Stories Archive
Featured Content
UM BRIDGES Trainee Works With Trout Unlimited on Restoration Project
Ranch Creek is a tributary of Rock Creek located in western Montana. It is federally designated critical spawning and rearing habitat for threatened bull trout and is also documented spawning habitat for native westslope cutthroat trout and other migratory fish. Historic manipulation of the...
BRIDGES Faculty and Trainees Co-Author Paper on Climate Science's relationship with MT Farmers and Ranchers
Scalar Mismatches and Underlying Factors for Underutilization of Climate Information: Perspectives From Farmers and Ranchers
Growing demand for water resources coupled with climate-driven water scarcity and variability present critical challenges to agriculture in the Western US. Despite...
Communicating the Benefits of an Urban Forest
I Speak for the Trees: Recording and Communicating the Benefits of an Urban Forest
by Robin Rank
Misosula's urban forest is a valuable asset that provides economic value to the city and improves the lives of its citizens. Our trees improve water and air quality, reduce energy and water...
UM BRIDGES Faculty Named Distinguished Professor of Wildland Management
Professor Libby Metcalf has been named as the inaugural Joel Meier Distinguished Professor of Wildland Management. This honor recognizes her exceptional leadership and accomplishments in research, teaching and service in (and beyond) the parks, tourism and recreation management arena. It also...
BRIDGES Faculty Co-Author Paper, Forest Regrowth Across the Western U.S.
Abstract
Forests are subject to a range of management practices but it is unclear which produce the most rapid rates of regrowth across heterogeneous moisture gradients produced by regional climate and complex terrain. We analyzed recovery rates of satellite derived net primary productivity (NPP)...
Planning For a Sustainable Future
Why would a sustainability scholar and farmland advocate support a new plan that will likely convert another 450 acres of prime agricultural soil to other uses? I have asked myself that many times as the so-called “Mullan Area Master Plan” has moved through the public process.
That’s a lot of a...
UM BRIDGES hosts CSKT Water Compact Webinar
On Monday March 29th from 4-5:30pm MDT, UM BRIDGES will host a panel discussion titled “What’s next for the CSKT Compact?” Over the past several years, the history of negotiation, water resources research, and political navigation behind the historic CSKT Water Compact and companion Federal...
UM BRIDGES Student Takes Top Honor at GradCon
From 74 submissions across all the disciplines and 33 within the judging category of Social Sciences and Humanities Oral Presentations, Lindsey Ellett, one of SoCon’s and UM BRIDGES graduate students, was voted “Best of GradCon in Oral Presentations in Humanities and Social Sciences”. Lindsey's...
Pesticide Contamination: Exploring Solutions
Montana ranks second in the nation for the greatest number of acres in certified organic production. Organic farmers’ livelihoods are threatened by inadvertent pesticide contamination from airborne drift and in rain, irrigation water, and soil. Environmental Studies Professor Neva Hassanein is...
UM Geosciences Student Receives DOE Funding
University of Montana geosciences graduate student, and UM BRIDGES Trainee, Nicholas E. Thiros is one of 52 graduate students in the country to receive funding this year from a U.S. Department of Energy program designed to enhance graduate research.
Thiros is in the first cohort of UM’s UM...
UM Researcher Studies How Living Things Affect The Atmosphere
UM BRIDGES Faculty Ashley Ballantyne is interviewed on Montana Public Radio about biosphere and atmosphere relationship.
University of Montana Associate Professor Ashley Ballantyne is a bioclimatologist.
“And what that means is I study how the biosphere and the atmosphere interact,” Ballantyne...
COVID 19: A Clarion Call for #SciComm
By Nadia White
It’s a rare day that science occupies the top spot for local, national and global news, but the novel coronavirus pandemic is shining a hot spotlight on science communications. The climate change communications community has used the opportunity as a timelapse recap of framing and...
UM BRIDGES Leads Team in Publication of Open Access Paper
UM BRIDGES is excited to announce the publication in Elementa of an open-access paper, coauthored by students, staff, and faculty from National Science Foundation NRTs, led by University of Montana. See the entire paper here.
Abstract
The multiscale, complex challenges at the nexus of food,...
