States Of Wyoming Research Articles

Range expansion and population growth of non-native mountain goats in the Greater Yellowstone Area: Challenges for management

Population growth and range expansion of nonnative species can potentially disrupt ecosystem function or add conservation value to an area, and evaluation of possible impacts can be a challenge for managers. Nonnative populations of mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) are present in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) in the U.S. states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming because of historical introduction events, but their population trend and range have not been assessed across the area. We used 6,701 location records from 1947 to 2015 to map mountain goat distribution and evaluate, in a descriptive manner, range overlap with native bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). We analyzed 136 survey counts using the Exponential Growth State–Space model to estimate population trends and abundance. Mountain goats dispersed 50–85 km from introduction sites to occupy all mountain ranges in the northern GYA and 30–40 km to occupy new areas in the southern GYA. Mountain goat numbers increased in nearly all count units, with the strongest growth rates estimated in areas more recently colonized. Using moderate detection probability (0.70), we estimated approximately 2,355 mountain goats in the GYA. Although not tested in our analysis, the gradual range expansion and population growth rates were consistent with density-dependent processes observed in other introduced large herbivores and demonstrate that mountain goats can successfully disperse over unsuitable locales to colonize new areas. Therefore, we expect mountain goat populations will continue to expand into unoccupied mountain ranges that contain significant numbers of bighorn sheep unless specific management actions are implemented to address their population growth. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

Should CT Angiography be a Routine Component of Acute Stroke Imaging?

Should CT Angiography be a Routine Component of Acute Stroke Imaging?

A Blueprint of Pain Curriculum Across Prelicensure Health Sciences Programs: One NIH Pain Consortium Center of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPE) Experience

To improve U.S. pain education and promote interinstitutional and interprofessional collaborations, the National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium has funded 12 sites to develop Centers of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPEs). Each site was given the tasks of development, evaluation, integration, and promotion of pain management curriculum resources, including case studies that will be shared nationally. Collaborations among schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and others were encouraged. The John D. Loeser CoEPE is unique in that it represents extensive regionalization of health science education, in this case in the region covering the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. This paper describes a blueprint of pain content and teaching methods across the University of Washington’s 6 health sciences schools and provides recommendations for improvement in pain education at the prelicensure level. The Schools of Dentistry and Physician Assistant provide the highest percentage of total required curriculum hours devoted to pain compared with the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Work. The findings confirm the paucity of pain content in health sciences curricula, missing International Association for the Study of Pain curriculum topics, and limited use of innovative teaching methods such as problem-based and team-based learning. PerspectiveFindings confirm the paucity of pain education across the health sciences curriculum in a CoEPE that serves a large region in the United States. The data provide a pain curriculum blueprint that can be used to recommend added pain content in health sciences programs across the country.

Microsatellites indicate minimal barriers to mule deer Odocoileus hemionus dispersal across Montana, USA

To better understand the future spread of chronic wasting disease, we conducted a genetic assessment of mule deer Odocoileus hemionus population structure across the state of Montana, USA. Individual based analyses were used to test for population structure in the absence of a priori designations of population membership across the sampling area. Samples from the states of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah were also included in the analysis to provide a geographic context to the levels of population structure observed within Montana. Results showed that mule deer across our entire study region were characterized by weak isolation by distance and a lack of spatial autocorrelation at distances > 10 km. We found evidence for contemporary male bias in dispersal, with female mule deer exhibiting higher mean individual pairwise genetic distance than males. We tested for potential homogenizing effects of past translocations within Montana, but were unable to detect a genetic signature of these events. Our results indicate high levels of connectivity among mule deer populations in Montana and suggest few, if any, detectable barriers to mule deer gene flow or chronic wasting disease transmission.

Years of Potential Life Lost from Unintentional Injuries Among Persons Aged 0-19 Years—United States, 2000-2009

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of deaths among persons aged 0-19 years in the United States. Quantifying years of potential life lost (YPLL) highlights childhood causes of mortality and provides a simple method to identify important causes of premature death and specific groups in need of intervention. Deaths attributed to unintentional injuries among persons aged 0-19 years number approximately 12,000 each year in the United States; another 9 million young persons are treated for nonfatal injuries in emergency departments. To estimate the burden of premature deaths attributed to unintentional injuries among persons aged 0-19 years, CDC calculated state-specific YPLL by sex, age, race, and injury mechanism based on data from the National Vital Statistics System multiple cause of death files for the period 2000-2009. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which found that an average of 890 years of potential life were lost each year because of unintentional injuries for every 100,000 persons aged 0-19 years. The burden of unintentional injuries was higher among males compared with females, among persons aged <1 year and those aged 15-19 years compared with the other 5-year age groups, among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) compared with those of any other race/ethnicity, and among those residing in two clusters of adjacent states (the South Central states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and the Mountain states of Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota) compared with any other region. These estimates can be used to target injury prevention strategies to young persons most at risk.

The Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science: Transformation through Collaboration

The Intermountain West encompasses a 400,000 square mile area that includes the states of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Within the region the University of Utah Health Sciences Center (UUHSC) is the only academic health center and Intermountain Healthcare (Intermountain), a not-for profit corporation, is the largest healthcare provider. The UUHSC and Intermountain are competitors for clinical market share in most service lines. Both UUHSC and Intermountain have significant research enterprises and each has different strengths. The University of Utah developed the first Biomedical Informatics Department in the nation, is internationally recognized for research in human genetics, and has robust programs in molecular medicine and other laboratory-based sciences. Intermountain is internationally recognized for health services research and programs in quality improvement. The impetus for collaboration in the research enterprise was however, limited before the national initiative to establish a consortium of academic health centers supported through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical and translational science awards (CTSA). Here we describe the transformation of the clinical research environment in the Intermountain West as a result of the collaborative relationships developed between UUHSC and Intermountain following the establishment of the Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) through the CTSA consortium. Founded in 1905, the University of Utah School of Medicine, located in Salt Lake City, houses 16 clinical and 6 basic science departments. In collaboration with UUHSC, the faculty and staff of the University of Utah educate and train healthcare professionals, conduct research, and provide medical care for adults and children in Utah and the surrounding Intermountain states. Intermountain Healthcare (Intermountain), founded in 1975, is a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare delivery system based in Salt Lake City, UT. Intermountain is the largest healthcare provider in the Intermountain West, providing healthcare services in southeastern Idaho plus the entire state of Utah and operating 23 inpatient facilities including one tertiary children’s hospital, Primary Children’s Medical Center [PCMC] in Salt Lake City, UT. Over 500 multi-specialty physicians are employed through the Intermountain Medical Group and hundreds of other affiliated providers practice in Intermountain hospitals and clinics. Within the region, competition related to clinical market share decreased the ability of institutions to collaborate. Exceptions included 1) the delivery of inpatient pediatric care at PCMC which is owned and operated by Intermountain and staffed by both UUHSC and Intermountain physicians and 2) the training of physicians to serve several western states in both urban and rural locations which resulted in a well-developed Affiliation Agreement defining teaching programs operated in several Intermountain hospitals for UUHSC trainees. Intermountain and UUHSC operate integrated residency and fellowship programs in medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, radiation therapy, and surgery. In contrast, the collaboration in the research enterprise for the past three decades had been limited to the efforts of individual investigators and there were no institutional policies or infrastructure to systematically support the research efforts across institutions or to share resources. The national competition to join the CTSA consortium provided an opportunity to re-evaluate the research relationship and to and develop and support research collaboration between both institutions. UUHSC and Intermountain joined forces in order to apply for a CTSA and to represent the Intermountain West in the consortium. The Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) became part of the national CTSA consortium in 2008. Linkages created through the CCTS across both organizations have served to create productive and trusting work relationships, allowing us to provide a shared research infrastructure that takes advantage of our innovative systems and shared intellectual capital of personnel. These linkages have increased collaboration and resulted in significant benefits for both instituions.

Climate Change and Western Public Lands: a Survey of U.S. Federal Land Managers on the Status of Adaptation Efforts

Climate change and its associated consequences pose an increasing risk to public lands in the western United States. High-level mandates currently require federal agencies to begin planning for adaptation, but the extent to which these mandates have resulted in policies being implemented that affect on the ground practices is unclear. To examine the status of adaptation efforts, we conducted an original survey and semistructured interviews with land managers from the four major federal land management agencies in the U.S. states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The survey was designed to examine current planning for adaptation on public lands and how it differs from prior planning, the major challenges facing land managers in this region, the major barriers preventing managers from planning for adaptation, and the major hurdles associated with implementing adaptation plans. Our results show that some adaptation planning is currently taking place, but that few adaptation projects have made it to the implementation phase. Overall, respondents considered lack of information at relevant scales, budget constraints, lack of specific agency direction, and lack of useful information to be the most common barriers to adaption planning. Budget constraints, lack of perceived importance to the public, and lack of public awareness or demand to take action were reported to be the biggest hurdles to implementation of adaptation projects. Agencies showed differing levels of adaptation activity, and reported different barriers to adaptation and hurdles to implementation. Reasons for the differences and implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Transportation, Distance, and Health Care Utilization for Older Adults in Rural and Small Urban Areas

