How did Gifford Pinchot’s concept of conservation differ from John Muir’s concept of preservation?

Unit Three

Assignment 3

Assignment Instructions

This assignment is worth 12% of your final grade. There are two parts: short and long answer questions related to your course readings.

Short Answer Questions

In four or five sentences, briefly answer five of the following questions. Ten marks each.

1. How did Gifford Pinchot’s concept of conservation differ from John Muir’s concept of preservation? John Muir is in Nash Roderick`s “Hetch Hetchy”.
2. From Chapter 9 of Steinberg’s book Conservation Reconsidered, outline the social, cultural, and environmental factors that motivated or prompted the conservation movement.
3. Based upon Peter Gillis’s and Thomas Roach’s article, in what ways did U.S. conservationists influence the conservation movement in Canada?
4. From the article by Ted Binnema and Melanie Niemi and by Nathaniel Langford, the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, outline the differing views on “squatters” and aboriginals.
5. Analyze the links between “wilderness” as an idea in William Cronon’s essay and the exclusion of Aboriginal and rural Euro-Americans from parks in the nineteenth century.
6. According to Karl Jacoby, how did the conservation movement redefine previously accepted consumptive uses of nature?
7. From Steinberg’s Chapter 10 (Death of the Organic City) and Martin Melosi’s article, what were some of the major forces that led to the “Death of the Organic City”? Are there elements of the “organic city” still evident in your own urban environment?
8. From Clay McShane and Joel Tarr’s article, explain how the use of horses influenced the shape of urban areas. How did humans and horses coexist in cities?

Long Answer Questions

Answer two of the following questions. 250-350 words per question. Twenty-five marks each.

1. In what ways did Pinchot’s concept of conservation contradict and/or complement earlier approaches to human interactions with non-human nature through the management of natural resources?
2. The creation of national parks redefined landscapes according to a particular ideal of “wilderness.” Reflecting on your own definition of “squatter,” how did the creation of national parks redefine the activities of humans who used these landscapes? What did “wilderness” include and exclude?
3. How does the story of “Earth Abides” represent nature in the city? How does this representation reflect or contradict the place of urban nature in your own community? Based on what you read in the documents, in what ways has the place of nature changed in cities over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?

The following criteria will be used to evaluate your answers.