Syllabi
Prof. Pamela Mack
Department of History, Clemson University
CHS H202 Section 4
The Forest
in America
Spring
2002
Instructor: Prof. Pamela E. Mack,
Department of History, Clemson University
Office: Holtzendorff 30, telephone:
656-5356, E-Mail: pammack@clemson.edu
Office Hours: MWF 8:30-8:45, 10:10-11,
MF 1-2:30 (often Wednesdays too)
Class meetings: 11:15-12:05
MWF in Holtzendorff 214
this syllabus on the
web: http://people.clemson.edu/~pammack/sylforest.htm
WebCT: http://www.ces.clemson.edu/webct/
Objectives: The goal of this course is to explore how American views of forests have changed over time. In colonial times the forest was seen as dreadful; only in the mid-19th century did writers start to see forests as beautiful. Forestry developed as a profession in the beginning of the 20th century with the goal of preventing depletion of timber as a natural resource, and it has been very successful in meeting that goal. But ecology and the environmental movement have brought in new concerns, and American ideas about forests are very much in flux at present. Should we preserve forests for people to enjoy, or should we seek to leave nature undisturbed? Should the goal be to restore national forests to the state the land was in before European settlement? If that is desirable is it possible? To examine these issues we will read literary accounts of forests and environmental history and learn about the profession of forestry and how it has changed over time.
Requirements: The reading for this course will take thought because it presents a variety of opinions in their original form, not just the conclusions of historians. Analyzing and drawing conclusions from the reading will be central to the course, so it is essential that you do the reading and come prepared to discuss it in class.
No one book provides an overview for this course; you will quickly find yourself lost if you do not attend class. The attendance policy for this course is as follows. Instead of taking attendance I will show that attendance is expected by asking students to explain all absences (either send me a "sorry I missed class" e-mail or speak to me after class when you return). I reserve the right to penalize students with excessive absences (which I would define as missing more than 6 classes). If the professor or a substitute does not arrive within 10 minutes of the scheduled starting time of the class students may leave.
The goal of the WebCT discussion board is to allow more thorough and more informal discussion of the reading and the lectures than is possible in class. You can read comments left by other students and add your own for everyone to read. The professor will create a new forum for each section of the course. Students are primarily responsible for the direction of this discussion.
Your participation in this system will be graded primarily on the basis on quantity so that you can feel free to say whatever is on your mind that is relevant to the course material under discussion. Contributions to the WebCT discussion should be thoughtful comments on the reading and/or the material presented in class and/or the comments of other students and/or current events or personal experiences relevant to the issues raised by this course, usually one or two paragraphs long (not less than 8 lines or more than two screens). Grammar and spelling do not matter so long as your point is clear, and controversy is encouraged. You will be graded on the number of notes you write: for an A you must write at least 20 notes, for a B write 15, for a C write 10, and for a D write 5. Students whose notes are not of adequate quality will receive a warning via e-mail that those notes will not be counted.
There will be one open book in-class exam. The final exam will be a takehome.
The term paper should be about 8 typed pages and should be documented with footnotes or endnotes. You are encouraged to pick a paper topic (http://people.clemson.edu/~pammack/lec202/paper202-02.html) that grows out of your group project. I am looking for papers based on primary source research that deal with how and why ideas about forests change. Papers must be analytical; that is, they must ask a question or state a thesis and then develop an argument using specific evidence to prove a point. Papers will be evaluated primarily on the basis of your ability to use evidence and argument to effectively prove your point. Late papers will be downgraded one point for each calendar day late. There is a bibliography (http://people.clemson.edu/~pammack/lec202/forestreading.htm) of related books available on the web.
Grading:
- 15% hour exam
- 30% final exam
- 25% term paper
- 20% class participation
- 10% computer discussion board
Required Reading: James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers
Henry David Thoreau, The Maine
Woods
Char Miller (Editor), American
Forests: Nature, Culture, and Politics
Gail Wells, The Tillamook:
A Created Forest Comes of Age
Janisse Ray, Ecology of a Cracker
Childhood
Charles E. Little, The Dying
of the Trees: The Pandemic in America's Forests
Readings on the Web, as linked from the detailed schedule (please print these out and bring them to class)
Detailed Schedule:
Jan.
