Becca Otto (Amanda Blas | The Beacon)
By Kate Peifer, Staff Writer -- peifer14@up.edu
Senior history major Becca Otto grew up visiting Mt. Rainier and came to love National Parks, so it is no surprise her thesis project discusses the preservation of wildlife.
Otto began working on her thesis her junior year. Her project, "Shifting Waters in the Klamath Basin; Conservation Strategies and the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge 1900-1930" was very complicated at first.
"It is very convoluted, but I wanted to start out comparing and contrasting two theories about the conservation of the Klamath Basin," Otto said.
In her paper, Otto compared the two theories, one presented by the first Chief of the United States Forest Service Gifford Pinchot and the other by author and wildlife conservationist John Muir.
"I looked at their two theories, and Pinchot was interested in using the sustainable resources of the basin while Muir was interested in preserving wildlife," Otto said.
According to Otto, researching the topic further allowed her to see both sides of the argument and was pleased with her finished thesis.
"In the end, I was able to see that both approaches as being able to protect the natural world," Otto said. "It was a great thing to be proud of and gave me closure."
Otto will present her senior thesis on Founders Day at 2:15 p.m. in Franz Hall room 231.
