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Paleoecology and Conservation in the Midwestern United States

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Paleoecology and Conservation in the Midwestern United States UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ MAKING HISTORIES WITH SCIENCE: PALEOECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION IN THE MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in ANTHROPOLOGY by Elizabeth Maree Hare June 2017 The Dissertation of Elizabeth Hare is approved: _______________________________ Professor Andrew S. Mathews, chair _______________________________ Professor Susan Harding _______________________________ Professor Matthew Wolf-Meyer _______________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Elizabeth M. Hare 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... IV ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. VII PREFACE ........................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION – MANAGING THE ANTHROPOCENE CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 56 PALEON - DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT AND LABS CHAPTER THREE ......................................................................................................... 74 NORTHWEST INDIANA - BIRTHPLACE OF ECOLOGY AND AMERICAN CONSERVATION CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................... 113 MAKING HISTORIES - HOW THE PAST AND FUTURE ARE RENDERED VISIBLE CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................... 160 IF THIS, THEN WHAT? LANDSCAPE INTERVENTION AND SUBJUNCTIVE FUTURES CONCLUSION: ............................................................................................................ 184 SCIENCE AND JUSTICE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE ERA BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 197 iii List of Figures Figure 4 - stunted corn in a field with standing water ................................................. 99 Figure 5 - pollen grains on a standard microscope slide ........................................... 128 Figure 6 - pollen diagram for Marion Lake, British Columbia ................................. 130 Figure 7 - PLS Survey Map of the area that now includes the University of Notre Dame campus and South Bend, Indiana ................................................... 135 Figure 8 - PLS Surveyor's journal for the township that now includes South Bend, Indiana ....................................................................................................... 137 Figure 9 - Transeau's Prairie Peninsula Map ............................................................. 142 iv Abstract Making Histories with Science: Paleoecology and Conservation in the Midwestern United States By Lizzy Hare This dissertation in cultural anthropology examines how material traces on the landscape are used to construct the long-term environmental histories that inform conservation policy and land management decisions. The Anthropocene, both as planetary crisis and crisis of insufficient theorization, is the analytical starting point for this research, as it offers a framework from which to view the emergence of new kinds of environmental thought made manifest in science and politics. The dissertation is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among a network of scientists, PalEON (the Paleo-ecological Observatory Network), who were working to develop an ecological forecasting model and conservationists who are working on environmental protection issues in Northwest Indiana. By bringing together anthropologies of science and American environmental history, this dissertation critically analyzes the development and use of Big Data-driven ecological forecasting models in this process. The particular modes of environmental protection that emerge represent the extent to which market-based ontologies have become entrenched in everyday American life and inform ecological theory. These worldviews are not singular, however, and they contain within them examples of actually existing alternatives to environmentalism and the potential to reconceptualize this moment of v crisis. Further, this dissertation makes a methodological intervention into Science and Technology Studies. Building on methodological techniques developed at the Science and Justice Research Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, this research explores the potentials of critical collaborations between the anthropologist of science and the interlocutors who inform this study. vi Acknowledgements I owe debt of gratitude to the many people who have assisted in various ways in the creation of this dissertation. Though this dissertation marks the culmination of my doctoral degree, it has grown out of a lifetime of critical concern for landscapes and histories and the people who cultivate them. Before I thank the many people who have contributed to this project in one way or another, I wish to acknowledge the past, present, and future non-humans who inspire me to care so deeply about our shared environment. First of all, I wish to thank my committee members: Andrew Mathews, for patiently reading through so many versions of this project as it took shape over the years; Matthew Wolf-Meyer, for his tireless attention to intellectual detail; and Susan Harding, whose insights into contemporary American life profoundly and radically reshaped my thinking. Many other members of the University of California, Santa Cruz community contributed to my intellectual development, especially Jenny Reardon, Danilyn Rutherford, Lisa Rofel, Carolyn Martin Shaw, Nancy Chen, Myanthi Fernando, Mark Anderson, Zac Caple, Sarah Kelman, Katy Overstreet, Heather Swanson, Samantha Turner, Suraiya Jetha, Alex Johnson, Pierre du Plessis, Chava Contreras, and Omari. I am especially grateful for Kristine Lawson, Rebecca Feinberg, and Anna Rosen, who helped me find balance while living in Santa Cruz. This project emerged from questions raised by my graduate research at the University of Florida. The community I found there encouraged my nascent intellectual curiosities. Joe Feldman, Nick Kawa, and Ellen Lofaro remain important vii interlocutors, co-conspirators and sounding boards in this journey. Matt Watson deserves special recognition as tireless confidant, mentor, adventure companion, and dear friend. This dissertation was made possible through preliminary fieldwork grants provided by the University of California, Santa Cruz Anthropology Department and the Science and Justice Research Center. I received funding for extended fieldwork from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. My time as a graduate student was supported with an early Regent’s Fellowship, teaching fellowships in the Anthropology department, and a research assistantship at the Science and Justice Research Center. I was able to complete my dissertation with a writing fellowship from the American Association of University Women, with additional support provided by the Anthropology and Environment Society. The final stages of this dissertation were completed while I was a visiting lecturer at Scripps College, and I am thankful for the inspiration and engaging dialogue with colleagues and students during my time there. I am supremely grateful for the warm welcome extended to me by PalEON, and especially the enthusiastic support of Jason McLachlan. Jody Peters, Adrian Rocha, Kelly Heilman, Ann Raiho, Tammy Patterson, Frank Bouchard, and Kerry Regan all welcomed me to the University of Notre Dame with open arms and provided much needed institutional and emotional support. I would like to thank Jack Williams, who has supported my evolving interests in ancient ecosystems since I was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, and who introduced me to members of PalEON. I especially appreciate Simon Goering’s intellectual curiosity and Mike viii Dietze for the patient explanation(s) of Bayesian statistics. Other PalEONistas deserving of special recognition include Andria Dawson, Yao Liu, Jaclyn Hatala Matthes, and Connor Nolan. I have a number of people to thank in greater Northwest Indiana. Patty Wisniewski Tom Desch, John Hodson, Alyssa and Gus Nyberg, John Rogner, Dan Plath, Craig Zandstra all contributed in a number of ways, from extended conversations about the region’s history and ecology, to walking tours on the prairie, to helping me locate archival materials. I deeply appreciate their generosity and kindness. Special thanks to Eve Rips, John Marshall, and Nigel Marfall for hosting me so many times in Chicago. My family deserves special recognition. I want to thank my parents, Kym and Paul, for their patience and unwavering support as I’ve made my way through this academic journey. My maternal grandfather, Jim, and my aunt Michelle sparked my intellectual interests at an early age by ensuring that I was always surrounded by stories of distant places, natural history, and excellent literature of many varieties. Finally I wish to thank Wes Griffith, whose love, affection, and care has supported me in so many ways
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