Wilderness and political ecology : aboriginal influences and the original state of nature / edited by Charles E. Kay and Randy T. Simmons.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kay, Charles, 1946-

Simmons, Randy T.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nature--Effect of human beings on--America.

Nature.

Indians--Economic conditions.

Indians.

Nature--Effect of human beings on.

America.

Physical Description:

xix, 342 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press, [2002]

Summary:

Environmental Law and Philosophy often assume the existence of a fundamental state of nature: before the arrival of Columbus the Americas were a wilderness untouched by human hand, teeming with wildlife and almost void of native peoples. In Wilderness and Political Ecology Charles Kay and Randy Simmons state that this "natural" view of pre-European America is scientifically unsupportable.

This volume brings together scholars from a variety of fields as they seek to demonstrate that native people were originally more numerous than was once thought and that they were not conservationists in the current sense of the term. Rather, native peoples took an active part in managing their surroundings and wrought changes so extensive that the anthropogenic environment has long been viewed as the natural state of the American ecosystem.

Contents:

Prehistoric extinctions: in the shadow of man / Paul S. Martin

Evolutionary theory, conservation, and human environmental impact / Michael S. Alvard

Pre-Columbian human impact on California vertebrates: evidence from old bones and implications for wilderness policy / Jack M. Broughton

Depletion of prehistoric pinniped populations along the California and Oregon coasts: were humans the cause? / William R. Hildebrandt and Terry L. Jones

Post-Columbian wildlife irruptions in California: implications for cultural and environmental understanding / William L. Preston

The role of prehistoric peoples in shaping ecosystems in the Eastern United States: implications for restoration ecology and wilderness management / Thomas W. Neumann

Aboriginal use of fire: are there any "natural" plant communities? / Gerald W. Williams

Are ecosystems structured from the top-down or bottom-up? A new look at an old debate / Charles E. Kay

Afterword: false gods, ecological myths, and biological reality / Charles E. Kay.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-337).

ISBN:

0874807190

OCLC:

49673043