Transportation is vital for access to health care, especially in rural areas, where travel distances are great and access to alternative modes such as transit is less prevalent. This study estimated the impacts of transportation and travel distance on the utilization of health care services for older adults in rural and small urban areas. With data collected from a survey, a model was developed on the basis of the Health Behavior Model, which considered transportation and distance as factors that could enable or impede health care utilization. A random sample of individuals age 60 years and older living in the rural Upper Great Plains states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming were surveyed by mail. Responses were received from 543 individuals (20% response rate). Probit models were used to estimate trip frequency and the likelihood that an individual would miss or would delay a health care trip. Distance and transportation variables were not found to influence significantly the total number of routine or chronic care trips made overall, while emergency care visits were affected by the availability of transportation options. Additional results showed that those who could not drive made more trips if someone in the household could drive and that distance and access to transportation affected the difficulty reported in making trips and the likelihood of missing or delaying a trip. The greatest problems for people using public transportation for health care trips were inconvenient schedules, the need to match transit and medical schedules, and infrequent service.

Adaptive management on the central Platte River – Science, engineering, and decision analysis to assist in the recovery of four species

Active adaptive management is the centerpiece of a major species recovery program now underway on the central Platte River in Nebraska. The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program initiated on January 1, 2007 and is a joint effort between the states of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska; the U.S. Department of the Interior; waters users; and conservation groups. This program is intended to address issues related to endangered species and loss of habitat along the Platte River in central Nebraska by managing land and water resources and using adaptive management as its science framework. The adaptive management plan provides a systematic process to test hypotheses and apply the information learned to improve management on the ground, and is centered on conceptual models and priority hypotheses that reflect different interpretations of how river processes work and the best approach to meeting key objectives. This framework reveals a shared attempt to use the best available science to implement experiments, learn, and revise management actions accordingly on the Platte River. This paper focuses on the status of adaptive management implementation on the Platte, experimental and habitat design issues, and the use of decision analysis tools to help set objectives and guide decisions.

SARCOPTIC MANGE FOUND IN WOLVES IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS IN WESTERN UNITED STATES

We documented sarcoptic mange caused by mites (Sarcoptes scabiei) in 22 gray wolves (Canis lupus) in the northern Rocky Mountain states of Montana (n=16) and Wyoming (n=6), from 2002 through 2008. To our knowledge, this is the first report of sarcoptic mange in wolves in Montana or Wyoming in recent times. In addition to confirming sarcoptic mange, we recorded field observations of 40 wolves in Montana and 30 wolves in Wyoming displaying clinical signs of mange (i.e., alopecia, hyperkeratosis, and seborrhea). Therefore, we suspect sarcoptic mange may be more prevalent than we were able to confirm.

English

Mined land reclamation and reforestation issues traditionally have been viewed in scientific and regulatory terms over the last thirty years. However, in this paper we explore levels of political trust among stakeholders -- the coal industry, regulators, scientists and environmentalists -- in the coal mining states of West Virginia and Wyoming who are responsible for designing and implementing the scientific and regulatory terms of reclamation pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Survey data collected from 400 stakeholders and in-depth interviews document stakeholder attitudes about trust in the reclamation process (i.e., planning process through implementation) and in other stakeholders. Preliminary findings indicate that many SMCRA stakeholders (including scientists) hold pessimistic views about the fairness, legitimacy and inclusiveness of the reclamation process. We also find that a sizeable number of stakeholders have a substantial lack of trust in other stakeholders, results which lend support to historical and anecdotal accounts of dissension among SMCRA stakeholders. Our study suggests that even if the best reclamation/reforestation science is implemented correctly, key stakeholders responsible for designing and implementing it may not view on the ground results of reclamation as a success because they lack trust in the reclamation process and in each other. In other words, the significance of political trust should not be undervalued. Recent reclamation efforts by members of the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) illustrate this point. Despite an aggressive scientific and technical outreach by ARRI's leaders, they report that serious cultural barriers remain pervasive in the Appalachian coalfields. Political trust issues are likely limiting the benefits that ARRI's scientific advances can achieve.

