Sheridan County Research Articles

Modeling Rangeland Grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) Population Density Using a Landscape-Level Predictive Mapping Approach.

Since the mid-19th century, grasshoppers have posed a substantial threat to North American rangelands as well as adjacent croplands and have the potential to cost the economy millions of dollars in annual damages. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have gone to great lengths to ensure that rangeland grasshopper populations remain below an economic impact threshold across the western United States. However, current grasshopper forecasting efforts by the USDA are based solely on the previous year's grasshopper density and do not take region-specific environmental factors (e.g., climate and topography) into account. To better understand the effects of climate and landscape heterogeneity on rangeland grasshopper populations, we assessed the relationship between grasshopper density survey data from across 56 sites between 2007 and 2017 for four counties in north central Wyoming with 72 biologically relevant geographic information system (GIS)-based environmental variables. A regression model was developed to predict mean adult grasshopper density from 2012 to 2016, which was then used to forecast grasshopper density in 2017. The best-fit predictive model selected using Akaike's Information Criterion (AICc) explained 34.5% of the variation in mean grasshopper density from 2012 to 2016. October precipitation and past mean grasshopper density from 2007 to 2011 were among the best predictors of mean grasshopper density in 2012-2016. Our results also suggest that rangelands in central Sheridan County, southwest Johnson County, and southeast Washakie County are more prone to grasshopper outbreaks. Most importantly, this study demonstrated that both biotic and abiotic environmental variables influence grasshopper density and should be considered in future forecasting efforts.

Effects of Ventenata dubia removal on rangelands of northeast Wyoming

AbstractVentenata [Ventenata dubia (Leers) Coss.] is one of several annual grass invaders of the western United States. Ventenata dubia is documented reducing the forage availability for livestock and wildlife as well as lowering biodiversity in the Great Basin. This species has recently spread to the Great Plains, where it could bring these impacts with it. We attempt to answer questions on whether or not conservation practices, in this case removal of V. dubia with herbicide, result in recovery of forage resources and biodiversity. We answer these questions by measuring biomass, cover, and nutrient content 1-yr posttreatment at 9 sites in Sheridan County, WY, conducted in two years. Perennial grasses have higher crude protein and total digestible nutrients than V. dubia, and removal of V. dubia resulted in a positive perennial grass response both years. Further, the differences in pattern of growth between perennial and annual species, with annual grasses quickly senescing early in the year, make perennial grasses a more dependable forage base with higher available nutrients. Interestingly, total biomass and nutrient mass did not change after V. dubia removal due to equal replacement with perennial grasses. Species richness and diversity were unaffected by removal of V. dubia. Our results suggest that managing invasive annual grasses, particularly V. dubia, in the Northern Great Plains can improve forage resources for livestock and wildlife while maintaining species diversity. Therefore, proactive monitoring and management efforts to prevent spread should be prioritized in this region.

Geologic Map of the Park Reservoir Quadrangle, Sheridan County, Wyoming

This project involved the construction of a detailed geologic map of the Park Reservoir, Wyoming 7.5-Minute Quadrangle (Scale 1:24,000). The Quadrangle occurs entirely in the Bighorn National Forest, which is a popular recreation site for thousands of people each year. This research advances the scientific understanding of the geology of the Bighorn Mountains and the Archean geology of the Wyoming Province. Traditional geologic mapping techniques were used in concert with isotopic age determinations. Our goal was to further subdivide the various phases of the 2.8–3.0 Ga Archean rocks based on their rock types, age, and structural features. This research supports the broader efforts of the Wyoming State Geological Survey to complete 1:24,000 scale geologic maps of the state. The northern part of the Bighorn Mountains is composed of the Bighorn batholith, a composite complex of intrusive bodies that were emplaced between 2.96–2.87 Ga. Our mapping of the Park Reservoir Quadrangle has revealed the presence of five different Archean quartzofeldspathic units, two sets of amphibolite and diabase dikes, a small occurrence of the Cambrian Flathead Sandstone, two Quaternary tills, and Quaternary alluvium. The Archean rock units range in age from ca. 2.96–2.75 Ga, the oldest of which are the most ancient rocks yet reported in the Bighorn batholith. All the Archean rocks have subtle but apparent planar fabric elements, which are variable in orientation and are interpreted to represent magmatic flow during emplacement. The Granite Ridge tear fault, which is the northern boundary of the Piney Creek thrust block, is mapped into the Archean core as a mylonite zone. This relationship indicates that the bounding faults of the Piney Creek thrust block were controlled by weak zones within the Precambrian basement rocks.

