Mountain Studies Minor

Mountain Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on the physical and human dimensions of mountain environments. Coursework in the minor emphasizes physical geography and mountain-society interactions, including a critical analysis of the processes of change and influence shaping local and regional mountain environments today. The minor in Mountain Studies takes advantage of existing faculty expertise and an array of courses to provide students with a science-based curriculum and global perspective. Students pursuing the minor in mountain studies will develop knowledge and skills appropriate for graduate study and for working with government and non-government agencies and groups.

Minor - Mountain Studies (Minor)

College Humanities & Sciences

Catalog Year: 2016-2017

Degree Specific Credits: 18

Required Cumulative GPA: 2.5

Note: In addition to completing the requirements for a major in any discipline, students electing the minor in Mountain Studies must have a GPA of 3.0 in the major and complete a minimum of 18 additional credits in this minor.

Upper Division Core

Rule: Must complete all of the following courses

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description GPHY 314 - Global Mountain Environments
Offered autumn odd-numbered years. The study of mountain environments and their physical processes around the globe: Andes, Appalachians, East African Mountains, European Alps, Hindu Kush-Himalaya-Karakoram, Pamir, Rocky Mountains, Southern Alps of New Zealand, Tien Shan, and others. Topics include mountain building, alpine glaciers, mountain geomorphology and climatology, mountain watersheds, mountain biogeography, and mountain hazards such as earthquakes and mass movements.
 3 Credits
Show Description GPHY 338 - Mountains and Society
Offered spring. Physical and cultural aspects of the mountains of North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Emphasis on combining the physical landscape with an overview of the indigenous people who inhabit the worlds’ heights.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 6 Total Credits Required

Region-Specific Mountain Studies

Rule: Must complete 6 credits from the following courses

Note: Two sections of NRSM 391 may be taken to fulfill this requirements, each for 3 credits:
1) Community and Conservation in the Northern Rockies
2) Ecological Restoration in Greater Yellowstone

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description BIOL 342 - Field Ecology
Offered summers only at Flathead Lake Biological Station.  Prereq., BIOB 272 and one year of college math, including statistics.  The principles and practices of the study of animals and plants in their natural environments, including human influences, with focus on the Crown of the Continent area of the Rock Mountains and taught entirely outdoors.
 5 Credits
Show Description BIOL 459 - Alpine Ecology
Offered summers only at Flathead Lake Biological Station.  Prereq., BIOE 342 or BIOE 370/371.  Distribution, abundance and life cycles of plants and animals and their unique ecophysiological adaptations to life in the rigorous environments of the high mountains above the timberline, with emphasis on the Crown of the Continent area.
 3 Credits
Show Description BIOO 101N - Survey MT Wldlife & Habitats
Offered online autumn. Prereq., one course in biology. Interpreting biological patterns associated with selected Montana wildlife species, including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
 3 Credits
Show Description BIOO 335 - Rocky Mountain Flora
Offered spring. Prereq., one college-level course in Biology or consent of instr. Elements of the evolution, geography and natural affinities of flowering plants. Identification using a manual of native plants of Montana.
 3 Credits
Show Description GEO 231 - Geosciences Field Methods
Offered autumn and spring. Prereq. GEO 101N-102N. This course introduces students to a variety of field methodologies routinely used in the collection, processing, and interpretation of geoscientific field data.
 2 Credits
Show Description GPHY 144 - Montana's Mountains
Consent of Instructor. A field-based course offered during winter session in the winter splendor of the North Fork of the Flathead River and Glacier National Park. Topics addressed include physical geography, geology, winter ecology, national park management, environmental history, and the changing economy of the region.
 3 Credits
Show Description GPHY 344 - Crown of the Continent
Offered autumn. The study of the geographical setting of the Crown of the Continent of North America, including the richness of physical geography, history, culture, and models of conservation. Examines ongoing research initiatives, impacts of climate change, regional transformations, and the relationship between people and this mountainous environment.
 3 Credits
Show Description GPHY 391 - Special Topics
(R-12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.
 1 To 12 Credits
Show Description GPHY 438 - Mountain Field Study
(R-6) Upper-division or graduate standing and consent of instructor. Examination of aspects of the study of mountain geography through a two-week field course based in a mountainous country and/or region. Possible areas of focus include, but are not limited to, the Northern Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Himalaya, and the Andes.
 3 Credits
Show Description GPHY 442 - Regionalism & Rocky Mtn West
Offered intermittently. Investigation of regionalism as a concept and its future in the Rocky Mountain West. Regionalism as a geographical, economic, political, and cultural entity.
 3 Credits
Show Description GPHY 444 - High Asia
Offered intermittently. A study of the geography and mountain-society interactions in High Asia.  The course includes attention to the theory and methodology of mountain geography, with attention to physical and human systems and their interaction.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 352 - Mountain Environment and Dev
Offered summer only. Coreq., PTRM 353.  This course covers the contentious issues surrounding environment and development in the Himalaya using the Garhwal region of India as the example.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 391 - Special Topics
(R 12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors; new courses or one time offerings of current topics.
 0 To 12 Credits
Show Description PTRM 353 - Tourism & Sustnbility Himalaya
Offered summer only. Coreq. NRSM 352.  In this course we will explore the opportunities and challenges of development with particular reference to nature-based tourism and sustainability in an isolated but rapidly globalizing region of the Himalaya. Students will learn through extensive readings, class discussions, direct field experience (including living in a remote mountain village), meetings with development officials, sustainability activists and stakeholders in the region.
 3 Credits
Show Description PTRM 418 - Winter Wilderness Field Stdies
Examination of wilderness values, management issues and strategies, winter ecology and snow science, risk management and group leadership, and traditional skills.  Winter field course in the Swan Valley and Mission Mountains Wilderness.  Offered wintersession.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 6 Total Credits Required