Laurel Genzoli Gathers Data Before Largest Dam Removal Project
Excerpt from The Revelator article:
Drones, Algae and Fish Ears: What We’re Learning Before the World’s Largest Dam-removal Project — and What We Could Miss
What lessons from the largest-ever dam-removal project can we apply to future efforts on other rivers in the United States and around the...
UM BRIDGES Trainee Ada Smith presents Science from the Saddle
Ada Smith is a PhD student in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana with an interdisciplinary research focus on agricultural decision-making and climate adaptation in Montana. Ada is particularly interested in understanding the ways in which producers...
Graduate Spotlight on Cynthia Coleman
Cynthia Coleman is a master’s student in the Department of Society and Conservation and a fellow in the BRIDGES program at the University of Montana. Born and raised in San Bernardino, California, Coleman is also an enrolled member of the native village of Unalakleet, Alaska. Coleman came to the...
BRIDGES Trainee, Cassie Sevigny, Interns as Science Communicator
In my pursuit of a Master’s in Economics, I have taken a particular interest in environmental issues and how to effectively communicate the economic incentives that cause positive or negative behavioral patterns. One project that examines agricultural behaviors, as well as resulting feedback...
UM BRIDGES Presents Spring Lecture at the Nexus
Please join us for our Spring 2020 Lecture at the Nexus with guest speakers Sam Panarella and Barb Cosens. The spring “Lecture at the Nexus” at the University of Montana will highlight the importance of trade offs for climate action.
Professor Sam Panarella will launch the lecture series at 4...
UM Bridges Faculty Member Collaborating With Researchers in Costa Rica
Economics Department faculty member, Katrina Mullan, is currently developing new FEWS research projects at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE by its Spanish acronym) in Costa Rica. Professor Mullan is working with Roger Madrigal who is the director of...
UM BRIDGES Faculty Define American West as Social Ecological Region
The notion of the ‘American West’ evokes classic imagery of rugged landscapes and resilient people. In a new paper published in Environmental Research Letters, UM BRIDGES faculty Dr. Alexander L. Metcalf and Dr. Brian C. Chaffin joined with coauthors from across the US to define stable,...
BRIDGES Trainee, Erika Berglund, helps Missoulians connect to their local farmers
This summer, I had the pleasure of working as a community outreach intern for Community Food and Agriculture Coalition in Missoula, MT. This small but mighty non-profit strives to support a sustainable, resilient, and equitable local food system through its food access, beginning farmer and...
UM Study Suggests Climate Change Limits Forest Recovery After Wildfires
March 12, 2019
Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest burned in the 1994 Idaho City Complex Fire on the Boise National Forest in Idaho, and little regeneration has occurred since. (Courtesy of Kimberley Davis)
MISSOULA – New University of Montana research suggests climate change makes it...
Professor receives recognition for public service in agriculture
Professor receives recognition for public service in agriculture
The Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society is an international, interdisciplinary academic Society and recently recognized Neva Hassanein, Professor of Environmental Studies and a member of the BRIDGES faculty, with an...
Let's Talk About Water Montana, Science on Tap with Dr. Clint Muhlfeld
UM BRIDGES graduate students are hosting Science on Tap, at Imagine Nation Brewing, as part of Let’s Talk About Water (LTAW) Montana.
Dr. Clint Muhlfeld will present “Are Montana’s trout in hot water? Understanding climate change effects on freshwater ecosystems for climate adaptation in the...
Coupling social and hydrologic data to model changes in working agricultural landscapes
Many recent advancements have been made in efforts to integrate different types of social data into hydrologic models as a means to more accurately predict the social and economic impacts of changes in hydrology (e.g. Torres et al. 2012). Much of the social data used in these efforts have been...
UM graduate students address Montana’s changing water future at Let’s Talk about Water Montana
Let’s Talk About Water, Montana
film screening and panel discussion coming to Missoula
Climate change complicates already contentious issues regarding water supply and quality. To secure a safe and adequate water supply for the future will require multiple solutions and...
Pete McBride to deliver lecture for Fall Lecture at the Nexus
Renowned photographer, filmmaker, writer, and explorer Pete McBride will deliver this semester’s Lecture at the Nexus, conversations at the intersection of water, energy, and food. His talk, titled “Between River and Rim: A 750-mile transect through the Grand Canyon exploring the state of our...
