Crimes against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation, focuses primarily on the role of conservation in America’s national park system from the 19th-20th century and conservation’s consequences on the rural people of the parks. Specifically, he analyzes the connections between laws and social relations, giving the reader a different interpretation of this heavily scrutinized time period. Jacoby divides his analysis into three sections, Forest, Mountain, and Desert, and visits three case studies: Yellowstone, the Adirondacks, and the Grand Canyon. During the push for conservationism and preservationism, you mainly hear about the heroics behind the movement, but you rarely hear about the other side of the story. Jacoby does a good job of presenting the shadowed side of this historical period and the injustices experienced by the frontiersmen living in the area for many generations, suddenly being labeled as criminals and poachers. Societal transitions are always a messy process, with little thought of the minority, change can and must hap...
From the prologue through chapter one in “Wilderness and the American Mind”, the author emphasizes the affect wilderness had on the Europeans during the colonization of America. In today’s society, we are familiar with the concept of wilderness but few of us have experienced the feeling of being encapsulated in the unfamiliar territory. Today we long for wilderness, crave it even. We use it as an outlet to escape the pace of life. However, we have a sense of safety that the Europeans did not. We are not isolated in the unfamiliar, help is usually a phone call away. Though we now view the wilderness as an oasis because we enter at our own terms, in the early colonial and national periods, the wilderness was an unknown environment that was viewed as evil and dangerous.
In this research paper, I will address the changes that occurred within the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park since the reintroduction of the grey wolves. The paper will consist of four sections; the first section will include the history behind the extirpation and subsequent reintroduction of the gray wolf in Northern America. The second section will explore the political controversy that surrounds the reintroduction of the gray wolf in Yellowstone. The third section will contain discuss the gray wolf and its impact on the ecosystem of Yellowstone. I will conclude my essay by explaining how the gray wolves act as climate change buffers in Yellowstone amidst global warming.
Modern day Native American are widely known as stewards of the environment who fight for conservation and environmental issues. The position of the many Native American as environmentalists and conservationists is justified based on the perception that before European colonists arrived in the Americas, Native Americans had little to no effect on their environment as they lived in harmony with nature. This idea is challenged by Shepard Krech III in his work, The Ecological Indian. In The Ecological Indian, Krech argues that this image of the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970’s, and that attempts to humanize Native Americans by attempting to portray them as they really were. Krech’s arguments are criticized by Darren J Ranco who in his response, claims that Krech fails to analyze the current state of Native American affairs, falls into the ‘trap’ of invented tradition, and accuses Krech of diminishing the power and influence of Native Americans in politics. This essay examines both arguments, but ultimately finds Krech to be more convincing as Krech’s
Abbey and McCandless experience different degrees of separation from industrial living, but neither wholly rejects it. Abbey, a National Park Service employee in Utah, states “I am here not only to evade for a while the clamor and filth and confusion of the cultural apparatus but also to confront immediately and directly if it’s possible, the bare bones of existence” (6). While Abbey surround...
A number of ideas, suggestions, and points can be extracted from “Illinois Bus Ride,” a passage from Aldo Leopold’s collection of essays entitled A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. However, there must be one main thesis that the author is attempting to get through to his audience. Leopold argues that we Americans have manipulated the landscape and ecosystem of the prairie so that it seems to be nothing more that a tool at our disposal. All aspects of what was once a beautiful, untamed frontier have been driven back further and further, until they were trapped in the ditches.
While describing his trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, President Carter paints and appealing picture in the minds of Americans. He mentions a “brilliant mosaic of wildflowers, mosses and lichens that hugged the tundra” (paragraph 2). As these words roll off this tongue, a beautiful landscape rolls into the minds of Americans. Furthermore, President Carter details “As the never-setting sun circled above the horizon, we watched muskox … lumber along braided rivers that meander toward the Beaufort Sea.” (paragraph 2) After hearing this description, an elegant sunset and with innocent animals roaming about pops into mind. Picturing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in this alluring manner will greatly decrease the desire to harm it. By utilizing imagery, President Carter convinces Americans of the beauty of the reserve and therefore the need to preserve
Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in fact, A Century of Dishonor.” The frontier thesis, which Turner proposed in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the sole preserver of the American psyche of democracy and republicanism by compelling Americans to conquer and to settle new areas. This thesis gives a somewhat quixotic explanation of expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, which truly portrays the settlement of the west as a pattern of cruelty and conceit. Thus, the frontier thesis, offered first in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the west. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk the mythology of the west. Specifically, these historians have refuted the common beliefs that cattle ranging was accepted as legal by the government, that the said business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent from any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder.
