Lincoln County Research Articles

A Weights-of-Evidence Model for Mapping the Probability of Fire Occurrence in Lincoln County, Nevada

Wildfire is a dynamic ecological process with spatial patterns that reflect multiple influences on fire occurrence and spread. We used weights of evidence techniques to model spatial patterns of wildfire occurrence in relation to landscape-scale drivers of fire in the southern Great Basin. Weights of evidence is a quantitative, data-driven, Bayesian modeling method that can be applied to spatial data for producing maps of expected probability of occurrence. We applied this method to Lincoln County, Nevada, for the period from 1994 to 2005. Fire data were obtained from the National Fire Occurrence Database and from the Bureau of Land Management. Spatial data sets used as potential predictors of fire occurrence included elevation, topography (terrain slope, hillshade illumination, basin vs. range, topographic roughness), geological substrate, vegetation cover type, lightning strike density, annual maximum temperature and total precipitation, soil infiltration and soil water capacity, population and road density, and distance to highways. Because very few human-caused fires were recorded, models were developed and tested for lightning-caused fires over the entire county and in forested areas only. Lightning strike density was the first or second most important predictor of fire occurrence in the entire county and in forested areas. Higher fire density and higher lightning strike density were observed in the eastern half of the county compared to the western half. Overall, the spatial distribution of wildfire occurrence was controlled more by ignition mechanisms than by processes influencing fuel moisture, accumulation, or both.

Davenport Living Snowfence Demonstration: Five-Year Update

Abstract Snowfences are specialized windbreaks that divert drifting snow so it will accumulate in a predictable location. They are used commonly in areas with significant snowfall such as the Great Plains and upper mid-west, but are very uncommon in eastern Washington. The purpose of this planting was to display establishment and initial growth in this portion of the country using technologies developed elsewhere. Snowfence demonstrations in southeastern Idaho and a small-scale dry land test plantings near Ritzville, Washington led to an interagency snowfence demonstration project north of Davenport, Washington. The project demonstrated new establishment technology and the value of living snowfences in this dry cropland region. Sixteen snowdrift sites in Lincoln County were identified by road maintenance personnel from the Washington State Department of Transportation. In April 2003, we planted 532 trees and installed fabric mulch on four 268-meter long rows at the selected demonstration site. While the p...

Degrees of confidence.

This article explores how quality care has become a reality for older people in Lincoln and how continuing professional development (CPD) has made a real difference to patient care, and has supported the career development of two nurses working with older people at Lincoln County Hospital.

Preservation of early and Middle Cambrian soft-bodied arthropods from the Pioche Shale, Nevada, USA

The Early–Middle Cambrian Pioche Shale of Lincoln County, Nevada preserves a diverse array of soft-bodied ecdysozoans that are well-known from the Burgess Shale soft-bodied fauna of British Columbia, Canada. At Pioche certain genera occur both above and below the Middle Cambrian boundary, allowing a comparison of the nature of their preservation across this interval. In order to investigate the mineralization of this fauna, SEM analysis of mineral textures and element mapping of Anomalocaris, Tuzoia and Canadaspis specimens using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was undertaken. Results of these analyses show that Early Cambrian specimens are generally preserved in botryoidal hematite which is dark red in hand specimen while specimens from the Middle Cambrian are preserved as kerogenized carbon films with associated oxidized pyrite crystals and framboids. Comparison with other Cambrian soft-bodied biotas reveals that the nature of preservation of the Middle Cambrian biota at Pioche is remarkably similar to that described for the Chengjiang soft-bodied fauna, China. There does not seem to be an adequate analogue for the Early Cambrian preservation of soft-bodied organisms at Pioche. The preservation of the fauna is discussed in relation to changing environmental conditions at the Early–Middle Cambrian boundary.

An Electrical Resistivity Survey of a Small Private Cemetery, Lincoln County, Kansas

An electrical resistivity (ER) survey was conducted in a cemetery located on private ground in Lincoln County, Kansas. The purpose was to ascertain ER signatures of known, side-by-side graves as well as that of one suspect grave in the cemetery. No modern grave stone markers are present in the cemetery; only rectangular ‘Outlines’ made of local, cobble-size Dakota Sandstone lying on the surface of the ground express the graves. No historical records or documented grave maps exist; only word-of-mouth information is available. The ER measurements ranged from 10-ohm-meters to 200 ohm-meters. The ER anomaly map and selected 2D-depth ER cross sections show higher ER anomaly values and similar grave shape-anomaly patterns over the two closely-spaced known graves. Lower ER values with no anomalous patterns are observed over the suspect grave position. Electrical resistivity is useful for targeting the location of the known graves at the Lincoln County site but was not as exact for the suspect grave. Physical exc...

