Author Mark Kurlansky reviews the history of New York City, using the perspective of the wildlife that once lived in the area as a framing device—particularly that of the eastern oyster.
The lecture audio is available separately for download.
Historian Elizabeth Riely explores Benjamin Franklin's fascination with the wild turkey, including his desire to see the turkey made the national symbol. She touches on the history of European discovery of the turkey.
As stated on the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) website, the organization's "mission is to work with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."
While the menu for the FWS website is daunting, skip the "Kids, Educators, Parents" section, and try "History." The former is aimed toward the exploration of nature and the biological sciences, and would need modification for the history classroom.
For starters, under "History," educators can find four virtual exhibits, covering the National Conservation Training Center, Pelican Island, conservationists Olaus and Mardie Murie, and an FWS vessel, the Otter. The exhibits are small and largely text-based, although the exhibit on Pelican Island provides historical images. While specialized, the exhibits may prove of use for regional West Virginia history or information on conservation movement founders.
Additional resources include nine small historical images; period documents related to Rachel Carson, the U.S. Commission of Fisheries, and professional jargon; articles on topics ranging from fishery history to the limits of agroecology; law enforcement and FSW timelines; lists, including individual stations' centennial time capsule contents (what did employees feel best represented their station?); and oral history transcripts. Note that there are links to larger document databases, including FWS news releases dating as far back as 1914, under documents. This is easy to overlook, as other featured items are more prominent.
The Fallen Comrades list also provides insight into historical events. Listed deaths include the 1958 disappearance of the F.W.S. Grumman Goose N-720 and an employee, Lindgren, murdered by Italian hunters in 1922. Lindgren's death was used by journalistic factions to increase anti-immigration fervor.
Additional information of historical significance, particularly statistics, is tucked throughout the site. Try reading about climate change, wildfires, and wetlands trends.
If your students are animal lovers, consider having them select an endangered species, perhaps from their state. Each species' page includes federal documents related to their identification and recovery. These documents display how government interacts, not just with society, but with the country's fauna, a component of history which often goes unremarked.
Naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) studied and made watercolors of the wildlife and plants of colonial America. Interpreter Robb Warren talks about the man and his art.
The Kentucky Horse Park consists of a Hall of Fame, Horse Museum, and a competition ground. The park is home to many important competitions, including the upcoming 2010 World Equestrian Games. The Hall of Fame and Museum are open to visitors year round.
The Park offers guided tours, exhibits, field trip programs, riding lessons, and daily horse shows. The website offers visitor information, educational materials for schoolteachers, an events calendar, and information regarding all of the programs and lessons offered by the park.
The 163-acre Burrit on the Mountain: A Living Museum consists of the 1936 mansion of Dr. William Henry Burrit, physician and inventor; a historic park with restored 19th-century houses and period crops; a barnyard; and animals. Exhibits cover the history of the land and people of Tennessee and Alabama's Southern Cumberland region. Living history demonstrations include blacksmithing, spinning, and cooking over an open hearth.
The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, living history interpreters, demonstrations, nature trails, educational programs, summer camps, Field Trip Fridays, monthly home school programs, traveling trunks for rent, and in-classroom outreach programs. Reservations are required for Field Trip Fridays.
America's wildlife looks different than it did before Columbus: Newcomers to North America introduced many plants and animals. Some introductions were accidental, but others were made to "improve" the New World.
In each pair of species, one is native to America and one was introduced. Select the introduced species:
1. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), first introduced by the New York-based American Acclimatization Society in the 1850s, and by others during that decade.
2. Starling (Sturnus vulgari), first introduced by Eugene Schieffelin of the American Acclimatization Society into Central Park in 1877.
3. Rock Pigeon (Columba livia), first introduced to North America in 1606 at Port Royal, Nova Scotia.
4. Kudzu (Pueraria lobata), first introduced on a large scale to America from about 1935 by the Soil Conservation Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps, which planted it extensively in southern states in an effort to control soil erosion.
5. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), first introduced by British colonists as a garden green and medicinal herb.
6. Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), first brought to the U.S. in 1831, but widely introduced by U.S. Fish and Fisheries Commission head Spencer Fullerton Baird soon after 1871, as a food source in the nation's overfished rivers and lakes.
7. Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), first introduced into North America in 1884. It now clogs many lakes, ponds, and inland waterways.
8. Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar), introduced to Medford, MA, in 1868, by French amateur entomologist Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, in an effort to cross breed them with silk moths in the U.S., which had become susceptible to various diseases.
The University of Georgia's Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health lists invasive species—plants, animals, insects, and others—in the U.S. today. It does not, however, describe the history of most invasions—a classroom exercise might involve students selecting a species from the list and tracing its introduction to the U.S. through research elsewhere. For instance, the New York Times' archived articles include an 1877 article on the American Acclimatization Society's release of sparrows, skylarks, and other birds in North America.
Try a general search of NHEC using the keywords "Civilian Conservation Corps" to learn more about the history and activities of this New Deal organization.
For websites offering primary sources and high-quality information on the environment, conservation, and other ecology-related topics in U.S. history, search NHEC's Website Reviews—Topic: Environment and Conservation. Or search Online History Lectures using the same topic to turn up audiovisual presentations, long and short, on nature and U.S. history.
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"Historian Fritz Davis reveals the remarkable life and work of Archie Carr, the Florida scientist whose research on the ecology and migrations of sea turtles established the basis for their conservation in Florida and the Caribbean. This illustrated talk reveals Carr's many achievements in science and conservation as well as his intriguing personality."