| Edition |
1st pbk. ed. |
| Description |
xxxiv, 451 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 338-443) and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction -- Reconstructing the past -- Nature imposes ... -- 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 -- Legislated landscape -- Conclusion. |
| 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. |
| Subject |
Landscape changes -- United States -- History.
|
|
Landscape changes. |
|
United States. |
|
History. |
|
Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- United States.
|
|
Nature -- Effect of human beings on. |
|
Biotic communities -- United States -- History.
|
|
Biotic communities. |
| Genre/Form |
History.
|
| ISBN |
052157658X |
|
9780521576581 |
|
052139452X |
|
9780521394529 |
|