Libby North Corridor Study

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) developed the corridor-planning process to bridge the gap between its statewide long-range transportation policy plan and project-level National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes. MDT cooperated with Lincoln County, Montana; the USDA Forest Service; and FHWA to complete the Libby North Corridor Study. The approach used new rules and regulations: 23 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 450, Appendix A: Linking the Transportation Planning and NEPA Processes. Corridor planning complements NEPA and ensures that decisions are made at the appropriate level with consideration of low-cost alternatives and available funding. Environmentally complex issues in the Pipe Creek area, north of Libby, prompted the study. It was uncertain whether any project was possible on this secondary highway (MT-567) because of its environmentally challenging location: parallel to Pipe Creek (Bull Trout Critical Habitat), within the Kootenai National Forest and grizzly bear habitat distribution area, and just outside the Cabinet–Yaak grizzly bear recovery zone. If this project had been developed under traditional methods beginning with the NEPA-compliant environmental review, a full environmental impact study would have been likely. Concerned that any reconstruction would be insurmountable and not fundable because of environmental sensitivities, MDT and the county took a step back. The corridor was reassessed at the planning level to obtain a better understanding of corridor limitations and needs and to determine what improvements, if any, could be pursued. With the aid of many stakeholders and agencies, the study identified recommendations for improving safety, maintaining the scenic character of the corridor, and minimizing impacts to threatened and endangered species.

Macro- and Micro-Habitat Characteristics Of Kuenzler'S Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus fendleri VAR Kuenzleri

Kuenzler's hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus fendleri var kuenzleri) is an endangered species thought to be endemic to south central New Mexico on the eastern slopes of the Sacramento, Capitan, and Guadalupe Mountains. We studied macro- and micro-habitat characteristics of Kuenzler's cactus in four study areas in Lincoln and Eddy Counties, New Mexico. Plants were found mostly on southern and eastern aspects at elevations from 1600 to 2100 m and on slopes ranging from 7 to 41°. Herbaceous biomass and foliar cover were similar at three spatial scales (concentric circles with diameters of 30, 56, and 110 cm) surrounding plants. These results suggest that Kuenzler's cacti are randomly distributed with respect to these habitat features, and do not support the hypothesis that Kuenzler's cacti grow in local habitats where associated vegetation provides thermal protection.

Joseph Swan (1791–1874): Pioneer of Research on Peripheral Nerves

Joseph Swan was born in 1791 and appointed surgeon to Lincoln County Hospital in 1814. In addition to his clinical work, he carried out what were probably the first animal experiments on nerve injuries. These were mostly on rabbits, in which the sciatic nerves were partly or wholly divided, had a section excised, or were ligated. He found that regeneration could occur, even after neurectomy. He reported these results, together with his experience in human patients and the effects of neurectomy in a horse, in an essay of 1819, which won the Jacksonian Prize of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is still preserved there. In 1827 he moved to London, where he devoted himself mainly to dissections of the nervous system and was active in the College. He retired to Filey in Yorkshire, where he died in 1874.

Microstratigraphy, trilobite biostratinomy, and depositional environment of the “Lower Cambrian” Ruin Wash Lagerstätte, Pioche Formation, Nevada

The uppermost 43 cm of Dyeran strata at the Ruin Wash Lagerstätte (Chief Range, Lincoln County, Nevada) contain nonmineralized invertebrates and exceptionally preserved, articulated olenelloid trilobites. However, the environmental factors responsible for the preservation of olenelloids in this unusual state at Ruin Wash have received little study and are therefore poorly understood. Microstratigraphic analysis of this interval reveals that the strata, comprised almost exclusively of clay-sized particles and rather monotonous and featureless in outcrop, were deposited as a series of thin event beds interpreted as tempestites. The energy of deposition progressively waned then waxed through the interval, and benthic redox conditions shifted concurrently. Biostratinomic data for more than 500 trilobite specimens encountered in the measured section reveal that the trilobite fauna was autochthonous, although winnowed surfaces rich in bioclasts occurring at the base and top of the section indicate intervals of prolonged pre-burial exposure time and/or in situ reworking. Trilobite biostratinomy was strongly influenced by subtle environmental shifts: the degree of disarticulation and sclerite fracturing correlate positively with event bed energy and inferred bottom-water oxygen content. These results demonstrate that (1) preservation of articulated trilobites is favoured near the distal limit of scouring associated with depositional events, where rapid sedimentation occurs in the absence of substrate reworking; and (2) differential taphonomic overprint on trilobite preservation can occur within a monofacial succession, driven by subtle environmental change insufficient to leave a distinct lithological signature. This highlights the need for careful microstratigraphic, sedimentological, and ichnological analysis prior to comparison of palaeobiological or palaeoecological parameters inferred from fossil assemblages, even when the assemblages occur within the same lithofacies.

