From coastal wilderness to fruited plain : a history of environmental change in temperate North America, 1500 to the present

Summary: From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain is an account of the making of the American landscape following European settlement. It starts with "virgin" forests and grasslands of the central and northeastern United States, and successively documents the clearance and fragmentation of the region's woodlands, the harvest of the forest and its game, the plowing of prairies and the draining of wetlands. The Native American, the trapper, the farmer and the lumberman all benefited from the land and its resources; the degree to which their activities altered the soil, the climate, the natural plant and animal communities, and the water cycle is examined here.

Record details

ISBN: 052157658X
ISBN: 9780521576581
ISBN: 052139452X
ISBN: 9780521394529
Physical Description: print
xxxiv, 451 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Edition: 1st pbk. ed.
Publisher: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996, ©1994.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 338-443) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction -- Reconstructing the past -- Nature imposes ... -- The forest primeval -- Preservers of the ecological balance wheel -- European precedents -- Assault upon the forest. Part I. The farmer -- Assault upon the forest. Part II. The lumber industry -- Assault upon the forest. Part III. Fuelwood -- Predatory agriculture -- Grassland agriculture -- Forest influences -- A transported flora -- An impoverished fauna -- The legislated landscape -- Conclusion.