Volume 1, Spring 2022

A light brownish-gray deer is centered in the image, framed by the out-of-focus trunks of two trees.

The Transformation of Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

May 23, 2025

Video Transcript Hi, I am Brian Genge, and I am at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is abundant with wildlife and being here you quickly forget you are only 10 miles from Denver. This refuge is home to both Mule Deer and White- tailed Deer. As well...

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A section of a light beige-colored, multi-story building is pictured.   The facade is composed of numerous rectangular windows arranged in a repeating pattern.   Large, bold black capital letters are stenciled or painted on a section of the wall, displaying the words "THIS MUST BE THE PLACE".

Digital Place and Space

May 23, 2025

Preface Yi-Fu Tuan gently circles space, carefully probing how humans experience the essence and liminality of place through their senses and bodies. At first thought, the idea of digital space and place – a world with no materiality – seems inconsistent with Tuan’s embodied, poetic approach. Technology eliminates any visceral...

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Several vintage maps overlap, creating a visually textured surface.

“Ground Truth in the Loam”: Literary Mapping as Emancipation

May 23, 2025

Introduction In the late 19th century, Ida B. Wells, a black woman from the South, urged international powers to put American racism on the map (Alderman & Inwood, 2021). She used quantitative data to display lynching sites in her famous essay, “Lynching and the Excuse for It,” written in response...

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Collage with text and drawings on refugee experiences—fear, safety, rights, hope. Panels show phrases, emotions, and a map of Africa.

A Refugee Is...

May 23, 2025

Kristy Gantzer with Art by Alyssa Tamborski Image Description The title reads "To be a refugee is..." Quotes from the Eritrean refugee are scattered throughout the art piece. They read: "to wonder: why you?" "To feel for your life," "to be grateful," "To wonder: why all the suffering and neglect?"...

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A homeless encampment in down town Denver. Tents and sleeping bags are lined up along the road. There is snow on the ground.

Denver Encampments and COVID-19: A Geographic Atlas

May 23, 2025

Introduction The purpose of this Atlas is to answer the question, "How has COVID-19 impacted the spatial patterns of the Denver unhoused population in relation to public resources in the city core?" COVID-19 signified a crisis within a crisis for unhoused communities. Exploring the changing shelter situation, closures of public...

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Close-up view of the gills of a mushroom.

The Common Mycelial Network (CMN) of Forests

May 23, 2025

Introduction Permeating the organic layer of the forest floor is a thick, interwoven matrix composed of fine white threads of fungal hyphae collectively known as mycelium. The majority of fungal biomass dwells underground in the form of mycelium, twisting and twining through an ocean of soil. Though most people associate...

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A large flock of birds, likely pigeons, is depicted in flight against a pure white background.

Characterizing avian species richness patterns in Colorado

May 21, 2025

Introduction Recently, many ecologists have focused their efforts on studying how urbanization impacts bird populations (Lee et al., 2021; Marques et al., 2020; Torres et al., 2016; Waltert et al., 2004). Urbanization and linear infrastructure (roads and power lines) can negatively affect bird population densities and avian species richness (total...

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Close-up of a jaguar's head and upper body.

Characterization of Jaguar Utilization Distributions in the Brazilian Pantanal

May 20, 2025

Abstract Jaguars ( Panthera onca ) have been eradicated from 50% of their historical range across Mexico, Central America, and South America. The Brazilian Pantanal in west-central Brazil represents a stronghold of core habitat for the species and is an important site for conservation. Habitat in the Pantanal is threatened...

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Colorful star field in deep space with pink, purple, and blue hues, creating a swirling galaxy effect against a dark background.

Ecological, Egotistical, and Interstitial Space

May 20, 2025

This paper intentionally emulates Yi-Fu Tuan’s style of writing and assumes, at times, that the reader is familiar with Tuan’s text, Space and Place, while also, assuredly, incorporating my own language and ideas. Some of the concepts presented here may seem abstract or philosophical as these thoughts coalesced and culminated...

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Aerial view of a intricate highway infrastructure of a dense urban landscape in a major city.

Letter from the Editor

May 20, 2022

Inaugural Editor Sarah Melotte welcomes you to Confluence Volume One - Inaugural Issue Just north of campus in the heart of downtown Denver, Cherry Creek and the South Platte River intersect, forming the confluence after which this journal is named. Like a river, the scholarly identity of our department is...

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