Spatial Externalities in Aquifers with Varying Thickness: Theory and Numerical Results for the Ogallala Aquifer

Abstract This article studies the divergence in the planning and equilibrium solutions for a multicell aquifer with heterogeneity in cell depths. A spatial model is developed that accounts for the lateral movement of water between cells. The optimal steady state of this problem is compared with the competitive equilibrium steady state. Studying the steady state conditions in the two outcomes allows the nature of the spatial externalities to be characterized and reveals the effects of varying cell depths. In a two-cell specification of the model, closed-form expressions are derived for the difference in optimal steady state water table elevations between the two cells. The two-cell model is then applied numerically to quantify the spatial externalities and asymmetry effects in Sheridan County, Kansas, which overlies the Ogallala aquifer. Simulated welfare losses in this model are relatively large and are sensitive to the asymmetry in cell depths.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat: Coalbed methane development and satisfied surface owners in Sheridan County, Wyoming

The geographic extent and surface footprint of onshore oil and gas development in the United States have greatly expanded since the mid-1990s, prompting a new set of academic questions and public debates about the social acceptability of the industry. We explore an under-examined phenomenon in the research on the social acceptability of oil and gas industries, that of landowner acceptance and satisfaction with development. We examine a group of split estate surface owners who hosted coalbed methane development (CBM) during the 1998–2008 CBM rush in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with surface owners and oil and gas attorneys in Sheridan County, Wyoming, we learn that positive post facto assessments of the CBM boom were linked to landowner implementation of diverse but related strategies connected to their private participation in planning for development. We find that private participation during exploration, regarding legal negotiations, and monitoring during development were most closely linked with eventual satisfaction. However, no two surface owners implemented the same strategies, indicating that there are diverse paths to satisfaction. Findings suggest that greater attention be paid to the individual experiences of landowners to further clarify the challenges and opportunities for hosting extractive industries on private lands.

Confirmation of Glyphosate- and Acetolactate Synthase (ALS)-Inhibitor-Resistant Kochia (Kochia scoparia) in Nebraska

<p>Kochia is an early emerging weed of increasing concern across the Great Plains region of the United States due to the evolution of resistance to herbicides. Greenhouse studies were conducted to confirm and characterize the level of glyphosate and acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicide resistance in kochia biotype collected from a field in Sheridan County in Nebraska. The response of kochia biotype to 9 rates (0 to 16×) of tribenuron and glyphosate was evaluated in a whole plant dose-response bioassay. On the basis of the values at the 90% effective dose (ED<sub>90</sub>), the putative-resistant kochia biotype had a 6- and 15-fold level of resistance to glyphosate and tribenuron, respectively. Future research will evaluate strategies for the management of glyphosate- and ALS-resistant kochia under field conditions.</p>

The Impact of Irrigation Capital Subsidies on Common-Pool Groundwater Use and Depletion: Results for Western Kansas

We examine the effects of irrigation technology subsidies using a model of inter-temporal common pool groundwater use with substitutable technology and declining yields from groundwater stocks, where pumping cost and stock externalities arise from the common property problem. We develop and simulate an optimal control analytical model parameterized for Sheridan County, Kansas, overlying the Ogallala aquifer. We contrast competitive and optimal allocations and account for endogenous and time-varying irrigation capital on water use and groundwater stock. In our analysis, we account for the labor-savings from improved irrigation technologies. We find that in the absence of policy intervention, the competitive solution yields an early period with underinvestment in efficiency-improving irrigation technology relative to the socially efficient solution, followed by a period of overinvestment. This suggests a potential role for irrigation capital subsidies to improve welfare over certain ranges of the state variables. In contrast to previous work, we find evidence that significant returns may be achieved from policy intervention. We simulate a policy scenario where an irrigation technology subsidy is implemented to explore whether such a program can capture significant portions of the potential welfare gain.

