Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: College of Integrative Sciences and Arts
Land use has changed drastically over the years as techniques modernize and new generations of people emerge. Each new generation chances and adapts the practices they need and the practices of their time. Have the newer practices hurt the land more so than practices used by previous generations? Or is the land changing naturally? In this paper, I will be focusing on a specific section of land in Arizona. The land is located in the Southernmost portion of Game Unit 19A. I have analyzed the techniques used by three distinct generations: Native Americans, original ranchers and miners, and modern ranchers and hunters. But looking at the differences between each generation, I have been able to pick out techniques that may have contributed to how the land is today. Those techniques include hunting, ranching, and mining. I have also analyzed the density of mesquites in the area in order get a better understanding of how the soil and vegetation has changed for the past few decades. I have found that the techniques used by the three groups are similar in nature, but the way they are conducted are very different because of the mindset that has changed between each time period. The density of mesquite is showing that the land has been affected due to ranching and drought. While ranching is conducted by humans and lines up with my analyst of the generations, drought is not something that could have been affected by humans and therefore an independent factor as to how the land has changed. Overall, I was not able to pinpoint a specific generation or land use techniques that has caused more change than another. I have concluded that more research should be done in order to figure out what techniques could be doing more harm than we had originally thought.