Every year, over nine million hikers and adventure seekers travel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park making it the most visited national park in the United States. There are abundant reasons for this, but many popular reasons include over 150 hiking trails extending over 850 miles, a large portion of the Appalachian Trail, sightseeing, fishing, horseback riding, and bicycling. The park houses roughly ten thousand species of plants and animals with an estimated 90,000 undocumented species likely possible to be present. It is clear why there was a pressing interest in making all this land into a national park. My research was started by asking the question; how did the transformation of tourism due to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park affect surrounding cities such as Gatlinburg and Sevier County, and in return, its effect on the popularity of the park?
To many families the prospect of owning land was the central driving force that brought them to the land known today as the wild Wild West. Much propaganda wa...
Western movies such as Rio Bravo and El Dorado illustrate America’s rugged and picturesque scenery explaining life as it was in the wide open country, at a time when few laws were in place to safeguard the public. These two films tell the story of four men who arrest and
This anthropocentric theme continues throughout his narrative but is personified on a societal level. This matter is first introduced in the chapter “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and The National Parks.” In this chapter Abbey notes the expansionist nature of the industrial economy and how it is affecting the national parks. Abbey critiques arguments for uni...
... middle of paper ... ... This conflict conveys the confrontation of wild American nature with the new-coming European civilization, people like the young hunter?had no qualms about doing harm to nature by thrusting civilization upon it? P. Miller, p. 207.
Biological crime theory describes that an individual is born with the desire to commit a certain crime. Evolutionary factors influence an individual’s involvement in criminal behavior. “Biological theories focus on aspects of the physical body, such as inherited genes, evolutionary factors, brain structures, or the role of hormones in influencing behavior” (Marsh, I, 2006, 3). Murderers that are innate to kill are born with factors such as mental illnesses that are the driving force as to why one may kill. Because of the biological crime theory, some individuals, though rare, are able to plead insanity. This is because the actions of the individual are said to be beyond their control (Ministry of Justice, 2006, 3).
The first noticeable step towards conserving the natural resources and wildlife in the United States started with the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act was started by Senator John Lacey in 1900 to stop the drastic drop in the number of animals and decrease in natural resources in the United States. Lacey’s act made it illegal to kill animals for sport and sell them elsewhere to escape from the law also known as market hunters. Thankfully an end was put to them. The Lacey Act is the oldest wildlife protection law in the United States and the prominence does not stop there. Multiple amendments have been made to the Lacey Act over the years to help preserve plants and wildlife. Since then, numerous species have been saved and the conservation of our natural
The topic that I chose to discuss is one that every state has adopted due to the acts that have been taken to preserve and protect our environment, so I chose the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act prohibits activities affecting threatened and endangered species. There are many organizations in place to enforce the authorities of this act and a couple of the main groups are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The National Oceans and Atmospheric National Marine Fisheries Services. In this assignment I will elaborate on the Parks and Wildlife efforts and policies on the Endangered Species Act. To put this Act or Law into order, there were strong actions that were threatening the environment for those that research and treat the animals. Since the 1960’s there have been motions to protect animals and in 1966 Congress passed the Endangered Species Preservation Act and bought its first endangered species habitat in Florida. Once again it was revised in 1969 and 1970, but in 1972, President Nixon declared that conservation efforts in the United States aim to prevent the extinction of species that brought together the 93rd Congress to develop comprehensive endangered species legislation. Congress responded and on December 28th the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 was signed and put into order.