Risk assessment of brine contamination to aquatic resources from energy development in glacial drift deposits: Williston Basin, USA

Contamination to aquatic resources from co-produced water (brine) associated with energy development has been documented in the northeastern portion of the Williston Basin; an area mantled by glacial drift. The presence and magnitude of brine contamination can be determined using the contamination index (CI) value from water samples. Recently, the U.S. Geological Survey published a section (~2.59km2) level risk assessment of brine contamination to aquatic resources for Sheridan County, Montana, using oilfield and hydrogeological parameters.Our goal was to improve the Sheridan County assessment (SCA) and evaluate the use of this new Williston Basin assessment (WBA) across 31 counties mantled by glacial drift in the Williston Basin. To determine if the WBA model improved the SCA model, results from both assessments were compared to CI values from 37 surface and groundwater samples collected to evaluate the SCA. The WBA (R2=0.65) outperformed the SCA (R2=0.52) indicating improved model performance. Applicability across the Williston Basin was evaluated by comparing WBA results to CI values from 123 surface water samples collected from 97 sections. Based on the WBA, the majority (83.5%) of sections lacked an oil well and had minimal risk. Sections with one or more oil wells comprised low (8.4%), moderate (6.5%), or high (1.7%) risk areas. The percentage of contaminated water samples, percentage of sections with at least one contaminated sample, and the average CI value of contaminated samples increased from low to high risk indicating applicability across the Williston Basin. Furthermore, the WBA performed better compared to only the contaminated samples (R2=0.62) versus all samples (R2=0.38). This demonstrates that the WBA was successful at identifying sections, but not individual aquatic resources, with an increased risk of contamination; therefore, WBA results can prioritize future sampling within areas of increased risk.

A GIS-based vulnerability assessment of brine contamination to aquatic resources from oil and gas development in eastern Sheridan County, Montana

Water (brine) co-produced with oil in the Williston Basin is some of the most saline in the nation. The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), characterized by glacial sediments and numerous wetlands, covers the northern and eastern portion of the Williston Basin. Sheridan County, Montana, lies within the PPR and has a documented history of brine contamination. Surface water and shallow groundwater in the PPR are saline and sulfate dominated while the deeper brines are much more saline and chloride dominated. A Contamination Index (CI), defined as the ratio of chloride concentration to specific conductance in a water sample, was developed by the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology to delineate the magnitude of brine contamination in Sheridan County. Values >0.035 indicate contamination.Recently, the U.S. Geological Survey completed a county level geographic information system (GIS)-based vulnerability assessment of brine contamination to aquatic resources in the PPR of the Williston Basin based on the age and density of oil wells, number of wetlands, and stream length per county. To validate and better define this assessment, a similar approach was applied in eastern Sheridan County at a greater level of detail (the 2.59km2 Public Land Survey System section grid) and included surficial geology. Vulnerability assessment scores were calculated for the 780 modeled sections and these scores were divided into ten equal interval bins representing similar probabilities of contamination. Two surface water and two groundwater samples were collected from the section with the greatest acreage of Federal land in each bin. Nineteen of the forty water samples, and at least one water sample from seven of the ten selected sections, had CI values indicating contamination. Additionally, CI values generally increased with increasing vulnerability assessment score, with a stronger correlation for groundwater samples (R2=0.78) than surface water samples (R2=0.53).

