Scholarship & Research
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Item Adaptation and water resources management: examining adaptive governance in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Gilbert, Ashlie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sarah P. Church; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.A pressing challenge facing water resource users and managers of the twenty-first century is how to address resource needs under the complexities of climate change, growth and development, habitat degradation, and more. Under these pressures, scholars and practitioners look to adaptive frameworks to increase the resilience of communities and ecosystems. Popular adaptive approaches to natural resource management include adaptive management, adaptive co-management, and adaptive governance. In this thesis, we examine adaptive governance in Montana, USA. Adaptive governance is commonly conceptualized as the multitude of actors, organizations, and institutions that utilize information sharing, collaboration, and flexible policies to promote resilient social-ecological systems. Although there has been a substantial increase in scholarship examining adaptive governance and related adaptation terms in the last forty years, scholars have yet to distinguish them from one another clearly. Further, there has been little research on adaptive governance conducted in the headwaters State of Montana. This thesis is an attempt to reduce these gaps in the literature. First, I review the command-and-control paradigm, decentralized approaches to natural resource management, adaptive management, and adaptive co-management. These concepts provide important background for examining the saliency of adaptive governance and separating it from related terminology. Then, we examine adaptive governance in Montana using semi-structured interviews (n=36), a round one survey (n=79), and a round two survey (n=42). Our findings show that water resource professionals and stewards working with non-governmental and governmental entities in Montana embrace collaboration, diverse viewpoints, information sharing, and local knowledge in their work, all of which are described as necessary for adaptive governance. However, we find that this water resource stewardship and protection work is sometimes stalled or derailed by a lack of government support and shifting administrations. Our findings lead us to assert the importance of governmental support in adaptive governance and propose a definition to re-frame the concept for future scholars and practitioners.Item The inner workings & long-term impacts of unconventional oil and gas development in the Bakken Shale Formation(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Smith, Kristin Kingsbury; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Julia Hobson Haggerty; Julia H. Haggerty was a co-author of the article, 'Devolved governance and alternative dispute resolutions: an example from the Bakken' in the volume 'Governing shale gas: development, citizen participation and decision making in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe' which is contained within this dissertation.; Julia H. Haggerty, David Kay and Roger Coupal were co-authors of the article, 'Using shared services to mitigate boomtown impacts in the Bakken Shale play: resourcefulness or over-adaptation?' in the journal 'Journal of rural and community development' which is contained within this dissertation.; Julia H. Haggerty was a co-author of the article, 'Exploitable ambiguities & the unruliness of natural resource dependence: public infrastructure in North Dakota's Bakken Formation' in the journal 'Journal of rural studies' which is contained within this dissertation.; Julia H. Haggerty was a co-author of the article, 'How energy communities subsidize industry: road infrastructure investments in the Bakken Shale Formation, U.S.' submitted to the journal 'Annals of the American Association of Geographers' which is contained within this dissertation.This dissertation argues that public infrastructure investments are a primary way in which communities subsidize unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development at the local level. Notably, these direct and indirect costs are often ignored in assessments of the UOG industry's distribution of costs and benefits. Natural resource extraction typically requires large capital investments from the public and private sectors, particularly in rural and remote geographies. This creates a risk of resource dependence as communities that over-accommodate industry may struggle with large municipal debts and/or underutilized facilities once industry leaves. While public infrastructure investments are typically assumed to mutually benefit the public and industry, the extent to which infrastructure benefits communities in the long run is unclear. UOG heightens these unknowns due to its volatility. UOG is a particularly infrastructure-dependent resource due to the industry's geographically dispersed nature and subsequent labor intensity. Yet, there is surprisingly limited research on the capacity of local governments to address the burdens of UOG development on public infrastructure and government services. This research addresses these knowledge gaps through a series of case studies on infrastructure investments that communities made during the boom in UOG in the Bakken Shale Formation (eastern Montana and western North Dakota, United States). It uses a mixed-methods approach, drawing on over 90 stakeholder interviews, document analyses, participant observations, and extensive field research. The findings suggest that communities in the Bakken struggled with infrastructure decisions due to the overwhelming pace, scale, and unpredictability of the UOG industry. Nonetheless, community leaders repeatedly demonstrated adaptability and innovation as they addressed the boom's challenges. This research demonstrates that infrastructure investments simultaneously reinforced and disrupted economic dependence on industry, illustrating the unpredictability and unruliness of the long-term impacts of UOG development at the local level. In the conclusion, the dissertation argues that unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development creates distinct geographies of production and distinct geographies of public finance.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 Sheep country in three western American localities: place identity, landscape, community, and family(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Sando, Linnea Christiana; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William WyckoffSheep ranching in the American West is a vanishing way of life, but one that has for generations shaped many of the region's communities and their cultural landscapes. This research explores how powerful and enduring place identities associated with sheep ranching and the wool industry have transformed communities in Sweet Grass County, Montana, Elko County, Nevada and Umatilla County, Oregon. To assess the evolving roles sheep ranching and the wool industry have played in cultivating place identity, I used interviews and conversations, 'stories,' landscape observation and analysis, an analysis of past and contemporary creative endeavors, and archival works, such as government documents, local histories, newspaper articles, and promotional literature and imagery. I also explored the concept of place identity from varied perspectives, including from a community standpoint and a more in-depth family perspective. The sheep and wool industries did not unfold and impact the places and people in identical ways. Factors including the physical environment, local economies, key players and image makers, cultural backgrounds, and defining institutions of communities all played a role in shaping place identities. This research also shows the myriad ways communities and their residents incorporate the heritage of raising sheep into their daily lives, such as through festivals, community events, the sharing of social memories, and through creative works. The urban and rural landscapes in each case study also reflect the wool and sheep legacies, but this legacy is displayed differently based on distinctive environmental settings and unique settlement histories. By assessing the concept of place identity from varied perspectives and varied sources in three different localities, this dissertation provides a meaningful methodology for examining the ways place identities are created, nurtured, and reflected at multiple scales and in a diversity of communities.