General Mountain Studies

Rule: Must complete 6 credits from the following courses

Note: One section of NRSM 311 fulfills this requirement: Conservation Biology in the Northern Rockies

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description BIOL 451 - Landscape Ecology
Offered summers only at Flathead Lake Biological Station.  Prereq., BIOL 342 or BIOE 370/371.  Biophysical processes that determine landscape and ecosystem structure and function using remote sensing tools, geographic information systems and dynamic models to demonstrate landscape change.
 3 Credits
Show Description ERTH 303N - Weather and Climate
Offered spring. Same as CCS 303N. Origin, composition, structure, and dynamics of the atmosphere, gas and radiation laws, energy budget and balance, weather elements, North American weather systems, and climate change. To succeed in this course students should have comfort with basic algebra.
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 330 - Forest Ecology
Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., FORS 210 or ENSC 245N or NRSM 210N; and BIOO 105N or BIOB 170N or BIOE 172 or BIOB 160N or FORS 240; and FORS 201 or STAT 216 or SOCI 202 or WILD 240 or PSYX 222. Examination of physical and biological factors affecting forest structure, composition, and function, including biodiversity, disturbance, and nutrient cycling. Field labs throughout Northern Rockies including developing skills in field observation, data interpretation and problem solving.
 3 Credits
Show Description GEO 391 - Special Topics
(R–9) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one–time offerings of current topics.
 1 To 9 Credits
Show Description GEO 433 - Global Tectonics
Offered autumn. Prereq., GEO 315, M 162, and 2.25 or better overall GPA in geosciences courses. Geodynamics and tectonics of the Earth and other planets.  Course material includes methods of observing tectonic processes and tectonic phenomena, both at the surface and in the deep earth, over a wide range of time scales.
 3 Credits
Show Description GEO 488 - Snow, Ice and Climate
Offered spring.  Prereq., M 121.  Study of basic physical processes occurring in snow and ice, and how these processes govern the interaction between frozen water and the climate system.  The first half of the course focuses in snow, with special attention to snow formation in the atmosphere, snow metamorphism, water flow through snow, and basic avalanche mechanics.  The second half of the course focuses on ice and includes glacier and ice sheet flow dynamics, glacier hydrology, and ice age theory.  Graduate students will be required to complete additional problem sets requiring higher level math; perform additional reading assignments; perform at a higher level on assignments and exams where students are asked to outline and describe various physical processes; submit a well researched and reference research proposal that is able to synthesize previous research and provide a sophisticated research plan.
 3 Credits
Show Description GPHY 311N - Biogeography
Offered intermittently. Changing patterns of plant and animal distributions in space and time. Combination of historical and ecological approaches to biological species and communities. Study of external causes of plant and animal distributions, especially climatic change and human impacts.
 3 Credits
Show Description NASX 351 - Traditional Eco Knowledge
?Offered summer. This course is one unit of the four unit (12 credit) summer semester program: “Wild Rockies Summer Semester.”  Description: This course will explore the traditional ecological perspectives of the Salish, Kootenai, Blackfeet and Tlingit people, as well as how these perspectives relate to Western concepts of ecology.  Through field-based activities, lectures by tribal elders, and personal exploration, students will come to a heightened understanding of the still vital cultural perspectives and practices of modern American Indians, particularly in the Rockies of Montana and Canada.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 311 - Field Stds ecol/Human Commun
(R-12) Offered every term. Prereq., consent of instr. Via extended backcountry travel, experiential examination of the structure and function of the ecosystems occurring within the course area. Also investigates the relationship of those ecosystems with the people that manage, live, and work in the area. Offered by the Wild Rockies Field Institute.
 2 To 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 385 - Watershed Hydrology
Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., M 115 or M 121 or M 122 or M 151 or M 162 or M 171 or M 172. An introduction to physical and biological controls over water movement and storage in the environment, and how those controls are affected by land management practices.
 3 Credits
Show Description PTRM 482 - Wilderness & Protctd Area Mgt
Offered spring. Prereq., PTRM 217S, or consent of instructor. Examination of the origin, evolution, and application of the park concept on state, federal, and international levels. Evaluation of legislation, philosophy, and policy leading to consideration of goals, objectives, and strategies for wilderness and protected area management.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 6 Total Credits Required