UM BRIDGES faculty mimic beavers on the landscape for climate resilience
Land managers are increasingly using a conservation tool that involves mimicking the North American beaver by building small dams out of sticks and mud in degraded streams. While this may seem like an unusual approach, it has shown promise in achieving a range of conservation goals, including...
UM BRIDGES trainees win funds to spark water dialogue between public and scientists
UM BRIDGES Trainees applied for, and won, a CUAHSI "Let's Talk About Water" grant to engage audiences in critical thinking about our water resources via film showings and discussions. The project will kick off in March around World Water Day and will conclude with a film screening and panel...
Dr. Rebecca Bendick wins UM Distinguished Scholar Award
Dr. Rebecca Bendick, Professor of Tectonics in the Department of Geosciences, was awarded the 2019 Distinguished Scholar Award. Dr. Bendick leads UM BRIDGE's Numeracy Workshop.
The Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions in the areas of research,...
Lecture on climate adaptation and micro-economics, May 9 at Noon
Chris Fleming, economics professor at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia will give a talk entitled "EcoAdapt in the Pacific: Microeconomic Analysis" on May 9 at Noon in Liberal Arts 304-305. His talk is sponsored by UM Climate Change Studies and UM BRIDGES.
EcoAdapt is a five-year...
Dr. Nancy Grimm to give "Lecture at the Nexus" on cities' response to climate change
Renown sustainability scientist, Nancy Grimm, to Lecture at UM Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Renown and prolific sustainability scientist Nancy Grimm will give the spring semester “Lecture at the Nexus” at the University of Montana at 4 p.m., Tuesday April 9, in Room 204 of the James E. Todd Building....
UM Bridges faculty awarded nearly $1 million for restoration project
Two UM faculty members were recently awarded a $999,942 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for a project that will use social science and marketing tools to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the largest on the Atlantic Coast.
UM BRIDGES faculty member Alex...
Join us for the Bridging Science and Practice graduate seminar Spring 19
Join us for this 1.0 credit seminar that will focus on how science moves into decision-making and how we can work with end-users to make our science more relevant and actionable, especially at the food-energy-water nexus. We will cover public perceptions of science, doing team science and...
UM BRIDGES offers numeracy workshop open to UM students, staff, and faculty
The UM BRIDGES program is offering a numeracy workshop, to be taught by Dr. Rebecca Bendick from the Geosciences Department. The workshop will be offered over 4 weeks during the spring semester. 1 graduate level credit is available (optional) for the workshop.
Numeracy is as fundamental to our...
UofA INFEWS Director encourages AGU to include indigenous perspective
Dr. Karletta Chief, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in Hydrology and the University of Arizona, issued the following challenge to the American Geophysical Union in honor of Native American Heritage Month
In honor of National Native American Heritage Month and as a Native American...
Cynthia Coleman, UM BRIDGES Trainee, earns native scholarship
Congratulations to UM BRIDGES trainee Cynthia Coleman, who was selected as a recipient of the Native Agriculture and Food Systems Scholarship for the 2018-2019 academic year.
https://www.firstnations.org/node/517
https://www.umt.edu/bridges/people/trainees.php
UM's Path to a Sustainable Future
By Andrew Lahr, PhD Candidate/UM BRIDGES Fellow
As climate change exacerbates problems affecting many of Montana’s natural resources, it is apparent to leaders at the University of Montana that the university and the people there have a role to play in reducing their impact by taking action. UM...
BRIDGES Trainees instruct students in river science
BRIDGES trainees lead students in river science learning in collaboration with Watershed Education Network
From the Missoulian article October 22, 2018
Students from St. Joseph’s Middle School pulled on waders and walked through the Clark Fork River last week during a field trip to learn about...
Kristin Sleeper, UM BRIDGES Trainee, interns with state representative
The Opportunities and Challenges of Administering Tribal Water Compacts in Montana: Trainee Kristin Sleeper details internship with Montana State Representative Zach Brown
Access to water defines the arid American West and water management is an explicit effort to balance appropriated water...