Geochemistry of the Bonito Lake stock, Lincoln County, New Mexico: Petrogenesis and hydrothermal alteration

The Bonito Lake stock is one of three stocks that intrude the Sierra Blanca Volcanics in the Nogal-Bonito mining district of New Mexico. The 26.6-Ma stock consists primarily of porphyritic syenite with subordinate quartz syenite and monzonite. SiO 2 concentrations range from 54 to 66 weight percent. Na 2 O exceeds K 2 O and combined alkalis average 9.4 weight percent. The rocks are alkaline and metaluminous and plot in the syenite and syenodiorite fields on an R 1 R 2 multicationic plot. The chondrite-normalized extended trace element diagram has a negative slope with Ba values 167 to 286 times chondritic values and Yb values eight to 14 times chondritic values. The chondrite-normalized REE plot has a negative slope with mild LREE enrichment. (La/Yb) N values range from 15 to 22 and the mean Eu/Eu* is 0.91. Clinopyroxene, zircon, and apatite fractionation, along with feldspar accumulation were the most important factors in controlling elemental abundances. Quasi Pearce Element Ratio (PER) analysis confirms the role of clinopyroxene fractionation, as well as indicates that an increase in K and a loss of Ca ± Na occurred during alteration. The quasi PER analysis also shows that the rocks are slightly metasomatized. Whole-rock δ 18 O values for the Bonito Lake stock range from 2.0 to 8.4 per mil. Oxygen isotope values for the more permeable surrounding volcanic rocks range from 1.0 to 7.8 per mil. The lower values of the volcanic rocks are reflective of meteoric-hydrothermal water interaction. These data help us better understand not only this stock, but also the Sierra Blanca igneous complex and the Lincoln County Porphyry Belt. This study also contributes to our understanding of the Nogal-Bonito mining district and the larger Rocky Mountain alkalic province.

Alleged Evil Genius: The Life and Times of Judge James H. Ferguson (review)

Reviewed by: Alleged Evil Genius: The Life and Times of Judge James H. Ferguson Paul D. Casdorph Alleged Evil Genius: The Life and Times of Judge James H. Ferguson. By Kenneth R. Bailey. (Charleston, WV: Quarrier Press, 2006. Pp. xiii, 210.) Professor Kenneth R. Bailey has produced a significant addition to West Virginia historiography with his excellent biography of Judge James Harvey Ferguson. With scholarly depth and good craftsmanship his study brings to life a little-known mover in the legal, political, and economic life of the state throughout much of the nineteenth century. In addition to his successful political career extending over fifty-two years, the self-taught Ferguson developed into one of the best lawyers ever produced in the state. Bailey tells the reader up front that his study "does not challenge earlier works but brings to light the life and works of a man whose contribution to the state's history has been under reported and largely ignored." After arriving in the Cabell County town of Barboursville in 1835 from cismontane Virginia, Ferguson worked as a cobbler and studied law until his 1840 admission to the bar. He served as jailor for Cabell County and then was appointed prosecuting attorney for Logan County in 1845, a post he held until 1848 when he won a seat in the Virginia legislature. His political stature grew considerably during 1850-1851 when he became one of three delegates to the Virginia Constitutional Convention from a district composed of Cabell, Mason, Putnam, Boone, and Logan Counties. Although Ferguson suffered financially while away from his legal practice during the extended stay in Richmond, he was able to rub shoulders with numerous prominent men. He had been reelected to the legislature in l850 which limited his participation in the convention, but he wholeheartedly supported the new constitution of 1851 which granted the franchise to all white males over the age of twenty-one and brought other reforms sought by the western counties. Although never a slave owner himself, he generally took a pro-slavery position throughout the pre-Civil War era. A genuine mystery engulfed Ferguson in the 1850s when he abruptly disappeared from western Virginia–probably bound for the West. Wild speculation from an association with Brigham Young to another woman surrounded his absence before and after the event. Ferguson, who would never discuss the matter, just as suddenly returned to Barboursville and hung out his shingle in April 1864. The author thinks "there will never be a definitive answer to his disappearance." Ferguson was elected judge of a district encompassing Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, Logan, and Boone Counties in 1868 on the Unionist ticket, and, though he served but eighteen months, he was known for the rest of his life [End Page 104] as "Judge Ferguson." Despite financial troubles ending in bankruptcy, by 187l he had relocated in Charleston where he formed a legal practice with John E. Kenna, a congressman and later U.S. senator from West Virginia. He not only joined lawyers W. A. Quarrier and E. Willis Wilson (afterwards governor) in deflecting a legal challenge to permanent location of the capitol in Charleston, but he also began to amass a considerable fortune by representing New York bankers in complicated court proceedings over vast land holdings in the state. Ferguson was able to build still-standing "Grand View," a private home overlooking the Kanawha River and downtown Charleston. Further tenure in the West Virginia legislature ensued until 1891 when he won election for the last time, and where he generally took positions easing restrictions on former Confederates who sought reintegration into the state's political and economic fabric. Political and legal associations with men such as William A. McCorkle, Henry Gassaway Davis, Collis P. Huntington, and Johnson Newlon Camden, the latter an associate of the Rockefellers, enabled Ferguson to enhance his reputation. In short, he became "the Alleged Evil Genius of the West Virginia Democracy." Bailey asserts that "his years in the political arena placed him in a leadership role in the Democratic Party as it fought to wrest control of West Virginia from the Republicans following the Civil War." A long running struggle with alcohol led to his unsuccessful...