Surveillance for West Nile Virus in American White Pelicans, Montana, USA, 2006–2007

West Nile virus (WNV)-associated deaths of American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) chicks have been recognized at various nesting colonies in the United States since 2002. We evaluated American white pelican nesting colonies in Sheridan County, Montana, USA, for an association between WNV-positive pelican carcasses and human West Nile neuroinvasive disease. Persons in counties hosting affected colonies had a 5x higher risk for disease than those in counties with unaffected colonies. We also investigated WNV infection and blood meal source among mosquitoes and pelican tissue type for greatest WNV detection efficacy in carcasses. WNV-infected Culex tarsalis mosquitoes were detected and blood-engorged Cx. tarsalis contained pelican DNA. Viral loads and detection consistency among pelican tissues were greatest in feather pulp, brain, heart, and skin. Given the risks posed to wildlife and human health, coordinated efforts among wildlife and public health authorities to monitor these pelican colonies for WNV activity are potentially useful.

The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder: And Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns. By Stew Magnuson. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2008. xx, 361 pp. $29.95, ISBN 978-0-89672-634-5.)

In this book Stew Magnuson uses his considerable journalistic talents to chronicle the cross-cultural exchanges along the border between the Pine Ridge Reservation (which is located in South Dakota) and Nebraska. Set largely in the Sheridan County, Nebraska, communities of Gordon, Rushville, and Whiteclay, most of his story occurs after 1972. But as in any stirring narrative such as this one, contextual material enlarges its coverage. In this case it includes accounts of the Sioux Treaty of 1868; the 1876 battle of Little Bighorn; the 1890 tragedy of Wounded Knee; the 1887 application of the Dawes Act; the in-migration of ranchers, homesteaders, and townspeople; and the implementation of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1935. Magnuson also incorporates detailed vignettes of individuals and families enmeshed in the principal story that begins with the senseless death of a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe, Raymond Yellow Thunder, in Gordon, Nebraska, in February 1972.

Comparing Drag Hoses Verses Sprinklers on Corn Irrigated by a Center Pivot

Precision mobile drip irrigation (PMDI) refers to a center pivot irrigation system equipped with drip lines that distribute water as drag hoses in place of spray nozzles. The PMDI system could increase irrigation efficiency by reducing irrigation evaporative losses, reducing runoff potential, and help reduce wheel track rutting problems. A study was conducted on a standard sized center pivot system in Sheridan County, Kansas with randomized plots within a farmer field watered either by a PMDI system or an in-canopy spray nozzle method that is common to the area. Yield and individual line and nozzle discharge measurements were taken. No yield differences were noted between the application methods. Although the water supplied to the system was filtered, the PMDI appeared to experience decreased water flow due to emitter clogging during the course of the study. When accounting for the decrease in flow for the PMDI, this method actually experienced higher water use efficiency values then did the spray nozzles. However, the possible clogging of this PMDI system would make implementation on large acreage potentially problematic.

Sedimentology of the Whiteclay Gravel Beds (Ogallala Group) in northwestern Nebraska, USA: Structurally controlled drainage promoted by Early Miocene uplift of the Black Hills Dome

The newly recognized Whiteclay Gravel Beds (WGB) of the Miocene Ogallala Group crop out as a narrow, discontinuous ribbon of sands and gravels in Dawes and Sheridan Counties, northwestern Nebraska, USA. The WGB are exposed in a series of municipal gravel quarries and natural exposures that define a linear trench in underlying strata at least 20 m deep and up to 300 m wide, with short, southeast-trending reaches separating generally longer east-trending sections. This gravel-filled trench can be recognized from the Nebraska–South Dakota border near Whiteclay, Nebraska southeastward to east of Gordon, Nebraska, a distance of ∼ 30 km. The outcrop belt of the WGB is coincident in location and trend with the Whiteclay Fault Zone. Where exposed in quarries, the walls of the trench are steep-sided, vertical, or locally overhanging. Polished surfaces, slickensides, and parallel joint sets are common in the walls of the trench near Whiteclay, but uncommon in those to the east. The narrow belt defined by this trench is filled by stratified gravel (< 2.0 m, typically < 0.3 m) of sedimentary lithologies derived from various Cenozoic units (but principally Anderson Ranch Formation), and sand. Relatively small amounts of unrounded granitic, volcanic, and quartz gravel are preserved in places. Cross-bedding and clast imbrication indicate palaeoflow towards the east. The WGB are interpreted to have formed in response to tectonic upheaval associated with uplift of the Black Hills of South Dakota in Early Miocene times. Fault rupture topography facilitated formation of a steep-sided canyon, or valley, up to 20 m deep, being virtually straight with sharp bends at intervals of several km. An alluvial channel belt developed in the floor of the valley, filling the available accommodation space with coarse sand and gravel via aggradational stacking of the deposits of successive channels and channel belts. Channel belts were probably braided, with individual channels up to 4 m deep and a few tens of metres wide. The multi-storey character of the deposit indicates multiple episodes of cutting and filling. The coarse grain-size of the fill suggests energetic discharge with frequent bankfull flows, even though the system had a relatively low gradient (0.004). An abundance of reworked fossil debris is derived from several stratigraphic units, clasts of which have been identified in the fill. The presence of a contemporary merychippine horse and a primitive species of the oreodont Brachycrus constrain formation of the WGB to a short interval within the Early Miocene (c. 17.5 Ma). The mammal fauna suggests that this stream was a valuable source of water, while fragments of aquatic organisms such as turtles and fish indicate perennial discharge. The WGB provides a crucial window into a pluvial period in the Miocene that is largely unpreserved elsewhere in the basin, facilitated in part by fault rupture topography.

