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 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)
