"Let's make a harbor into a harbor" : an environmental history of Bellingham Bay

Summary: Bellingham Bay is a rich environment that has been appreciated by geologists, geographers, biologists as well as other academics from the natural sciences. This thesis highlights many of these scholarly approaches, but adds a human element to the history of this harbor. Special attention is paid to the underwater landscape of the Bay because different groups of people have tried to control this feature of the Bay and embed various social constructions into the physical geography. More importantly, differing ideas about the Bay and how it should be managed and altered have brought different groups into conflict. These conflicts make up the bulk of this interpretation. I argue that social scientists have failed to appreciate the relationship between human history and the natural environments below the surface of coastal areas.