Some Notes on Mari Sandoz

Some Notes on Mari Sandoz John R. Wunder (bio) Mari Sandoz knew from her earliest recollections that she wanted to be a writer. She wanted to write fiction, record stories, and chronicle history. Perhaps more than any other Nebraska writer, she embodied her home region, the Great Plains and more precisely Nebraska's Sandhills.1 A perceptive commentator on culture change and the impact of the environment on human actions, her fierce rhetoric and compulsion to write made her a survivor in her life as well as a forerunner of today's New Western History, ethnohistory, and ecoliterature movements. Sandoz wrote both fiction and history or in what some critics call that blurry canon in between the two literatures. Mari's first publication, aside from a school story her teacher sent to the Omaha Daily News, was a short story that opened the first issue of Prairie Schooner in 1927. "The Vine," about two homesteaders and their relationship to the land, won Sandoz, then using her pen name Marie Macumber, immediate national recognition with Edward J. O'Brien's three-star rating and inclusion among such writers as Owen Wister, Ernest Hemingway, and Oliver LaFarge. Sandoz herself was proudest of her historical contributions. She was blunt and confident in person and in her prose and once summed up her historical contributions: "It's true that I'm not afraid of the evaluation posterity will put upon my nonfiction," she wrote in a letter. "[G]ood or bad it is unique in its field and those who come after me will have to depend upon it to a very large extent. These books have always had critical acclaim even if not always understanding. . . . "2 * * * Born to Jules Ami Sandoz and Mary Fehr Sandoz in May of 1896 at their homestead near the Niobrara River, Mari Susette Sandoz actually was first named Mary after her mother. As a baby and young child, her parents called her Marie. Mary or Marie as a [End Page 41] young adult opted for yet a third spelling and pronunciation, Mari (the "ari" phonetically pronounced as "are" and "E"). Mari's mother married the Swiss expatriot in 1895. Her parents had a mixed linguistic marriage as Mary spoke German and Jules came from the French cantons of the Switzerland confederation. What Mary didn't know when she married this gruff homesteader of the Plains was that she had been preceded by three other wives, one of whom was still legally his wife. That humiliation had to be lived with as by the time Mary discovered her dilemma she was dependent upon Jules financially and pregnant. By all accounts, Mari Sandoz entered her world as a survivor. Her birth was not easy for Mary who had difficult labors with five pregnancies. Moreover, Mary was not a nurturing mother. She did not have time to soothe and cuddle her babies. Anything physical in the Sandoz household was violent rather than loving. Later that first year Mari developed an allergy to her mother's milk, and because of her crying her father nearly beat her to death. Mari's mother saved her life by taking her from the house. Mary Sandoz had more children, and with each new child came responsibilities for the eldest. Seventeen months after Mari was born came Jules, who was called Jule by his parents. Less than two years later came James in 1899. Because Mary's mother had come to help with the babies, Mari had a brief kind of childhood until she turned six. Then her grandmother began to suffer from cancer. Mary's mother died in 1903, the same year a third brother Fritz was born. At age seven, Mari found she had total responsibility over the care of Fritz, and when Mari turned ten she was also expected to cook, bake, clean the house, and care for the children while her mother helped with the farming. All the while Mari lived in terror of her father. On one occasion he beat her and broke a bone in her hand that never healed properly. Shortly before Mari's ninth birthday in 1905, someone in Sheridan County reported to authorities that...

