Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dwelling On Common Ground: Scientific And Family Narratives Of Change In Natural Landscapes, Damian Craniak Ph.D.

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Can mapping past and current changes in prairie landscapes in relation to historical shifts in human culture suggest promising directions for efforts to restore the health of grasslands and other natural communities? During the last 20,000 years the Land shifted and altered; during the past 10,000 years Life moved and migrated; and during the past 5,000 years natural and human Law has been turned and twisted to produce changes unanticipated in the history of the world. In the past 500 years these changes have quickened as we have changed ourselves from foragers into fur traders, and then into farmers, foresters, …