Scholarship & Research
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Item Impact: how ecotourism is harming our wild spaces(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Fajack, Zachary Blake; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThe following thesis looks at how the U.S. National Parks Service has balanced (or at least attempted to balance) two competing goals: to preserve America's wild spaces and make those wild spaces accessible to the public. The thesis explains how the parks came to find themselves in this balancing act and how they have managed to tackle the conflict in the past. The main argument of the thesis is that much of this conflict appeared as the result of the park's implementation of transportation infrastructure. To effectively support this argument, the project broadly goes over how roadways took over much of the transportation infrastructure in the parks and how they negatively impact the environment. The thesis then discusses how the National Parks Service may more effectively combat those impacts. The remainder of the paper dedicates itself to constructing a travel film that effectively communicates the problems and solutions found and details of the film's production. The thesis found that travel films are uniquely suited to this goal and how their utilization may serve as a powerful advocacy device.Item Bodies, public land, and belonging: the story of disability in Yellowstone National Park(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Ashley, Guadalupe Rose; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Catherine Dunlop and Mark Fiege (co-chair)Even though disabled individuals constitute 26% of the United States' population, the reality and recognition of disability is mostly absent from dominant historical narratives, especially narratives about national parks. I seek to remedy this problem in this Master's thesis by retelling the story of Yellowstone National Park from a disability perspective. Broadly, I argue that able-bodied narratives of wilderness ruled and have continued to rule Park policy, often resulting in the exclusion of disabled individuals from these spaces. Yet, over the course of Yellowstone's 150-year existence, the Park began to slowly consider and integrate more holistic interpretations of disability and disability access. My thesis begins by considering the early years of the Park, the 1860s and 1870s. I argue that four of the 'founding fathers' of Yellowstone were disabled themselves but distracted others from their disability by highlighting ableist narratives of wilderness. My second chapter picks up this theme and considers how these narratives impacted the debate between access and preservation in the 1960s and 1970s. I conclude that even though there were more instances of disability access present, nineteenth-century ideals of wilderness (preservation) controlled Yellowstone policy, making it difficult for disabled individuals to fully experience the Park. My third and final chapter highlights the late 1980s and 1990s to examine how an increase in federal accessibility legislation impacted Yellowstone. Although the Park initially continued to ground itself in exclusive management policies that valued an untouched wilderness - particularly as it pertained to the backcountry - after the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, the Park began to integrate a more holistic interpretation of access that allowed disabled individuals to fully experience Yellowstone's backcountry. Despite these much-needed strides towards more equitable policies and inclusion, the Park still fell short of incorporating true access in all spaces, an aspect that I consider in my conclusion.Item The impacts of place based education in a middle school science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Tinder, Cathleen; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisPlace-Based Education is grounded in teaching and learning in the immediate environment, fostering students' connection to place, creating vibrant partnerships between schools and communities. Lesson plans are focused on local topics, and learning is focused on the natural settings around the school or community. Place-Based Education seeks to remedy the consequences of students having less exposure to the natural world, due to digital screen time saturation. This is particularly relevant to science education, and to instilling a love of science and nature in children. This study was conducted on 33 sixth graders at Sea Crest School, an independent school in the San Francisco Bay Area. PBE-focused curriculum was implemented in partnership with the National Park Service, measuring whether PBE had more of an impact on (1) science comprehension, (2) curiosity about and connection to the local landscape, or (3) curiosity and interest in the subject matter. Quantitative measurements included a pre-and post-test and Likert survey, and weekly assessments during the six-week unit, which cycled equally between PBE and traditional inquiry. Qualitative measurements included student interviews, field investigation journals, and post field trip reflections. The results indicated that PBE had the greatest impact on science learning, with substantial positive gains in connection to environment/sense of stewardship, and curiosity and interest in subject matter.Item A maintenance complex for Glacier National Park(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1970) Smith, Richard W.Item The smell of cedars steeped in rain : a history of film and the national parks(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2015) Goode, Eliza Lily; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThe national park system reflects a defining aspect of American identity: a fundamental connection to nature. In many ways the history of the national park system is a history of American attitudes toward wilderness and nature. Art and artists have played a crucial role in that history, particularly writers, photographers, and painters. However, the nonfiction films that portray the national parks are mostly educational in nature, and too often fall short of the joyful representations that celebrated painters, writers, and photographers have created for and in the parks. I propose a less interpretive, more immersive model for national park films.Item Western nature--German culture : German representations of Yellowstone, 1872-1910(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1994) Pfund, Johanna MariaItem The evolving national park idea : Yellowstone National Park, 1872-1890(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1999) Smith, LangdonItem Assessment of resource changes in backcountry campsites from 1989-1996 in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1998) Steele, Victoria GraceItem An economic analysis of national park visitation rates(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2013) Watson, Christopher Lawrence; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Randal R. Rucker and D. Mark AndersonThis thesis estimates visitation to U.S. national parks over the period 1993 -2010 in attempt to determine what factors influence visitation rates over time. Three factors are predicted to be important determinants of national park visitation rates. These factors are entrance fees, travel costs (represented by driving costs), and income. Both travel costs and income have been shown to be significant determinants of national park visitation rates in the economic literature; however, the effect of entrance fees on visitation rates is inconclusive. Determining how the factors of interest influence visitation rates is accomplished by first developing a theoretical demand and supply model of park visits. The theoretical model informs the empirical model with predictions for how changes in entrance fees affect the quantity of visits when fees are above, below, or at the market-clearing level of the fee. These predictions are tested empirically by estimating a linear model of both annual and monthly park-level visitation to a sample of 165 national parks. The main results of the analysis show that income is not a significant determinant of national park visitation rates, but that both travel costs and entrance fees have a negative effect on visitation. Further, more detailed estimation procedures that analyze visitation to parks pooled based on designation and level of use show that the effect of entrance fees on national park visitation rates is both park-specific and season-specific.Item Employing visitor studies and video media to better communicate science in National Parks(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2007) Koch, Alison Lindsey; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThe future of the National Park Service depends upon the agency's ability to educate the public to care for and preserve America's parks. In order to achieve this, parks must provide accurate, up-to-date scientific and preservation management information to visitors so that they gain a greater appreciation of parks by understanding what they protect. Although the Park Service has gone to great lengths to ensure scientific information is utilized in all management decision-making, no management documents or Park Service programs currently provide practical guidance or are adequately equipped to directly address communicating accurate and up-to-date scientific and preservation information to those who hold the future of parks in their hands: the public. Demands placed upon interpreters, who are the park staff primarily responsible for front lines visitor communication and services, are such that science communication can get lost in an array of other informational needs.