Red light women of the Rocky Mountains

Throughout the development of the American West, prostitution grew and flourished within the mining camps, small towns, and cities of the nineteenth-century Rocky Mountains. Whether escaping a bad home life, lured by false advertising, or seeking to subsidize their income, thousands of women chose or were forced to enter an industry where they faced segregation and persecution, fines and jailing, and battled the hazards of disease, drug addiction, physical abuse, pregnancy, and abortion. They dreamed of escape through marriage or retirement, but more often found relief only in death. An integral part of western history, the stories of these women continue to fascinate readers and captivate the minds of historians today. Expanding on the research she did for Brothels, Bordellos, and Bad Girls (UNM Press), historian Jan MacKell moves beyond the mining towns of Colorado to explore the history of prostitution in the Rocky Mountain states of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Each state had its share of working girls and madams like Big Nose Kate or Calamity Jane who remain celebrities in the annals of history, but MacKell also includes the stories of lesser-known women whose role in this illicit trade nonetheless shaped our understanding of the American West.

Disappearing into the Environmental–Industrial Complex

Disappearing into the Environmental–Industrial Complex

RADPAC® and the Importance of Government Relations

RADPAC® and the Importance of Government Relations

Epiphyseal fusion in brown bears: a population study of grizzlies (Ursus arctos horribilis) from Montana and Wyoming

AbstractThis contribution presents results of a study of the timing of appendicular epiphyseal fusion in brown bears (Ursus arctos) based on the visual examination of 86 modern skeletons of grizzlies (U. a. horribilis) of known age and sex from the greater Yellowstone area, in the States of Wyoming and Montana (US). The timing of fusion in brown bears was compared with the (scant) information available for the black bear (Ursus americanus); both similarities and differences were found. It is still inconclusive whether the discrepancies stem from the methods of study (visual examination vs. X‐rays) or whether they reflect real difference in fusion ages. It is suggested that data derived from U. arctos can be used profitably to investigate mortality patterns of extinct bears such as the cave bear Ursus spelaeus. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Identifying Twentieth Century Dude Ranches in the Teton Valley Region

The states of Wyoming, Montana, and to a lesser extent Colorado are commonly understood as the industrial heartland of U.S. dude ranching in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (Borne 1983). Though there were earlier small scale efforts to host easterners on ranches in the West from the 1850s onwards, dude ranching is commonly understood to have begun in 1879 in Medora, North Dakota by the Eaton Brothers (Borne 1983, Rothman 1998). Dude ranching--when outsiders pay to stay on a ranch ­ usually demonstrates most/if not all of the following six characteristics: 1). it embraces of the West's nineteenth century agricultural heritage; 2). it celebrates wild, preserved landscapes; 3). it provides an economic vehicle for ranchers to maintain their cultural heritage, and/or investors and managers to have a piece of the American West; 4). it demonstrates a distinct dude ranch aesthetic (architecture, clothing, food, music, stories, education and landscape); 5). it includes horse­related activities; and 6). it provides a safe and contained regional experience transforming the traveler from "mere' tourist status to that of a liminal space in­between outsider and insider. Since the late nineteenth century Wyoming has developed five centers of dude ranch activity located primarily near mountain ranges, within or close to public lands (National Park Service (NPS) or Forest Service (FS)): 1) Medicine Bow Mountain Range in southeastern Wyoming; 2) Big Horn Mountain Range (eastern and western slopes) in north-central Wyoming; 3) eastern gate region of Yellowstone National Park, northwest Wyoming; 4) Wind River Mountain Range (eastern and western slopes), northwestern Wyoming; and 5) Teton Mountain Range in northwestern Wyoming. My work seeks to establish the extent of dude ranching in Teton Valley.

Water Quality Changes as a Result of Coalbed Methane Development in a Rocky mountain Watershed1

