The staying power of perceptions in a dynamic system : a longitudinal stakeholder analysis in the Yellowstone River Valley

Understanding how stakeholders conceptualize the dynamic environmental systems they live within and act upon is essential for long-term sustainability planning. For shared resource systems where decision making is increasingly democratized, agencies engage stakeholders to document local understandings of physical processes useful for resource management. For a variety of fiscal, logistical, and policy reasons, most studies are snapshots in time with few agencies able to devote resources for longitudinal studies. Yet for large river systems that regularly change with floods, drought, and floodplain development cycles, one-off social studies are unable to respond to such human- environment dynamism. To explore longitudinal human-water dynamics in the Yellowstone River reach in Montana (US), this study uses interviews with 15 individuals interviewed in 2006, 2012, and 2018 field seasons. The Yellowstone River is the largest undammed river in the US. It is located in the arid Western United States, and experiences annual flooding from mountain snowmelt, regular drought cycles, increased water use from floodplain development, irrigation, and recreation. Interviewees had a history of involvement with the Yellowstone River decision making and/or were riverfront landowners each with the capacity to shape the physical features of this system. This study takes a scholarly approach to expressed participant concerns as empirical evidence that reflects the socio-hydrological phenomenon occurring in the Yellowstone River Valley. Analysis of stakeholder accounts of physical processes pay special attention to expressions of how they understand the physical processes (flood, drought, and erosion) and how they express it should be managed. The benefit of engaging the same stakeholders with the same questions in 2006, 2012, and 2018 affords attention to any patterns of change over time concerning stakeholders' descriptions of riverine processes. Ultimately, this study brings clarity to the place-based phenomenon taking place in t Yellowstone River through a longitudinal comparative analysis.

How Two Different Cenozoic Geologic and Glacial History Paradigms Explain the Southcentral Montana Musselshell-Yellowstone River Drainage Divide Origin, USA

The accepted Cenozoic geologic and glacial history paradigm (accepted paradigm) considers the southcentral Montana Musselshell-Yellowstone River drainage divide to have originated during Tertiary (or preglacial) time while a new and different Cenozoic geologic and glacial history paradigm (new paradigm) describes how headward erosion of a northeast-oriented Musselshell River valley segment captured huge southeast-oriented meltwater floods to create the drainage divide late during a continental ice sheet’s melt history. Northwest to southeast oriented divide crossings (low points observed on detailed topographic maps where water once flowed across the drainage divide), southeast-oriented Yellowstone and Musselshell River segments immediately upstream from northeast-oriented Yellowstone and Musselshell River segments, and southeast- and northwest-oriented tributaries to northeast-oriented Yellowstone and Musselshell River segments indicate a major southeast-oriented drainage system predated the northeast-oriented Yellowstone and Musselshell River segments. Closeness of the divide crossings, divide crossing floor elevations, large escarpment-surrounded erosional amphitheater-shaped basins, and unusual flat-floored internally drained basin areas (straddling the drainage divide), all suggest the previous southeast-oriented drainage system moved large quantities of water which deeply eroded the region. In the mid-20th century geomorphologists working from the accepted paradigm perspective determined trying to explain such erosional landform evidence from the accepted paradigm perspective was a nonproductive research activity and now rarely investigate erosional landform origins. On the other hand, the new paradigm appears to explain most, if not all observed erosional landform features, although the two paradigms lead to significantly different regional Cenozoic geologic and glacial histories that cannot be easily compared.  

Movements of selected minnows between the lower Yellowstone River and its tributaries

Reduced population connectivity has been implicated as a cause of decreased distributions and abundances of many Great Plains fishes. However, scant empirical evidence quantifying movement and relating the contribution of spatial linkages to population abundances and resilience exists. We used otolith microchemistry analysis to characterize the movements of western silvery minnows (Hybognathus argyritis Girard, 1856), flathead chubs (Platygobio gracilis (Richardson, 1836)), and sand shiners (Notropis stramineus (Cope, 1865)) between the Yellowstone River and its tributaries. Sixty-nine percent of western silvery minnows, 65% of flathead chubs, and 42% of sand shiners moved between the Yellowstone River and tributaries. Mean total number of interchanges was highest among western silvery minnows (4.8 interchanges/mover), intermediate among flathead chubs (4.3 interchanges/mover), and lowest among sand shiners (1.4 interchanges/mover; P < 0.01). Natal movements were rare, but juvenile movements were common and frequent among all three species. Movements between main-stem and tributary habitats are probably prominent facets of the life cycles of other Great Plains minnows. Therefore, connectivity among such habitats should be a high conservation priority to enhance the long-term viability of such fishes.

sUAS Remote Sensing to Evaluate Geothermal Seep Interactions with the Yellowstone River, Montana, USA

Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) are becoming increasingly popular due to their affordability and logistical ease for repeated surveys. While sUAS-based remote sensing has many applications in water resource management, their applicability and limitations in fluvial settings is not well defined. This study uses a combined thermal-optic sUAS to monitor the seasonal geothermal influence of a 1-km-long reach of the Yellowstone River, paired with in-situ streambed temperature profiles to evaluate geothermal seep interactions with Yellowstone River in Montana, USA. Accurate river water surface elevation along the shoreline was estimated using structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry digital surface models (DSMs); however, water surface elevations were unreliable in the main river channel. Water temperature in thermal infrared (TIR) orthomosaics was accurate in temperature ranges of tens of degrees (>≈30 °C), but not as accurate in temperature ranges of several degrees (>≈15 °C) as compared to in-situ water temperature measurements. This allowed for identification of geothermal features but limited the ability to identify small-scale temperature changes due to river features, such as pools and riffles. The study concludes that rivers with an average width greater than or equal to 123% of the ground area covered by a TIR image will be difficult to study using structure from motion photogrammetry, given Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) altitude restrictions and sensor field of view. This study demonstrates the potential of combined thermal-optic sUAS systems to collect data over large river systems, and when combined with in-situ measurements, can further increase the sUAS utility in identifying river characteristics.

Two Ocean Pass: An Alternative Hypothesis for the Invasion of Yellowstone Lake by Lake Trout, and Implications for Future Invasions

Preventing the interbasin transfer of aquatic invasive species is a high priority for natural resource managers. Such transfers can be made by humans or can occur by dispersal through connected waterways. A natural surface water connection between the Atlantic and Pacific drainages in North America exists at Two Ocean Pass south of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri used this route to cross the Continental Divide and colonize the Yellowstone River from ancestral sources in the Snake River following glacial recession 14,000 bp. Nonnative lake trout Salvelinus namaycush were stocked into lakes in the Snake River headwaters in 1890 and quickly dispersed downstream. Lake trout were discovered in Yellowstone Lake in 1994 and were assumed to have been illegally introduced. Recently, lake trout have demonstrated their ability to move widely through river systems and invade headwater lakes in Glacier National Park. Our objective was to determine if lake trout and other nonnative fish were present in the connected waters near Two Ocean Pass and could thereby colonize the Yellowstone River basin in the past or future. We used environmental DNA (eDNA), electrofishing, and angling to survey for lake trout and other fishes. Yellowstone cutthroat trout were detected at nearly all sites on both sides of the Continental Divide. Lake trout and invasive brook trout S. fontinalis were detected in Pacific Creek near its confluence with the Snake River. We conclude that invasive movements by lake trout from the Snake River over Two Ocean Pass may have resulted in their colonization of Yellowstone Lake. Moreover, Yellowstone Lake may be vulnerable to additional invasions because several other nonnative fish inhabit the upper Snake River. In the future, eDNA collected across smaller spatial intervals in Pacific Creek during flow conditions more conducive to lake trout movement may provide further insight into the extent of non-native fish invasions in this stream.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MUSEUM IN ANTEBELLUM U.S. WESTERN TERRITORIAL EXPLORATION: UNDERSTANDING THE RELEVANCE OF COLLECTING FOSSILS AND THEIR CONSERVATION TO SOLVING LONG-STANDING GEOLOGIC AND PALEONTOLOGIC PROBLEMS—PART 1

The determination of pivotal moments in the history of a discipline of science can depend on the perspective of the observer. This narrative notes the importance of antebellum institutions in fostering research, research communication, and the potential for fossil conservation. The Smithsonian Institution (U.S. National Museum = National Museum of Natural History) provided a federal umbrella for fossil collection and curation when one was needed. However, along with other institutions, the success record of conserved fossil continental mollusks prior to 1855 is abysmal. Fossils from the first (Frémont in 1843), second (Harris–Audubon in 1843), and third (Evans–Shumard in 1853) expeditions to collect specimens are all now missing. As a clue to the general state of confusion one, terrestrial snail named by Hall and Meek (1855) was misplaced for over a century, but was recently found. Continental molluscan fossils should have served as temporal and environmental landmarks in the construction of geologic maps produced in the 1850s by Hitchcock, Marcou, Rogers, and Hall and Lesley. However, except for the Hall and Lesley map, they did not. Fossil information was published and available, but many fossils were not accessible. The Smithsonian was the recipient of Hayden's fossils and natural science specimens collected in 1854 and 1855. Hayden's fossils and observations resulted in numerous publications, not the least of which were those by Meek and Hayden in 1856 and 1857. For reasons that remain unknown, a number of type specimens (and associated material) used to describe species in 1856 were replaced by Meek in his 1876a monograph, when Meek and Hayden upper Missouri and Yellowstone River species were finally illustrated. Thus, undeclared neotypes have been masquerading as holotypes or members of syntypic (cotypic) series. Meek and Hayden entered the field of western territorial geological studies with only the preconceptions of geology not particularly relevant to what they were about to see. Their claim to fame was not subtle—they published based on observations and specimens. In almost all ways that were important, they were starting from scratch.