NPS Workshop Agenda

 Workshop: The National Parks and Environmental History

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 20^th 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)