On May 4 & 5, 2012, the Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning hosted its first-ever reunion for graduates of all our programs. The event was organized by a sub-committee of our departmental Advisory Board consisting of Dottie Lofstrom (Chair), Tim Bixler, Jenni Jones, and Scott Smith. The festivities began on Friday afternoon with an Open House in the department and a seminar presentation by current departmental majors. From there, the group adjourned to a Happy Hour at Springfield Brewing Company (right). above: Ben Francka, John Fossard, Dan Richmond, and Don Meier. right: Robin (Buckner) Price, Lora (Moomaw) Krizanich, Dottie Lofstrom, Suzanne (Smith) Paschke. On Friday evening, the group enjoyed a baseball game from the “Redbird Roost” at Springfield’s new Hammons Field (left), where the Springfield Cardinals (minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals) took on the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the AA Texas League. above: front row—Jerry Higgins, Art Banet, Stan Fagerlin, Louise Miller; 2nd row—Gary Krizanich, Lora Krizanich, Margaret Ash, Tom Plymate, Lynda Plymate. right: Dan Price, Robin Price, Cathy (Suntrup) VanMatre, Stan Fagerlin, Kurt VanMatre. Fall 2012 Missouri State University GeoNews page 1 Optional daytime activities for Saturday included a golf outing hosted by Stan Fagerlin and Danja Feeback, a geography/planning tour of downtown Springfield redevelopment projects, and a geology field trip that included a picnic at Sequiota Park (left) and a tour of Smallin Cave (below). The weekend culminated with a cookout at Fassnight Park (below). In total, nearly 200 alumni, family, and friends attended one or more of the weekend’s festivities. left: Advisory Board President Joe Gillman addressing the crowd. below: Erwin Mantei, Greg Easson, and Don Meier. left: Jason Rudolph and Kevin Koch. We have compiled a CD containing over 200 photos from the reunion, as well as a “Memory Lane” slide show depicting memorable moments from the department’s history. If you would like a copy, just send your contact information to us at [email protected]. Fall 2012 Missouri State University GeoNews page 2 The standard image of Jamaica includes palm trees, beautiful beaches, and warm weather, but also miles of hotels and thousands of tourists. All of that is true. However, there is an undeveloped part of Jamaica that has all of the positive aspects but retains an “old Jamaica” feeling. If you ask a native Jamaican about Bluefields Bay they will usually say, “Oh, that is the real Jamaica!” It is the place Jamaicans, and Missouri State GGP students and faculty, find most interesting. GGP’s involvement with Jamaica started when Bob Pavlowsky was asked to conduct a survey of Bluefields Bay as part of an evaluation for the new fishing sanctuary proposed by area residents. Bob and a group of his graduate students mapped the sanctuary area, locating many interesting features such as anchorages used by the celebrated buccaneer Sir Henry Morgan (later Deputy Governor of Jamaica). Bob noticed how the area seemed to retain a lot of the original Jamaican culture. right: MSU student Brock James at one of the typical south shore businesses. Spring Break of 2011 saw Linnea Iantria and a group of her geotourism students join Bob to study the potential of tourism development in the area. The students collected data, and that information was analyzed by Linnea’s Geotourism Practicum class the following semester to develop a full tourism plan. The goal was to keep the culture and heritage of Bluefields Bay intact, while providing sustainable ideas for future tourism development. As a result of the 2011 surveys, one of our Geotourism students spent the summer in the Treasure Beach area creating a guide to the tourism sites. The student interacted with local community members, government officials, and tourism stakeholders to obtain stories, legends, and ideas for the publication. In the spring of 2012, Linnea and Bob took another group of students to the area, expanding the range of their study to include the region of Treasure Beach. Again, surveys were conducted and ideas exchanged for potential tourism development. This time there was more input as to the varying types of potential accommodations and the impact of tourism on the fishing sanctuaries. above: Bob Pavlowsky photographing above: Students Carrie Pavlowsky and students climbing through the mangroves. Bethany James clean up the shoreline. The fully developed 70-page plan, with an accompanying 152-slide PowerPoint presentation, was sent to Bluefields Bay for evaluation. Linnea and Bob will return to Jamaica again in January of 2013 to present the plan to members of the Jamaican government and Bluefields Bay community. Fall 2012 Missouri State University GeoNews page 3 This past summer two of MSU’s geology majors had the “opportunity of a lifetime” for a geologist— a chance to study geology where many of the basic principles of our science were first developed. Becka Giboney and Sarah Morris, along with their MSU geology professor Tom Plymate, joined a group