that there is an urgent need to create visual representations of the mountainous west of the United States using documentary film against this backdrop of rapid change. Using 'For the Love of Land' as a case study, I trace the significance of observational cinema as a significant influence that informed the decision-making process and creation of the film.Item Navigating the local costs and benefits of modern mineral mines: the role of non-regulatory agreements(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Rose, Jackson Cooper; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Julia Hobson Haggerty; Julia H. Haggerty was a co-author of the article, 'Navigating the local costs and benefits of modern mineral mines: the role of non-regulatory agreements' submitted to the journal 'Society and Natural Resources' which is contained within this thesis.This thesis explores natural resource development at the local level from the perspective of resource peripheries in the United States. Using three case studies--two in Montana and one in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan--this study combines qualitative mixed-methods with on-the-ground experience to explore the dynamics of the costs and benefits of extractive industries in the context of short-duration, high-impact underground mines. Research questions focused on the specific concerns and priorities in each place and the novel tools communities are using to address both short-term impacts and long-term economic development. The methodology relied on in-person, semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, participant observation, and document and policy analysis. Results reveal that rural places share similar concerns tied to these projects, although multiple stakeholder groups often have divergent ideas and priorities. Non-regulatory agreements show promise as a tool for stakeholder groups to navigate the balancing act of mining projects, but the initiatives found in these agreements are often affected by classic dilemmas facing resource peripheries as well as individual places' institutional and regulatory context. Findings also suggest that communities are granted a limited window of opportunity to maximize their negotiating power in the social license to operate process. Ultimately, non-regulatory agreements should be tailored to fill regulatory gaps and, in the best cases, are able to focus on delivering lasting economic benefits from short-term mining developments.Item Farm security clients in Montana, an analysis of the operations, farm business and farm organization of selected rural rehabilitation clients in Montana, 1937(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1939) Butler, Charles P.Item The Montana study : idealistic failure or innovative success(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1991) Counter, Janice ElaineItem Frameworks : empowering place in the face of a universal world(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2009) Hall, Peter Leland; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Zuzanna Karczewska; Henry Sorenson (co-chair)The Flathead Valley stands on the edge of a precipice, staring down the destruction of its culture, ecology, landscape, and economy as it is quickly being filled to the brim. This destruction has become apparent to many locals and visitors and is starting to generate serious concerns. The problem of irresponsible rural development is one that has frustrated conservationists since the first skeptics of the industrial revolution. No one really wants to be a part of the systematic destruction of small town charm, open and natural landscapes, or functioning ecosystems; but, so many people want to live a life surrounded by these qualities. And right there is the problem. Traditional solutions to this problem have been regulations through zoning which, if actually protecting these qualities, slows economies. The other alternative is the short-term-minded capitalization of open space into money by means of developments. Neither of these solutions actually address the problem. A strategy that I would like to propose in place of these largely unsuccessful strategies is one that asks the question, why can't the forces that drive the demand for development also drive the sustainability of everything that is that place? A solution that recognizes the plight of locals and the desires of immigrants. Through clever and creative planning and design, entities can be introduced into a rural area and prove to embrace local culture, open space, and ecology, while being economically sustainable.Item Small town America : a re-design(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2010) Bailey, Clint Brantley; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ralph Johnson; Angie Keesee (co-chair)The American Small Town will forever have a place in the undertones of American culture and in the American psychy. The small town has become an identifing piece of the fabric that the overall American Society as a whole uses to project its own image, not only to the world but to its self. This study is an examination of key elements of the American Small town and an exploration into why these places are disappearing. The study goes on to utilize this information to derive a plan for a small town that is free of modern day plights, such as sprawl and redundency. In the end, it proposes a plan for the community of Four Corners, M.T. This case study re-design is an example of how small communities can be shaped early on to prevent waste, maximize efficiency and quality of life.Item Urban rehabilitation 2010(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2010) Webber, Orrin Blake, IV; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Thomas Wood; Chere LeClair (co-chair)In order to maintain a high quality of life for the residents of growing rural communities a more efficient, sustainable, and pragmatic architectural solution must be devised. The current mentality concerning rural development and lifestyle must be reshaped in order to adapt to an increasingly environmentally conscience world. Within the built environment is the opportunity to provide direction for this positive change. Through extensive research and study, I intend to create an architectural solution that begins to shape its inhabitant's mentality, behavior and lifestyle by utilizing, teaching, and promoting the importance of nature and its cycles. Thus minimizing environmental impacts and conserving energy while improving the health, happiness, and quality of life of the building's occupants. Considering most of a persons life is spent immersed in architecture, the built environment determines a large portion of its inhabitants impact on the environment. This can be significantly minimized if the buildings, required as a necessity in peoples lives, have less impact on the environment. The future project's location should minimize its residents and visitors need for private vehicular transportation by providing an appealing environment for daily economic, recreational and social activities to take place simultaneously. It is my goal to continuously unite nature and man within the building and its surroundings forming awareness and appreciation for the natural world and its cycles by providing gardens through which residents can each begin to personally establish a relationship with nature. Most importantly, the project should be immersed as close to a natural recreational and wildlife area as possible. Through the resident's interaction with gardening environments, the surrounding natural landscape, and the building's use of natural energies and systems, an intimate relationship and sense of dependency on nature will become ingrained in the people living in and experiencing the building. Community and public spaces will be integrated within the development in order to encourage social and economical relationships while further immersing the architecture into the existing community. Ultimately this solution would encourage and promote positive interaction and relationships between the residents, the Bozeman community, and nature. The final result would be an architectural solution that provides a more energy and spatially efficient alternative to lateral development while embracing, improving, and interacting with the local environment, the central core of the city, and the existing community.Item Traffic performance on two-lane, two-way highways : examination of new analytical approaches(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2006) Durbin, Casey Thomas; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ahmed Al-KaisyThis project presents research on estimating traffic performance on two-lane, twoway highways. The main research objective is to examine two new approaches / methodologies in estimating the Percent-Time-Spent-Following (PTSF), a major indicator of performance on two-lane highways. The first new approach, named the weighted-average approach, is based on the weighted average of speeds for various vehicle types within the traffic stream. The second new approach, named the probabilistic approach, is concerned with using probabilities in estimating the PTSF. The need for this investigation has arisen from the concern that the current analytical procedures, namely the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) 2000, provide erroneous results as suggested by previous research. The project reviews recent literature on the HCM procedures and evaluates their effectiveness using both theoretical and empirical analyses. Furthermore, the two new approaches were evaluated using empirical data from three study sites located throughout Montana's two-lane, two-way highway system.Item Rural women's perceptions of the diffusion of technological innovations that increase quality shea butter production in Mali(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2007) Kante, Assa; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Martin J. Frick.An ethnographic case study was conducted in three villages in Mali (West Africa) to determine the perceptions of woman producers of shea butter toward the introduction of new technologies to save labor input in processing and improving quality of shea butter. During the in-depth interviews conducted, most of the participants said they would be grateful for the technologies, but are facing economic and external market information constraints. A few of the participants still believe that manual churning provides good quality even though it is labor intensive. Participants prefer using visual aids in farmer-to-farmer training because they believe this will be more effective and the knowledge gained will be sustainable.