Monday, March 29, 2010
Note: Workshop/Field Trip pics added
Just click on the "Workshop and Columbia River Gorge Photos" link at the top of the blog to go to the pictures page.
Questions for discussion: (1) Why is environmental history significant to national parks?
To continue the conversation we began in Portland, we'd like to re-pose some of the high level questions from the NPS Workshop. Please respond with your thoughts.
1. Why is environmental history significant to national parks?
Questions for discussion: (2) During the last decade or so, have the national parks become more significant in environmental history research and scholarship? Or less significant? Why? Where does environmental history research/scholarship fit, and how important is environmental history in relation to that of other disciplines, considering the complexity of managing and interpreting park resources?
To continue the conversation we began in Portland, we'd like to re-pose some of the high level questions from the NPS Workshop. Please respond with your thoughts.
2. During the last decade or so, have the national parks become more significant in environmental history research and scholarship? Or less significant? Why? Where does environmental history research/scholarship fit, and how important is environmental history in relation to that of other disciplines, considering the complexity of managing and interpreting park resources?
2. During the last decade or so, have the national parks become more significant in environmental history research and scholarship? Or less significant? Why? Where does environmental history research/scholarship fit, and how important is environmental history in relation to that of other disciplines, considering the complexity of managing and interpreting park resources?
Questions for discussion: (3) How do historiographical trends compare to public interest in the national parks and public portrayals of the national parks, such as the Ken Burns film series?
To continue the conversation we began in Portland, we'd like to re-pose some of the high level questions from the NPS Workshop. Please respond with your thoughts.
3. How do historiographical trends compare to public interest in the national parks and public portrayals of the national parks, such as the Ken Burns film series?
Environmental History and National Parks (from Spring 2010 ASEH News)
Environmental History and the National Parks
By Alison Steiner and Neel Baumgardner, ASEH/NPS student assistants
In his recent documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," Ken Burns explores the unique role of the National Park Service (NPS) in preserving the nation's past. The National Parks Second Century Commission Report, released last fall, also highlights the important connections between the places managed by the Park Service and key stories of U.S. history. Yet, one important question remains: what role do environmental historians play in the interpretation and management of these sites? At the ASEH Annual Meeting in Portland, we began to examine these issues during a full-day workshop on the relationship between environmental history and the NPS. More than eighty people-academics as well as Park Service employees-attended the workshop's morning session, and fifty people participated in an afternoon field trip to the historic Columbia River Gorge.
The purpose of the NPS Workshop was threefold. First, it sought to determine the state of the field of environmental history as it relates to the National Park Service. Second, it examined the ways in which environmental history can inform and influence management decisions and, specifically, how environmental historians can participate in decision-making processes. Third, it asked how we might advance the NPS role, as the nation's lead preservation agency, in interpreting environmental history for the American public.
The morning session speakers included Timothy Babalis (NPS), Rebecca Conard (Middle Tennessee State University), Rolf Diamant (NPS), Jim Feldman (University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh), Mark Fiege (Colorado State University), Phil Scarpino (IUPUI), and Mark Spence (HistoryCraft). Presenters reviewed case studies of the use of environmental history in the rehabilitation and public portrayal of spaces such as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Isle Royale National Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Stones River National Military Park. For example, through the lens of oyster production in the Drakes Estero tideland of Point Reyes, Timothy Babalis, a Park Service historian, demonstrated that historical methods can help our understanding of landscape change over time by describing the evolving relationship between humans and a given environment. In addition, speakers examined the larger role that environmental history can play within the Park Service by breaking down artificial administrative divisions between natural and cultural resource management and in realizing the vision laid out by the Second Century Commission.
During the afternoon, Bob Hadlow (Oregon DOT) and Larry Lipin (Pacific University) narrated a field trip to the Columbia River Gorge. Participants stopped at Vista House (a public rest stop and observatory built in 1918 from which highway travelers could view the Gorge) and visited Multnomah Falls (the second tallest year-round waterfall in the nation). They finished the excursion with a 2.4-mile hike to Cascade Locks on the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.
