Wilderness and nature

1. Wilderness and nature KGA172 Space, Place and Nature Presented by Associate Professor Elaine Stratford Semester 2

3. Photo by Rob Blakers from Endangered Viking

4. Part 1 Looking back, looking forward

5. Revising Lecture 3.2 What does Tattersall mean when he refers to human adaptive capacity as exaptive? What evidence can you bring to bear to support the argument – advanced by Tattersall, that “As climates changed at the end of the last Ice Age, the new technophile proclivity was expressed in a shift toward agriculture and sedentary lifestyles: a shift that precipitated a fundamentally new (and potentially self-destructive) relationship with nature.” Describe the general pattern of the spread of humans around the world, referring to Diamond’s work to assist you. What does the archaeological evidence suggest about the lifestyles of gathering and hunting communities? How did those lifestyles change with the advent of agriculture and pastoralism? Why might that be so? What is meant by the term Pleistocene overkill? Neolithic Revolution? Hydraulic civilizations? A Woman Thinking

6. Learning Objectives Module 3 Lecture 3 KGA172 Know and be able to (a) employ basic geographical terminology and concepts, (b) find, evaluate, analyse and reference appropriate literature, (c) contribute to debates about development and sustainability Comprehend and be able to explain spatial patterns, generate basic maps, field sketches and graphs, and communicate in written and graphical forms Apply key academic skills and (a) engage in critical thinking, discussion and listening, and in self-reflection and reflection upon the viewpoints of others and (b) research, plan and conduct fieldwork to collect data Analyse and interpret basic spatial, numerical and qualitative information Synthesize and integrate knowledge of social and Earth systems • be able to • define current concepts of wilderness and address the historic background to wilderness areas, and the contemporary use of the term • explain why the concept of wilderness has been questioned • explain why effective wilderness conservation and management are worthy goals

7. Textbook Reading Cronon, W. (1995) The trouble with wilderness; or getting back to the wrong nature. In Cronon, W. (ed.), Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York, W.W. Norton, 69-90, 80-81. Kirkpatrick, J.B. (2006) Science and nature conservation in the wilderness. In Brown, I. (ed.), Celebrating Wilderness. Envirobook, Canterbury NSW, pp. 78-89. Critical reading What is the author’s purpose? What key questions or problems does the author raise? What information, data and evidence does the author present? What key concepts does the author use to organize this information, this evidence? What key conclusions is the author coming to? Are those conclusions justified? What are the author’s primary assumptions? What viewpoints is the author writing from? What are the implications of the author’s reasoning? [from Foundation for Critical Thinking] Old Woman Reading a Lectionary, Gerard Dou

8. Part 2 Defining wilderness – historical perspectives

9. Hebrew words for wilderness desolate arid wasteland He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Deuteronomy 32:10 (King James Bible) A waste and howling wilderness,Where none inhabitedBut hellish fiends and brutish menThat devils worshipped. Michael Wigglesworth 1662 St John the Baptist Entering the Wilderness Giovanni di Paolo, 1417–1482

10. Satan’s Home? And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. Mark 1:12-13 Christ in the Wilderness Kramskoy, Ivan 1837-1887

11. Wilderness words Concise Oxford Dictionary 1) desert, uncultivated and uninhabited tract 2) part of garden left uncultivated 3) confused assemblage On-line Free Dictionary 1) an unsettled, uncultivated region left in its natural condition, especially: a. a large wild tract of land covered with dense vegetation or forests b. an extensive area, such as a desert or ocean, that is barren or empty; a waste c. a piece of land set aside to grow wild 2) something characterized by bewildering vastness, peril, or unchecked profusion

12. Wilderness images? From wild and threatening to the sublime The Garden of Eden Thomas Cole 1828

13. A home in the wilderness? Home in the Woods Thomas Cole 1847

14. Natives and Nation The perceived link between wilderness and indigeneity 'And in future what a splendid contemplation ... preserved in their pristine beauty and wildness, in a magnificent park, where the world could see for ages to come, the native Indian in his classic attire, galloping his wild horse, with sinewy bow, and shield and lance, amid the fleeting herds of elks and buffaloes ... A nation's Park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty!’ George Catlin, 1841 (1989): The Manners and Customs of the North American Indians. Penguin, Harmondsworth, p.vii.