Occurrence of Sitodiplosis mosellana (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and its parasitoid, Macroglenes penetrans (Hymenoptera: Platygasteridae), in northeastern Montana

AbstractThe wheat midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin), is an infrequent but devastating pest that has been present in western North America for at least 100 years. This note provides the first published report of the presence of the wheat midge and its parasitoid, Macroglenes penetrans (Kirby), in Montana. Annual surveys were conducted in Daniels, Roosevelt, Sheridan, and Valley counties of northeastern Montana for 5 years (2000–2004) using a systematic soil sampling method to collect overwintering wheat midge larvae. In addition, in 2004, infested wheat heads were collected from 10 fields in Sheridan County, and wheat midges and parasitoids were reared. The wheat midge occurred in all four counties, though at relatively low levels. Densities fluctuated across years and locations, with the highest densities (&gt;200 midge larvae/m2) occurring in Sheridan and Roosevelt counties. Macroglenes penetrans was found at all 10 sample sites and constituted up to 52% of the emerged adults (midges + parasitoids).

Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow Nest Parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbird

On 22 July 2004, we found a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow (Ammodramus nelsoni) nest in Sheridan County, Montana, containing a single Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) nestling that was about to fledge. A punctured sharp-tailed sparrow egg was found below the nest. This is the second definitive report of cowbird brood parasitism of a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow nest and the first indicating successful rearing of a cowbird by this host species. The impact of cowbird parasitism on nesting success of Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow has not been studied, but our record indicates that nest failure (i.e., producing no host young) may be an outcome for some nests of this species.

A Keith Phase Burial on the High Plains of Kansas

A flexed adult male burial was excavated from the cut bank of a dry tributary of Museum Creek, Sheridan County, Kansas. Associated artifacts include a well-worn grinding stone and a bone tool of indeterminate function. Analysis of sediment from the grinding stone led to the identification of diagnostic opal phytoliths from hackberry fruits. The geographic location of the burial and a radiocarbon age determination of 1370 ± 70 RCYBP are sufficient to place the burial site in the Keith phase taxon. A summary of Keith phase burials shows a great degree of variation in burial practices. The location of the solitary 14SD351 burial suggests that it is far from a settlement.

Use of a systems-based approach to an environmental health assessment for a waterborne disease outbreak investigation at a snowmobile lodge in Wyoming

Investigations into disease outbreaks generally incorporate an epidemiologic investigation, laboratory analysis, and an environmental health assessment. This last component is designed to discover connections between factors in the environment and the outbreak, but is often limited, either by time and resources, or the expertise of the personnel included in outbreak investigation teams. A waterborne Norovirus outbreak investigation in Sheridan County, Wyoming, in 2001 provides an excellent example of the importance of including an in-depth, systems-based environmental health assessment in outbreak investigations. The epidemiologic component of this investigation identified the water supply of a snowmobile lodge in the Bighorn Mountains as the source of the outbreak, a result that was confirmed by laboratory analysis. Including a systems-based environmental health assessment in this investigation also helped to uncover the underlying environmental factors that led to contamination of the water supply. Those factors included an onsite wastewater disposal system that was overloaded by increased use and not well suited to local soil and geologic conditions and a drinking water system with no treatment or disinfection. In addition, heavy precipitation and increased pumping of wells to satisfy higher demands probably facilitated the contamination of the drinking water wells by causing greater movement of wastewater through the soil and underlying bedrock. By focusing on these links between factors in the environment and adverse health outcomes, the systems-based environmental health assessment also helped to highlight prevention strategies for avoiding recurrences.

