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MSW Portfolio: Finding Myself
Get PDFThis portfolio represents my personal and professional evolution from a registered nurse uncertain of her future, to a confident therapist with a clear vision for what is ahead. It is a reflection of three years of dedicated work in the University of Montana’s Master of Social Work program. Through this compilation, I highlight the skills, knowledge, and values I have cultivated while demonstrating my growth across the ten core competencies of social work.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/grad_portfolios/1449/thumbnail.jp
The Decadal Effects of Wildfire on Macroinvertebrate Communities in Southwest Montana
No full textIn the western United States, wildfires are increasing in frequency, intensity, and size due to climate change and historical land management practices. These environmental events have reshaped forested landscapes, affecting stream ecosystems and riparian zones. High-intensity wildfires can increase sediment and nutrient loading, reduce riparian canopy cover, and alter in-stream habitat, leading to changes in macroinvertebrate community composition. While the immediate (1-10 years) wildfire effects on macroinvertebrates are fairly well documented, decadal (10+ years) responses remain understudied. This research gap limits our understanding of post-fire trajectory and stream ecosystem resilience. To address this knowledge gap, we can identify how wildfires alter macroinvertebrate (aquatic insects) community trajectories. I investigated the effects of high-intensity wildfires on macroinvertebrate communities in southwest Montana using a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design and a time-since-fire approach. Using long-term macroinvertebrate data from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, I examined how functional feeding groups and life history traits may impact community composition 1–20 years post-fire. As fire increases sunlight and nutrients in streams, I expect increased algal production and a shift in functional feeding groups favoring those groups that primarily consume algae, like collectors and grazers. In addition, I predict that the post-wildfire macroinvertebrate community will favor individuals with more than one generation per year because they tend to have faster population growth rates and could spread more rapidly. Overall, there was a lot of variation in macroinvertebrate community composition changes across streams within both burned and unburned sites
The Montana Travel Industry - 2024 Summary
Get PDF2024 summary infographic of the Montana travel and recreation industry
Beyond Inclusion: Fostering Authentic Belonging in Social Work Interventions
No full texthttps://scholarworks.umt.edu/grad_portfolios/1469/thumbnail.jp
Campus Connect
Get PDFThis paper examines how university campus design can be strategically utilized to support student mental health, drawing on global examples to inspire improvements in the University of Montana’s (UM) campus planning. The University of Montana, like most college campuses worldwide, is currently facing pressing mental health challenges among the student body. College can be a highly stressful experience, where students encounter unique pressures that, without adequate support, can lead to mental health crises. Many universities across the globe have recognized the role of campus design in promoting mental well-being, and they have adopted innovative, student-centered design strategies to foster positive mental health outcomes that could be implemented at our local University. We plan to apply these strategies by increasing the collaboration between those in charge of design and the student body by communicating with the student body on how design and planning work at the university, and by giving recommendations to the university for better engagement of the student body as they move forward with their upcoming publicly advertised projects
Foraging Opportunists: Encouraging Reconnection with the Land
Get PDFContextualizing the history of opportunist and native plant species opens options for land management and reconnection to cultural land practices. By recognizing that opportunist species often spread as a result of relocation for practical usage, we determine that reintroducing these uses can lead to an escalation in harvesting these plants. Uses of opportunist plants are diverse and include food sources, artistic practices, and medicine. Foraging also leads to improved human-land-connectedness as well as a deeper connection to ancestral and cultural traditions, which has been found to improve mental health. Focusing on this method of land management will limit the need for strategies that require heavy resources, such as herbicides and hand pulling. In turn, increased removal of opportunistic species by foragers will reduce stress on native plant populations and increase ecological biodiversity. To facilitate the removal and uses of these plants, we propose an educational approach that spreads the necessary information for interested parties to forage these plants. This approach includes compiling a pamphlet of available opportunists and their uses. It will also incorporate protocols and strategies to safely forage these plants (e.g., how to check what areas are sprayed by pesticides and proper removal of the plant bodies). To publicize this knowledge, we will table art products made with these plants on campus. Lastly, we aim to create a framework and expand common knowledge on these species so that global communities can apply these principles in their practices
862(XV_i):055 - American Flag Pin
No full textA metal and enamel American flag lapel pinhttps://scholarworks.umt.edu/baucus_artifacts/1076/thumbnail.jp
UNRAVELLING THE PHYSIOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF FIRE ON WESTERN U.S. CONIFERS
Get PDFWildfires are inherently spatially heterogenous, with many trees within larger burned areas not immediately killed by fire. These surviving trees often sustain some level of fire injury, yet we lack a mechanistic understanding of how these injuries affect post-fire tree physiological function, thus affecting whether trees go on to recover or die. Current hypotheses differentiate effects of fire on tree carbon balance and hydraulic function, yet critical uncertainties remain about the relative importance of each, how they interact, and whether these impacts make trees more vulnerable to post-fire disturbances like drought. Via field experiments utilizing prescribed fires and two widespread western U.S. conifers, I aimed to improve our understanding of the physiological effects of fire on tree function by answering three overarching research questions: (1) How do fire injuries impact tree carbon balance?, (2) What is the relative importance of fire-caused impacts to tree carbon balance and hydraulic function, and how to these impacts interact?, and (3) What is the potential for fire-caused injuries and their physiological impacts to offset benefits from fire-induced reductions in competition on tree water relations and growth under drought? I first show that fire injuries to tree crowns of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson) directly relate to fire-induced declines in tree non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) after a spring prescribed fire, and that trees with the strongest NSC declines eventually died. This work suggests that fire-caused tree carbon imbalance is a cause of delayed post-fire tree mortality. Next, I show that fire-caused impacts to NSC are immediate, persistent, correlated with crown injury severity, and strongly related to post-fire mortality in both ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco). In contrast, hydraulic impacts are delayed and not directly attributable to fire-caused injuries, although some burned trees do exhibit signs of increased hydraulic dysfunction and water stress prior to death, suggesting that fire may indirectly affect tree water relations possibly through an interaction with direct fire impacts on NSC. Finally, I show that trees may experience a period of reduced growth and increased vulnerability to drought in the first few growing seasons post-fire as a result of fire injuries. Altogether, my dissertation adds to our fundamental understanding of how fire affects tree physiological function and suggests how this knowledge can improve our ability to predict patterns of delayed post-fire mortality and tree vulnerability to post-fire drought
Master of Social Work Portfolio
No full texthttps://scholarworks.umt.edu/grad_portfolios/1474/thumbnail.jp
Montana Kaimin, January 23, 2025
Get PDFStudent newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/studentnewspaper/11162/thumbnail.jp