In his recent documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," Ken Burns explores the unique role of the National Park Service (NPS) in preserving the nation's past. The National Parks Second Century Commission Report, released last fall, also highlights the important connections between the places managed by the Park Service and key stories of U.S. history. Yet, one important question remains: what role do environmental historians play in the interpretation and management of these sites? At the ASEH Annual Meeting in Portland, we began to examine these issues during a full-day workshop on the relationship between environmental history and the NPS. More than eighty people-academics as well as Park Service employees-attended the workshop's morning session, and fifty people participated in an afternoon field trip to the historic Columbia River Gorge.
The purpose of the NPS Workshop was threefold. First, it sought to determine the state of the field of environmental history as it relates to the National Park Service. Second, it examined the ways in which environmental history can inform and influence management decisions and, specifically, how environmental historians can participate in decision-making processes. Third, it asked how we might advance the NPS role, as the nation's lead preservation agency, in interpreting environmental history for the American public.
The morning session speakers included Timothy Babalis (NPS), Rebecca Conard (Middle Tennessee State University), Rolf Diamant (NPS), Jim Feldman (University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh), Mark Fiege (Colorado State University), Phil Scarpino (IUPUI), and Mark Spence (HistoryCraft). Presenters reviewed case studies of the use of environmental history in the rehabilitation and public portrayal of spaces such as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Isle Royale National Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Stones River National Military Park. For example, through the lens of oyster production in the Drakes Estero tideland of Point Reyes, Timothy Babalis, a Park Service historian, demonstrated that historical methods can help our understanding of landscape change over time by describing the evolving relationship between humans and a given environment. In addition, speakers examined the larger role that environmental history can play within the Park Service by breaking down artificial administrative divisions between natural and cultural resource management and in realizing the vision laid out by the Second Century Commission.
During the afternoon, Bob Hadlow (Oregon DOT) and Larry Lipin (Pacific University) narrated a field trip to the Columbia River Gorge. Participants stopped at Vista House (a public rest stop and observatory built in 1918 from which highway travelers could view the Gorge) and visited Multnomah Falls (the second tallest year-round waterfall in the nation). They finished the excursion with a 2.4-mile hike to Cascade Locks on the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.
This NPS workshop was a preliminary step in encouraging the integration of environmental history in Park Service management and interpretation. In order to establish a record of these proceedings, the workshop presentations will be published in an upcoming special issue of the George Wright Forum, the journal of the George Wright Society. In addition, please help us continue this discussion on-line by visiting our blog:http://asehandthenationalparks.blogspot.com/.
The workshop on environmental history and the national parks featured a variety of speakers in the morning and an afternoon site visit to the historic Columbia River Highway (see below).
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Columbia River Highway Draft Itinerary
Historic Columbia River Highway
Short Tour
Draft Itinerary
Friday, March 12, 2010
12:15 p.m. Board bus at Hilton Hotel, downtown Portland
12:30 Leave the Hilton Hotel for Lewis and Clark State Park at
Exit 18 on Interstate 84
1:00 Arrive at Lewis and Clark State Park
Begin drive to Dodson along Historic Columbia River Highway
1:15 Stop at Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint
1:30 Stop at Vista House
1:50 Leave Vista House
2:00 Drive by Latourell Falls
2:05 Drive by Shepperds Dell
2:15 Drive by Wahkeena Falls
2:25 Stop at Multnomah Falls
2:55 Leave Multnomah Falls
3:05 Stop at restored Oneonta Tunnel, do not leave bus
3:15 Alt. A: Stop at Eagle Creek, hike 2.4 miles of HCRH State Trail
to Cascade Locks (paved trail with gentle grades)
Alt. B. Stop at Bonneville Dam Visitor Center
4:00 Alt A. Begin return trip from Cascade Locks to Hilton Hotel on I-84
Alt. B. Begin return trip from Bonneville Dam to Hilton Hotel on I-84
5:00 p.m. Arrive at Hilton Hotel
NPS Workshop Agenda
Hilton Hotel, Portland, Oregon
Friday, March 12, 2010
Schedule and Agenda
The morning will be devoted to presentations and discussion with the following speakers:
Timothy Babalis, Rebecca Conard, Rolf Diamant, Jim Feldman, Mark Fiege, Phil Scarpino, and Mark Spence.