Reading and Writing the Lakota Language: Yes, We Can!

As was my usual habit at the university in Nebraska where I was teaching, I picked up a copy of the campus newspaper to read during my office hours. I was dismayed at a story entitled May Appear on County Polls that the paper ran on that day. It read, in part: Sheridan County's polls may have to add an unexpected language to the ballots this November. A mandate from the United States Department of Justice might result in the addition of Lakota Sioux language assistance to the ballots for County' According to the Nebraska secretary of state, the county contains a sliver of the Pine Ridge Reservation, and even though it does not qualify for assistance on population data alone, the presence of reservation land was enough to require language assistance. The article went on to say that because the Sioux language has many dialects, the county would have to go with predominant dialect, probably Lakota Sioux. The article concluded, Also, Sioux is an oral language, so it can't simply be written on the ballots (emphasis added).

Picture/Story: Representing Gender in Montana Farm Security Administration Photographs

Picture/Story:Representing Gender in Montana Farm Security Administration Photographs Mary Murphy (bio) Photographs do not speak to us in words. We "look" at photographs, "view" them, and "visit" exhibits of them; we do not ordinarily talk about "reading" them. Photos frequently move us emotionally; they fill us with a sense of beauty, of pleasure, of grief, or of horror. In fact, their very success is often judged by the initial visceral reaction they provoke. But if we look to photographs as we look to other sources of information about the past—letters, diaries, newspapers, court records—how then do we interpret them and what can they tell us? If we are interested in the history of gender, can photographs be revelatory sources? Gender, of course, is intimately twined with the body, its primary signifier. In historic documentary photographs we have representations of bodies of the past. Female bodies, dressed in certain clothing, perform certain work or play and relate in certain ways to male bodies, which also dress and act in accordance with gender roles. We can undoubtedly use historic photos as sources of information regarding the nature of the things pictured in them: the pattern of fabric, construction of clothing, design of tools, the style of a building. Photographs can tell us something about past constructions of gender or at least the ways in which gender was outwardly signified. However, gender roles are by their very nature dynamic and interactive and therefore harder to capture in a photograph. Like all documents, photos contain partial truths. In one sense they seem deceptively unfiltered, unedited, and ostensibly transparent. They are immediate representations of a moment, often made in anticipation of the passage of that moment. Thus they appear as accurate representations of the past that we seek to understand. However, the photographic print presented to a viewer is the result of complicated processes of ideological choice and technical manipulation that informed the instant when the photographer clicked the shutter and the production of the resulting print. To know what a photograph might say about a particular time, place, or subject, we must try to establish [End Page 93] the grounds for the decisions that went into the production of that image, just as we would try to establish the context of the production of any historical document. But we also have the mute image itself to decode, and to read that "text" is to read body language. How do we interpret the head tilted just so, the back turned, the arm wrapped around the waist, the gaze fixed on some distant point, the hat tipped jauntily, the stockings sagging on too-thin legs?1 In this essay I discuss my interrogation of a set of documentary photographs taken by Russell Lee in Sheridan County, Montana, in 1937, under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Examining one photographer's work in one county allows me to investigate the ways in which gender helped to construct the FSA photographs' master narrative, an epic tale of the struggle for survival and dignity in the face of drought, dust storms, and economic collapse. Russell Lee and his colleagues depicted "one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished," burdened but not bowed. The telling of this tale often turned upon portraits of men and women whose bodies testified to decades of hard physical labor and their determination to continue that work if the economy would permit. The narrative was also transmitted through the figuration of American families in all of the country's regions. FSA photos exposed the difficulties that families faced during the 1930s; they sometimes hinted at the tensions dire economic conditions spawned, especially between husbands and wives. Above all, they documented resilience and adaptability. The FSA used these photographs to attempt to persuade a national audience of voters and policymakers that the country required fixing and that the New Deal had the right tools for the job. FSA photos needed to carry universal messages that everyone could read, but in the locales in which the photos were made there were often other meanings embedded in them. Thus the results of Lee's choices of whom to photograph...