A&E waits online.

Lincoln County Hospital's emergency department has installed a webcam so that people with minor injuries can check from home how long they may have to wait for treatment.

Evaluation of Techniques for Categorizing Group Membership of White‐Tailed Deer

Abstract: We studied sexual segregation, particularly patterns of group membership for white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), in Lincoln County, Minnesota, USA, to evaluate current techniques used to categorize animals when studying sexual segregation. We categorized group membership according to Hirth (1977) and grouped individuals using our solitary categorization method. Our solitary method was most sensitive to changes in behavior and physiology exhibited by reproductively active females and their association with other deer during sexual segregation.

Olmsted Iron Works

Russell Gage Olmsted (1844–1925) of Hamilton, Ontario, was a distant Canadian relative of eminent American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903). He was born in Binbrook Township to Sarah Martin and Samuel Nash Olmsted, whose father, Russell Olmsted, had been a pioneer of West Lincoln County. The boy went to local schools, and worked on his father's farm before acquiring his own property at Ancaster. He married Charlotte Rymal, daughter ofJoseph Rymal, Liberal Member ofParliament of the Dominion of Canada, and grand-daughter of Jacob Rymal, a Liberal member of the prior governing body, the Upper Canada Assembly.

Effects of Invasive Eastern Redcedar on Capture Rates of <I>Nicrophorus americanus</I> and Other Silphidae

Because of fire suppression and improper land management, native eastern redcedar, Juniperus virginiana L., is invading many grassland areas. Among these areas are the Loess Canyons of southeastern Lincoln County, NE, which support a large population of the federally endangered American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus Olivier. In the past 30 yr, cedar encroachment has covered >30% of this landscape and is increasing at a rate of 2% per year. The effects of cedar trees on remaining populations of American burying beetle are currently unknown. In this study, we sampled two sites in Lincoln County, NE, by placing paired baited pitfall traps (N = 16) in cedar-dominated and open grassland habitats during June and August 2004 and 2005. We collected significantly more Silphidae, including American burying beetle in open habitats. All American burying beetle were marked and released. The recapture rate of these beetles was two times higher in cedar sites than in open sites. Among the Silphidae, only Nicrophorus orbicollis Say was collected significantly more often in cedar areas. The results of this study indicate that cedars reduce numbers of most silphid species, likely by limiting their ability to forage for carrion, a required resource for feeding and reproduction. This is the first study to directly examine the impact of cedar on Silphidae, and our results have important implications in the Great Plains and beyond. However, future studies must examine the impacts of cedar management, including mechanical control or prescribed fire, on American burying beetle and other silphid species.

