Utah State University College of Natural Resources students captured top awards at the Association of American Geographers Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Division annual meeting held Sept. 25-26 in Logan. More than 100 participants attended the USU-hosted conference, representing 15 western universities.

 

Geography major Justin Noyes placed first in the undergraduate oral paper competition. Master’s student Jodie Madsen, also a geography major, finished first in the graduate oral paper competition.

 

Undergraduate geographer Jed Anderson was among the highest individual scorers in the meeting’s Geography Bowl student competition and earned a place on the regional team that will compete in the Geography Bowl at the AAG’s national meeting April 14-18, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

 

Noyes presented “From Bonanza to Bat Cave: How the Amazon Mine in Logan Canyon Evolved as a Natural Resource.”

 

Located along Utah’s Logan Canyon Scenic Byway near US-89 mile marker 488, the Amazon Mine has a diverse and colorful history, he says.

 

“Basically, it’s evolved from a working galena mine and the site of a questionable stock-selling business to an explorers’ landmark and, currently, a sensitive species sanctuary,” Noyes says.

 

The shaft now serves as a protected home for the imperiled Townsend’s big-eared bat.

 

Madsen presented “Latino Recreation in Cache Valley, Utah,” the subject of her master’s thesis.

 

“Low minority visitation of national forests and parks has become an increasingly studied topic but not much has been written that’s specific to Latinos,” she says.

 

Two major theories — ethnicity and marginality — are suggested by researchers as possible reasons for low minority attendance nationally, Madsen says.

 

“Cultural and language barriers, lack of experience, economic constraints and amount of leisure time could explain this phenomenon and perhaps there are factors we haven’t yet considered,” she said.

 

USU’s six-member Geography Bowl team placed second at the meeting’s competition. In addition to Anderson, team members included undergraduates Melissa Barfuss, Abigail Montandon and Jeff Ricks and graduate students Seth Price and Adrian Welsh.

 

Conference organizers were College of Natural Resources faculty members Doug Ramsey and Claudia Radel, co-chairs; Ann Laudati and Jack Schmidt. The meeting was sponsored by the Department of Environment and Society, the Department of Watershed Sciences and the Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory.

 

 

Contact: Claudia Radel, 435-797-0516, claudia.radel@usu.edu