Dr. Katrina Mullan awarded NSF Coupled Natural-Human Systems grant
UM BRIDGES faculty member, Katrina Mullan, was recently awarded an NSF Coupled Natural-Human Systems grant. Mullan will lead a multi-disciplinary team studying the dynamic feedbacks between climate, water and land-use in a region of the Brazilian Amazon.
The team will model the regional...
Ben Goldfarb to give first "Lecture at the Nexus" November 5, 2018
Award-Winning Environmental Journalist, Ben Goldfarb, to Lecture at UM Monday, November 5, 2018
Award-winning environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb will launch the "Lecture at the Nexus" series at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, in the Thompson Auditorium of UM’s Gilkey Executive Education Building. He...
Jordan Jimmie investigates Amazonian land use policies on indigenous lands
Food-Water Nexus and Deforestation Implications in Brazil’s Indigenous Territories: Upholding Land Tenured Rights in Country’s Effort to End Deforestation
During Jordan Jimmie's internship at the Woods Hole Research Center (“WHRC”), he worked with mentors to complete a policy brief presenting...
UM BRIDGES co-hosts successful Cross-INFEWS Workshop
The University of Montana BRIDGES graduate training program (umt.edu/bridges), in collaboration with the University of Iowa and University of California Berkeley, co-hosted a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded workshop July 30-August 1. The workshop focus ed on identifying best practices...
BRIDGES faculty research identifies main climate drivers of fire
Declining summer precipitation enhances heating and exacerbates wildfires
A drop in summer precipitation and longer dry spells play a significant role in the size and number of large fires across the American West, according to a new study conducted by the U.S. Forest Service in partnership with...
Kate Perkins, UM BRIDGES Trainee, awarded prestigious NSF Fellowship
The National Science Foundation recently announced that Kaitlin Perkins, a master’s student in systems ecology at the University of Montana, will receive its prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program award.
Perkins is a part of UM BRIDGES, a NSF-funded national research traineeship for...
Naomi Neal, UM BRIDGES Trainee, interns with MWQD
UM BRIDGES trainee Naomi Neal recently completed an internship with the Missoula Valley Water Quality District.
Naomi worked independently on a research project concerning the use of irrigation infrastructure for managed groundwater recharge, doing the bulk of her research work on-site at the WQD...
Luke Fisher, UM BRIDGES Trainee, wins Toelle-Bekken Award
From Luke Fisher, UM BRIDGES Trainee:
Analyzing the concentration of the cosmogenic nuclide, 10Be, in river sediments is a tool frequently used by geomorphologists to quantify basin wide erosion rates over thousand-year timescales. This is a technique that has not been widely applied to large...
Resilience in Practice: BRIDGES students learn how to design Resilience Assessments
Resilience thinking generates new insights and perspectives into old problems:
University of Idaho Resilience Assessment Workshop in Moscow, Idaho, March 22-24.
Workshop facilitator Paul Ryan of the Australian Resilience Centre shared his wealth of experience in assessing system resilience, both...
Montana Water Summit in Helena, MT focuses on water resources
The recent Montana Water Summit held in Helena MT featured UM BRIDGES faculty on the panel and “examined water policy and management challenges at the quality/quantity nexus, presented transferable case studies of adaptation across water use sectors, and fostered a statewide, multidisciplinary...
Spring 2018 Seminar: methods and models for interdisciplinary science
Sharpen your interdisciplinary science skills by learning new tools and methods through mini-workshops and primers!
This seminar will help you build skills for multiple career paths in interdisciplinary science, with a suite of guest lectures, primers, and mini-workshops on a range of methods and...
UM BRIDGES Trainee takes STEM knowledge to the classroom
From Kate Perkins, UM BRIDGES Trainee:
I currently volunteer with both We Are Montana in the Classroom and the Montana Natural History Center (MNHC). With We Are Montana in the Classroom, I am working with the SciGirls Club in the rural community of Hamilton, Montana where I am a mentor for...
Trainee Nick Thiros receives NSF award for Sandia internship
From Nick Thiros, UM BRIDGES Graduate Student:
"I am thrilled to have received an award from the National Science Foundation to complete an internship at Sandia National Lab in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I will be studying the impacts that the nuclear fuel cycle can have on groundwater quality. ...
