From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain
A History of Environmental Change in Temperate North America from 1500 to the Present

Fascinating account of the landscape changes following European settlement of North America.

Gordon G. Whitney (Author)

9780521576581, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 August 1996

488 pages, 51 b/w illus. 34 tables
23 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm, 0.959 kg

'Scholarship shines forth … whether the interest is in North America, comparative regional studies or approaches to studying forest landscapes, this volume will be a source of insight, entertainment and academic inspiration.' Trends in Ecology and Evolution

From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain is an account of the making of a large part of the American landscape following European settlement. Drawing upon land survey records and early travellers' accounts, Dr Whitney reconstructs the 'virgin' forests and grasslands of the north-eastern and central United States during the pre-settlement period. He then documents successively the clearance and fragmentation of the region's woodlands, the harvest of the forest and its game, the ploughing of the prairies, and the draining of wetlands. The degree to which these activities altered the soil, climate, plant and animal communities, and water cycle are evaluated, and the sustainability of present-day ecosystems is brought into question in this account.

List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Conversion of English to metric units
US state abbreviations
Common and scientific names of trees mentioned in the text
Photographic essay illustrating the character and the demise of the pre-settlement vegetation of the Northeast and the Midwest
1. Introduction
2. Reconstructing the past
3. Nature imposes …
4. The forest primeval
5. Preservers of the ecological balance wheel
6. European precedents
7. Assault upon the forest, part I: the farmer
8. Assault upon the forest, part II: the lumber industry
9. Assault upon the forest, part III: fuel-wood
10. Predatory agriculture
11. Grassland agriculture
12. Forest influences
13. A transported flora
14. An impoverished fauna
15. The legislated landscape
16. Conclusion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Environmental management [RNF], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]