Nurse-led ‘one stop’ clinic for elective tonsillectomy referrals

Balancing new referrals with limited clinic capacity is a challenge. At Lincoln County Hospital, referrals for tonsillectomy have been managed by an experienced ENT nurse practitioner, in order to deal with this problem more effectively. We reviewed tonsillectomy referrals made in a one year period to determine if surgical outcomes were satisfactory. Results were compared with figures available from the national prospective tonsillectomy audit. This was a retrospective study, assessing patients referred to the ENT department at Lincoln County Hospital. We reviewed the number of patients who had proceeded to surgery and the rate of complications. One hundred and fifty-nine patients had been referred for tonsillectomy over the one year period. One hundred and forty-seven patients had been seen in clinic and 12 had not attended their clinic appointment. Following consultation with the nurse practitioner, 125 patients had proceeded to surgery. Five episodes of bleeding were recorded as complications postoperatively; giving a bleeding complication rate of 4.7 per cent, compared with a rate of 5.7 per cent from the national prospective tonsillectomy audit. A trained nurse practitioner can safely and effectively facilitate the complete process of managing a routine pre-operative tonsillectomy patient, from primary care referral to arranging admission for surgery.

Early Pliocene Crotaphytus and Gambelia (Squamata: Crotaphytidae) from the Panaca Formation of Southeastern Nevada

Two localities in the Panaca Formation, Meadow Valley, Lincoln County, Nevada, have produced squamate remains that date to 4.9–4.7 Ma. Included are fossil maxillae of Crotaphytus sp. (Collared Lizards) and a dentary of Gambelia sp. (Leopard Lizards). To identify these fossils, diagnostic dental characters were used to distinguish the two genera. The toothrow of Crotaphytus exhibits wide, robust teeth and consists of mostly tricuspid teeth that show little or no recurvature. Gambelia dentition differs in having highly recurved, parallel-sided teeth throughout the toothrow, which contains more unicuspid than tricuspid teeth. Published records of valid Crotaphytus date to the middle Pliocene (3.7–3.1 Ma) and Gambelia date to the early to middle Pliocene (4.18–3.58 Ma). The Panaca Formation fossils described herein mark the oldest known record of both taxa.

A ‘Murderous Affair in Lincoln County’: Politics, Violence, and Memory in a Civil War Era Kentucky Community

The 1867 assassination of Unionist James H. Bridgewater typified politically motivated community violence in central Kentucky during the Civil War Era. His assassins, members of a band of ‘regulators,’ viewed Bridgewater as representative of ongoing federal interference in the Commonwealth and thus a hindrance to their local agenda. Regulators used terror tactics both to stymie political competition for the building blocks of state power, including the offices of sheriff and magistrate, and to impose a white supremacist social order after the formal abolition of slavery. Like‐minded partisan editors sought to legitimize both the actions of these night riders and of state and local elected officials by arguing that ‘outlaws’ such as Bridgewater had to die so that law and order might be restored, while assuring readers that such things did not happen to ‘good citizens.’ In so doing, these editors laid the foundation for a usable memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction in Kentucky.

Wildlife Damage Management Protection Efforts on a Mule Deer Population in Eastern Nevada: 2003 thru 2005

In September 2003, the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners directed the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) to contract with the USDA APHIS Wildlife Services Program (WS) to conduct wildlife damage management (WDM) activities for the protection of mule deer in eastern Nevada. Responding to the Commission’s directive, NDOW requested WS to initiate wildlife damage management efforts to protect a population of adult and juvenile mule deer in Lincoln County. The coyote was the only predator targeted for removal from the project area by various removal methods. WS personnel also collected coyote mandibles from the project area, and the cementum aging process was used to determine the age structure of coyotes prior to and during the ongoing WDM protection efforts. Results from the tooth aging analysis indicate that the average age of coyotes dropped somewhat during the second year of removal, although not significantly. Mule deer fawn and adult populations are monitored by NDOW to determine what effect(s) coyote removal is having on the mule deer population located in the protection area. The protection area is mainly comprised of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, and nearly all WDM activities were conducted on these public lands. This is an ongoing 5-year mule deer protection project. As an added dimension of the resource protection efforts, WS collected blood samples from coyotes removed during WDM activities to permit the monitoring of various wildlife diseases by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Washoe County Vector Control.

Legal Culture and Community on the Great Plains: State of Nebraska v. John Burley

State of Nebraska v. John Burley was the first criminal trial in Lincoln County, Nebraska, and the first criminal appeal reviewed by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The legal proceedings surrounding this case indicate that the early citizens of nascent Great Plains communities shared an understanding of the law and its institutions that allowed for the immediate implementation of courts, law enforcement, and jails. A shared legal culture derived from New England and Midwestern states enabled new communities to uphold traditions of law and order, even in the “.wild and wooly” climes of the Great Plains frontier.