Abstract: Coalbed methane (CBM) development raises serious environmental concerns. In response, concerted efforts have been made to collect chemistry, salinity, and sodicity data on CBM produced water. However, little information on changes of stream water quality resulting from directly and/or indirectly received CBM produced water is available in the literature. The objective of this study was to examine changes instream water quality, particularly sodicity and salinity, due to CBM development in the Powder River watershed, which is located in the Rocky Mountain Region and traverses the states of Wyoming and Montana. To this end, a retrospective analysis of water quality trends and patterns was conducted using data collected from as early as 1946 up to and including 2002 at four U.S. Geological Survey gauging stations along the Powder River. Trend analysis was conducted using linear regression and Seasonal Kendall tests, whereas, Tukey’s test for multiple comparisons was used to detect changes in the spatial pattern. The results indicated that the CBM development adversely affected the water quality in the Powder River. First, the development elevated the stream sodicity, as indicated by a significant increase trend of the sodium adsorption ratio. Second, the development tended to shrink the water quality differences among the three downstream stations but to widen the differences between these stations and the farthest upstream station. In contrast, the development had only a minor influence on stream salinity, as indicated by that the stream electrical conductivity exhibited either no trend or a marginally significant positive trend. Hence, the CBM development is likely an important factor that can be managed to lower the stream sodicity. The management may need to take into account that the effects of the CBM development were different from one location to another along the Powder River.

A Geographical Comparison of Prevalence of Overweight School-aged Children: The National Survey of Children's Health 2003

This study presents a geographical comparison of state-specific prevalence estimates of children who are at risk of overweight and/or overweight using the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. Using the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health, we computed prevalence estimates of children who are at risk of overweight and/or overweight among a nationally representative sample of 69,000 children between 5 and 17 years old. Overall, 36.4% of the children (39.8% of the boys and 32% of the girls) in the sample were in the combined category of at risk of overweight or overweight, representing an estimated 17 million US children. We found geographic variation at the state and the regional levels. The southeastern states, especially those west of the Appalachians and in the lower Mississippi region, had the highest prevalence of children who are at risk of overweight and/or overweight. The central Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming had the lowest prevalence, followed by the northwestern quadrant of the lower 48 states and New England. These National Survey of Children's Health data provide clinicians and public health professionals with useful data required for policy and planning related to childhood obesity at state levels. These data also serve as important baseline indicators and can be used to track changes over time.

Modelling potential impacts of coalbed methane development on stream water quality in an American watershed

AbstractCoalbed methane (CBM) development raises serious environmental concerns and concerted efforts have been made to collect chemistry, salinity, and sodicity data on CBM produced water. A model is sorely needed to make use of this data to quantify potential changes in stream water quality resulting from directly and/or indirectly receiving CBM produced water, on which little information is available in the literature. However, the application of existing hydrodynamic and water quality models such as CE‐QUAL‐W2 is not straightforward because the number of outfalls is usually large and the channels poorly defined for intermittent streams in semiarid areas such as the Powder River watershed, located in the states of Wyoming and Montana. Hence, the objectives of this study were to: (1) develop a CBM produced water routing (CBMPRO) model, and (2) apply the new CBMPRO model, along with a CE‐QUAL‐W2 model, to examine potential changes in stream water quality due to CBM development in the Powder River watershed. The CBMPRO model was developed and used to chart the CBM discharge and the transport of its associated constituents (e.g. total dissolved solids and alkalinity) from an outfall to its inclusive subwatershed outlet. In turn, the outputs from the CBMPRO model were applied as inputs into the CE‐QUAL‐W2 model to predict changes in the water quantity and quality along the Powder River mainstem. The results indicate that discharges from CBM developments adversely affect the stream water quality. Compared with the baseline conditions, the developments would increase the stream flows as well as make the stream water warmer and more saline. In addition, the impacts were predicted to undergo seasonal and spatial variations and to become smaller with time, as expected. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

:Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874–1947

Scholars in recent years have produced dozens of good books on lynching, moving the subject toward the center of American history generally and specifically to struggles with race, violence, and law. Some have focused on a single lynching, placing one tragic event in larger contexts. Others have sought to find patterns across time and space, usually the South from post-Reconstruction to the 1930s. Michael J. Pfeifer takes the nation as his subject. He reminds us, as has other recent work, that lynching was not ephemeral and not exclusively southern. More important, Pfeifer attempts to create order out of the chaos of thousands of lynchings by showing how and why lynching patterns reflected social identities, beliefs, and values. Pfeifer's central argument is that lynching was part of a broader cultural war between those Americans who privileged due process and those who wanted community-based, quick, and violent retribution against certain suspected criminals. The latter, proponents of rough justice, were often lower-class, rural whites who believed the criminal justice system too slow and inefficient and insisted on personal and harsh retribution; the former were usually middle-class, often urban dwellers who saw law as neutral and fair and as a prerequisite to economic development. To bring more definition to these two sides, Pfeifer moves to analyses of regional differences, focused on the states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Washington, California, Louisiana, and New York.