9 Introduction
11
Ideas about nature, read The
Great Change Begins: Settling the Forest of Central New York
(http://webserver1.oneonta.edu/external/cooper/articles/nyhistory/1995nyhistory-taylor.html)
14
Read Cooper pp. 6-95 (introduction - ch. VII) and also James
Fenimore Cooper: Pioneer of the Environmental Movement (http://webserver1.oneonta.edu/external/cooper/articles/informal/hugh-environment.html)
16
Read Cooper pp. 96-188 (ch. VIII-XVI). Plot
and character summary. (http://webserver1.oneonta.edu/external/cooper/writings/plots/walker-pioneers.html)
18
Read Cooper pp. 189-274 (ch. XVII-XXIV)
21 Holiday
23 Environmental change. Guest speaker: Wayne D. Carroll.
Read Historical
Overview of the Southern Forest Landscape (http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/sustain/report/histry/histrynf.htm)
25 Fire. Guest speaker: David H. Van Lear.
28
Read Read Cooper pp. 275-357 (ch. XXV-XXXII) and A
Puritan in the Wilderness: Natty Bumppo's Language & America's Nature
Today (http://webserver1.oneonta.edu/external/cooper/articles/suny/1997suny-johnston.html)
30
Read Cooper pp. 358-456 (ch. XXXIII-end).
Feb. 1
Read The Life
and Times of Henry D. Thoreau (http://libws66.lib.niu.edu/thoreau/bexhibit.htm)
4
Read Thoreau, "Ktaadn" section of Maine Woods ( map --http://eserver.org/thoreau/memap.html)
6
Read Thoreau, "Chesuncook" section of Maine Woods
8
Read Thoreau, Sat. July 25 and Thurs. July 30 sections of "The Allegash
and East Branch" in Maine Woods
11
Read John Muir, The
Treasures of the Yosemite
(http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/frameindex.html?http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_treasures_of_the_yosemite/)
13
History of environmentalism. Read Man's
Place in the Universe (http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/frameindex.html?http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/mans_place_in_the_universe.html),
all sections of the chronology at Evolution of the Conservation
Movement (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/conshome.html)
15
Read John Muir, American
Forests (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=MuiAmer.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all)
18 In-class exam
20
Read Miller section 1 ( farm
forestry film strip --http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/sfnmc/class/farmforestry/films1.html)
22 Film
25 Read Gifford Pinchot A Primer of Forestry
chs. 1-2 (http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/sfnmc/class/pinchot.html)
27 Read Miller section 3 (first two articles),
Logging the Virgin Forests
of West Virginia (http://www.patc.net/history/archive/virg_fst.html)
Mar. 1
Read Miller section 4 (Robbins and Roth articles)
4 Read Miller Epilogue
6 further
discussion of forestry
8 Read Ray pp. 3-70
11 Read Ray pp. 71-142. Annotated bibliography for paper
due
13 Clearcutting. Read Clearcutting: Myths and
Facts. (http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/forestry/clrcut.htm)
15 class may be rescheduled to accomodate a field trip
18-22 Spring Break
25 Read Ray pp. 143-211
27 Read Ray pp. 211-273.
29 Read Wells intro. and chs. 1-4
Apr. 1
Fire. Flame
and Fortune (http://www.public.asu.edu/~spyne/flame.htm)
3 Read Wells chs. 5-7
5 Read Wells chs. 8-10. Rough draft of paper due.
8 History of the Eastern National Forests
10 Forest production. Read History of National Forest Conflicts
(http://www.ti.org/2chistory.html)
12 Paper Due. Discuss perspectives on forests
15 Read Little, chs. 1-3
17 Read Little, chs. 4-7
19 discuss environmental concerns
22 Read Little, chs. 8-11
24 Conquering nature. Read The Historical
Roots of Our Environmental Crisis (http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/6185/lynwhite.htm)
26 Conclusions. Last day to post to WebCT
May 1 Takehome exam due by noon