Jordan Gilbert collaborates with The Nature Conservancy
One exciting aspect of my M.S. research is the collaboration with the Nature Conservancy (TNC) in California, and being able to study their river and floodplain restoration projects across the state. Interacting with these projects will allow me to address some fundamental scientific research...
Data Mining Workshop Opportunity
UM BRIDGES is pleased to offer openings in our data mining workshop. This workshop is open to all UM graduate students and faculty. Space is limited to 20 seats on a first response basis. No previous programming/data mining experience is necessary.
Data Mining: the process of applying intelligent...
UM BRIDGES Faculty member awarded NSF Fellowship
UM Professor Brian Chaffin was recently featured in the Missoulian as a recipient of a National Science Foundation Fellowship. Chaffin is a faculty member at UM's W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, and his research involves social and policy data which shows the interactions...
Join the UM BRIDGES InFEWS ListServ
Interested in hearing about INFEWS goings-ons in and around UM? Sign up for the UM BRIDGES INFEWS ListServ.
The easiest way to sign on is to send an email to:
LISTSERV@LISTS.UMT.EDU
and write in the body of the email:
SUBSCRIBE UM-BRIDGES-L Firstname Lastname
(using your own first and last name)
If...
Science communications workshop offered
UM BRIDGES Offering Science Communications Workshop
Attendees will learn how to conceptualize a communications strategy for their science. Workshop will be led by Associate Professor Nadia White from the School of Journalism.
Learning objectives:
Understand your audience and tailor the what and...
Join us at the Fall 2017 BRIDGES speaker series
Dr. Brian Chaffin, instructor of the Fall Seminar speaker series, has lined up a great list of speakers to discuss all things food-energy-water nexus. You can download a speaker schedule here, or visit the resources page of our website to see the most up to date calendar. Seminars are followed...
UM BRIDGES faculty members receive NASA's EPSCoR Grant to carry out collaborative research
Geoscientist Marco Maneta of the University of Montana and co-PIs Brian Chaffin (UM), John Kimball (UM), Kelsey Jencso (UM), Bruce Maxwell (MSU), and Stephanie Ewing from (MSU) will team up with hydrologists at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to carry out this...
UM BRIDGES: new FEWS courses at UM
The UM BRIDGES program will be offering several new Food-Energy-Water Systems (FEWS) course options in academic year 2017-2018. These will include:
Fall 2017
GEO 595/NRSM 595: Food-Energy-Water Core Course TR 12:30-1:50 (enrollment by consent of instructors): Drs. Yung and Wilcox will guide...
Montana: at the forefront of tribal issues
The University of Montana has been identified as a top university for native students. You can read the article on the Indian Country Today website detailing UM's excellent academic programs combined with cultural support for native students. The same media outlet also identified Montana's...
Montana Climate Assessment released
Update: The completed Montana Climate Assessment is not available at http://montanaclimate.org/
The Montana Institute on Ecosystems (IOE), a collaborative effort between University of Montana and Montana State University, has released a draft of the Montana Climate Assessment (MCA) for public...
Montana power storage project gets positive review from feds
The Billings Gazette newspaper published an article detailing the Federal review of the Gordon Butte Project to store excess power.
UM BRIDGES faculty teaches environmental leadership course
Neva Hassanein, Professor in the UM Environmental Studies Program, will be offering an Environmental Leadership Series in Spring, 2017. The one-credit ELS will include five professional-development workshops specifically designed for graduate students and led by professional trainers.
Likely...
Report: Food-Energy-Water Nexus basics
The Grace Communications Foundation has published a report “Know the Nexus” describing how food-energy-water systems intersect and how each sector can impact the other. The report provides three nexus case studies to better illustrate the concepts. You can download the report on the GRACE...
UM lands a $3 million National Science Foundation grant
The Missoulian newspaper published an article detailing the NSF award to fund the UM BRIDGES graduate traineeship program at the food-energy-water nexus.
NSF Invests 72 Million Dollars for Innovations at the Nexus
To help secure the future of food, energy, and water systems while maintaining vital ecosystem services, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded more than $72 million for fundamental science and engineering research. The investments are part of the NSF Innovations at the Nexus of Food,...