15. Second half of the nineteenth century From the sublime to the … dedication of National Parks? Grand Canyon of the YellowstoneThomas Moran 1872

16. Mt Olympus, Lake St Clair WC Piguenit, 1888

17. Solitude“In wildness is the preservation of the world” “land retaining … outstanding opportunities for solitude” US Wilderness Act 1964 “Wilderness solitude … a mental freedom … where visitors experience nature essentially free of the reminders of society” US Fish & Wildlife Service 2001 “To provide opportunities for solitude” The Wilderness Society (Australia) “It is as solitary where I live as on the prairies. … I have, as it were my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself” Henry David Thoreau 1854 1997: Walden, 119, 121

18. Aldo Leopold Bob Brown’s House, NE Tas Brown 2004: Memo for a Saner World Bradley 1998: Wisconsin Academy Review; Meine 1988 Aldo Leopold

19. Part 3 Modern perspectives on wilderness

20. Taroko National Park Taiwan E Stratford

21. Types of natural and protected areas I. (a) Strictly Nature Reserve (only), (b) Wilderness Area II. National Park (NP) III. National Monument IV. Habitat / Species Management Area V. Protected Landscape / Seascape VI. Managed (multiple-use) Resource Protection Area (RPA) Taroko, Taiwan, E Stratford

22. Types of natural and protected areas Elephant Rock, at Mornington Peninsula National Park, southeastern Australia. See Matysek, Stratford and Kriwoken (2006)

23. Purpose and function ofwilderness and natural area reserves Lava tube cave, Maui, Hawaii, E Stratford

24. Contemporary concepts of wilderness • Founded in both science (ecology) and ethics (social science/values) • Broad objectives of management: • Appropriate protection and use (conservation) of natural resources and environments in ecologically sustainable ways • To enhance environmental, social, cultural and economic well-being of all peoples alongside the sustainable protection and use of those natural resources • Wilderness conservation and protection, not necessarily preservation Christ figure in the wilderness, Vatican, E Stratford

25. The trouble with wilderness? “This, then, is the central paradox: Wilderness embodies a dualistic vision in which the human is entirely outside the natural ... We thereby leave ourselves little hope of discovering what an ethical, sustainable, honourable human place in nature might actually look like. Worse: to the extent that we live in an urban-industrial civilization but at the same time pretend to ourselves that our real home is in the wilderness, just to that extent we give ourselves permission to evade responsibility for the lives we actually lead.” Bill Cronon (pictured far right)

26. Part 4 Problems, hazards and threats to management

27. The challenge Hallasan National Park, Jeju Island, South Korea E Stratford

28. Conceptual Approaches to Wilderness Conservation Ecocentric view of life and environmental problems and events Classical anthropocentric view of life its environmental problems and events Human needs and wants are privileged and at the centre of importance Sees humanity as ‘apart from’, and in charge of nature and its resources, which are to be accessed through science, technology and management Human needs and wants are seen as part of a larger set of imperatives to be accounted for Requires sustainable use and protection of the Earth’s natural and living resources

29. Near Pearshape Lagoon King Island E Stratford

30. Benefits of an ecocentric view Reproduction of a painting of a thylacine by John Lewin, circa 1817, Linnean Society of London

31. Is wilderness a state of the natural environment or a state of the human psyche or perhaps both?

32. Dove Lake, Cradle Mountain National Park

33. Nature conservation The benefits of remoteness lack of artificial movement barriers lack of movement channels for exotics small proportion of area with edge effects

34. Corridors and edge effects The problem of streams The problem of coasts

35. The virtues of size and heterogeneity Species at high trophic levels Jon Marsden-Smedley

36. Resilience to climatic change

37. Management intervention for biodiversity conservation Jon Marsden-Smedley

38. Science and wilderness The problems of cost and regulation The destruction of mystery The virtue of landscape benchmarks The virtue of ‘natural’ processes Jon Marsden-Smedley

39. Photo by Rob Blakers from Endangered Viking

40. Wilderness art – where are the people? Should they be there? Photo by Rob Blakers from Endangered Viking

41. Is this better?

42. Or this? Or is that the right question in the first place?

43. Breeden and Wright 1989, Kakadu, Simon & Schuster NSW, cover photo