of geology students and faculty from Northwest Missouri State University for an 18-day study tour of the geology of the British Isles. Their tour began in Edinburgh, Scotland and ended in Dublin, Ireland. In between they visited some classic geologic exposures, including the Salisbury Crags, Siccar Point, the Barovian metamorphic sequence of the Scottish Highlands, Giant’s Causeway, and the Bridges of Ross. right: NWMSU geology professors Renee Rohs (front row, second from left) and Aaron Johnson (front row, far right) with NWMSU and MSU students on the columnar jointed basalt at Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland. left: Tom Plymate at Siccar Point, Scotland, where James Hutton laid one of the most fundamental cornerstones for the science of geology by first understanding the significance of unconformities. above: MSU geology students Sarah Morris and Becka Giboney hike along the east coast of Scotland in Forvie Natural Reserve. left: Becka Giboney modeling the limbs of an asymmetric anticline at the Bridges of Ross exposure along the west coast of Ireland. Shortly after their return to MSU, Becka and Sarah gave a seminar presentation to a very envious audience of our departmental students, faculty, and alumni. A number of our current geology majors are already making plans to take advantage of this opportunity the next time it becomes available, in the summer of 2014. Fall 2012 Missouri State University GeoNews page 4 The Environmental Assessment class (GRY 731) from the Department of Geography, Geology & Planning at Missouri State University recently completed a class project for the Spring 2013 semester. The purpose of this class project was to assess the natural resources of the Lovett Pinetum located on sixty acres in the Pearson Creek watershed. The Latin word PINETUM means pine grove. A pinetum is a grove or plantation where pine trees are cultivated, particularly for scientific, educational or esthetic purposes. It is a specialized type of arboretum — a place where many kinds of trees are grown for the same purposes. Established in 1970 by Dr. Robert Lovett, this pinetum has expanded to include over thirty different species of coniferous trees. The vision of the Lovett Pinetum has also increased its through the creation of a center for education and learning directed toward the general public and community. In order to complement the education center, the Environmental Assessment class has assessed various conditions specific to this site that can be used for educational purposes and future research projects. The issues and factors assessed included the diverse hydrogeology, land use and soil units found in this area. Other factors such as spring flora/fauna, water quality conditions and dendrological data were also assessed and documented. Since Pearson Creek flows through this site, a riparian corridor management plan was also developed to protect the stream from further erosion. Funded through the James River Basin Partnership with assistance provided by Missouri Department of Conservation and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Environmental Assessment class assisted in planting different species of shrubs along the creek and its tributaries in order to protect water quality and create wildlife habitat. Danforth Spring is the primary source of water for Pearson Creek, and is located on the grounds of the Lovett Pinetum. A portion of this project was to identify the fauna and flora of this spring as well as the hydrogeologic regime of this recharge area. Fall 2012 Missouri State University GeoNews page 5 • James Berglund, geospatial sciences graduate student, received the Clayton H. Johnson Award from the Association of Missouri Geologists in recognition for the best oral presentation by a graduate student in the Geology/Geophysics Section at the 2012 meeting of the Missouri Academy of Sciences. • Matthew Cauthon, undergraduate geology major, and Ryan Theissen, undergraduate geography major, each received a Dr. John H. Keiser Scholarship in Public Affairs and Environmental Studies from the MSU College of Natural and Applied Sciences. • Ashley Dameron (right), undergraduate geology major, won First Place in the Geography/Geology/Planning category for her poster presentation at the 2012 CNAS Undergraduate Research Day. David Brannan and Sara Cheek, undergraduate geology majors, placed Second in that same competition. • Andrew DeWitt, geospatial sciences graduate student, was honored for Best Presentation by a Master’s Student by the Geomorphology Specialty Group at the 2012 meeting of the Association of American Geographers in New York City. Andrew also won Best Student Presentation at the 2012 meeting of the Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, and he placed Second in the Oral Presentation competition at this year’s Graduate Interdisciplinary Forum, a competition involving nearly 100 Missouri State graduate students. • Joshua Elson, undergraduate geography and geology double major, received a Martin-Stevenson Science Scholarship from the MSU College of Natural and Applied Sciences.