Time Speaker and Topic
8:00 Coffee
8:15 Bob Sutton, Welcome
8:20 Dave Louter, Introduction
8:30-8:45 Timothy Babalis, "History on the Half Shell: An Unnatural History of Oysters at Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore"
8:45-9:00 Rebecca Conard, “A Storied Landscape: Using a Cultural Landscape Approach to Examine History and Environmental Imperatives at Stones River National Battlefield”
9:00-9:15 Phil Scarpino, “Isle Royale: Environmental History, Cultural Resources, and Wilderness in a Maritime National Park”
9:15-9:30 Jim Feldman, “The Need for Legible Landscapes”
9:30-10:00 Discussion
10:00-10:15 Break
10:30-10:45 Mark Spence, “The Benefit and Enjoyment of Writing Across the Administrative Divides of Natural, Cultural/Historical, and Recreational Resource Management”
10:45-11:00 Mark Fiege, “National Parks and the Environmental History Imperative”
11:00-11:15 Rolf Diamant, “Advancing Environmental History in the National Park System: The Report of the National Park Second Century Commission”
11:15-11:30 Discussion
11:30-11:45 Next Steps
12:00 noon Board bus for site visit
Objectives:
It is the mission of the NPS to interpret the nation’s past – and the work of the Second Century Commission and the Ken Burns film series reflect on the role of the national parks in this mission. The workshop in Portland is an opportunity to bring environmental history into this discussion – and is a preliminary step toward forming a national panel of environmental historians to analyze the national parks and the role of our scholarship in public interpretation.
We hope to publish the talks, in part to establish a record of these proceedings. In addition, the workshop, including the discussions, will be transcribed. We would like to look back on this event in 20 years as the foundation of a significant dialogue about the public interpretation of historical issues, in much the same way the NPS conferences in the early 20th century provided the groundwork for discussion.
Preliminary Questions
State of the field in environmental history with regard to national parks
1. What are the trends, including recent developments?
2. During the last decade or so, have the national parks become more significant in environmental history research and scholarship? Or less significant? Why? Where does environmental history research/scholarship fit, and how important is environmental history, in relation to that of other disciplines, considering the complexity of managing and interpreting park resources?
3. How do historiographical trends compare to public interest in the national parks and public portrayals of the national parks? [New Ken Burns series?]
Why environmental history is essential to park management
1. Why is environmental history significant to national parks? [seems an obvious question, but answers could be complex – we’re using “parks” in the most general sense -- includes monuments, seashores, etc.]
2. How has the national park system been reshaped since the 1960s, and how have park management policies and objectives evolved in response?
3. What are specific instances in which environmental history can inform management policies and decisions?
4. What might an environmental history of the agency—as opposed to particular units—look like? How might the environmental history of multiple park units within a region be more valuable (or worse) than an environmental history of a particular park area?
5. Identification of major issues? [Climate change in particular; also native peoples; exotic species; local land and water use vs. NPS goals; funding priorities; etc.]
6. Examples from speakers’ own work?
7. From the perspective of historians and geographers, how should the NPS manage its units? What are the constraints on the NPS?
The afternoon will be devoted to site visit: Columbia River Highway
Board bus at 12:00 PM; box lunches provided. Site visit speakers: Larry Lipin, Pacific University, Oregon and Bob Hadlow, Oregon Department of Transportation.
Note: Workshop will be limited to 50 people for morning and afternoon sections (owing to need for discussion, amount of food and coffee available, and seats on the bus)
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