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This preface states the book's thesis that American Indians influenced American literature, and delineates the author's methodologies employed to support this claim. To illustrate Of Plimoth Plantation's Native influence, the author reads the history from a Native point of view; analyzes the impact of Indianization upon the colonists; and uses close reading and theories of narratology to shed light upon Bradford's text. She also compares Bradford's text to extant works in the American Indian oral tradition, such as Navajo healing chants and Black Elk's vision recitation. The author evaluates Native–colonial social contact, explains pan-tribal metaphysics and intellectual systems operating in the seventeenth-century New World, and utilizes Native interpretative techniques in reaching her conclusions. In addition to Of Plimoth Plantation, she also discusses Mourt's Relation and Edward Winslow's Good Newes from New England.

Early photographs and historical accounts show northern-range aquatic areas bordered by dense riparian-shrub stands. Browsing impacts were first reported in 1914, followed by heavy impacts, then slight recovery during the elk herd reductions, and then widespread elimination of willow by today, except in exclosures and where wolf populations have scattered elk. Although numerous other causes have been proposed by park investigators, the evidence overwhelmingly points to elk herbivory. Evidence from architectural analysis of cottonwood stands points to tree recruitment prior to 1894, then virtually none from 1894-1962 except for one brief burst in 1934-1951, then some recruitment during the herd reduction, and none since 1974. Riparian fauna such as beaver, white-tailed deer, moose, avifauna, and some insect species have declined as riparian vegetation has been browsed down.

Northern-range elk numbers have changed through four successive population phases over time: low numbers in prehistory up to ~1883; censuses of >6,000 up to 20,000-35,000 from 1884-1958; <6,000 from 1959-1970 during park reductions; and >6,000 from 1971 to the low 2,000s after reductions stopped. Varying sources of evidence indicate alternating responses to each of these phases by all measured components of the northern-range biota. The pre-1872 northern-range ecosystem can be characterized by a hierarchical model constrained at the top by human and large-carnivore predators that limited elk numbers, prevented heavy herbivory, and allowed development of a vegetation that provided ample food for other herbivores, habitat for other faunal components, and constraints on hydrology. Removing the predatory constraints allowed elk increase that altered the structure of the system and progressively reduced biodiversity. These changes have disproved the ecological-effect tenets of the natural-regulation hypothesis. Expansion of the northern range since 1988 and the reestablishment of wolves could return the system structure back to its 1872 state, although it is too early to ascertain whether this will occur. Meanwhile, climate warming could alter system structure to conditions not previously experienced.

To manage a large elk herd that winters on a low-elevation, a 152,663 ha area along the northern border of Yellowstone National Park has gone through four phases since before park establishment in 1872: (1) no management except aboriginal hunting before 1872; (2) protection from hunting, predator control, and winter feeding between 1872 and the 1920s; (3) population reduction through trapping and shooting by park rangers from the 1920s through 1968; (4) no population control from 1969 to the present (the natural-regulation policy). Park officials' reports and 1914-1968 scientific observations agreed that the northern herd occurred at low numbers and migrated out of the park area in winter before 1872; increased to 20,000-35,000 wintering animals by the early 1900s; and was heavily impacting the northern-range biota. New research posed the 1971 natural-regulation ecological hypothesis and reinterpreted evidence to infer that elk in prehistory were abundant and wintered outside the park area; had not increased to 20,000-35,000 in the early 1900s; without control, the herd would stabilize at moderate numbers, and would do so without significant impact on the northern-range ecosystem as it had not in the 1914-1982 period. The purpose of this book is to review the entire documentary and scientific record to evaluate the effects of management phases on the size of the northern herd and, in turn, its effects on the northern range, thereby testing the natural-regulation hypothesis. The park may be entering a fifth management phase, depending on what effect the reestablishment of wolves in 1995 has on the herd, an effect that was not yet evident when this book was written.

Aspen in western North America grows in clones, and reproduces from root shoots (ramets) that replace short-lived (100-130 year) trees. Elk browse leaves and low branches producing browse lines, peel the bark of medium-age and young trees, browse off young ramets preventing reestablishment, and convert understories to low-diversity stands of grasses and annuals. Clones outside the park in the absence of ungulates, inside park exclosures, and in early park photographs, have mixed-age ramets, no highlines, and diverse understories of shrubs and perennial forbs. Contrary to natural-regulation advocates, photographic and dencrochronological evidence shows that aspens were a significant component of the vegetation before 1872 and in early park years. There has been no tree recruitment in the northern range since the 1920s, one-third of clones in early photographs have disappeared, the area of surviving clones has declined 80%, and associated biota of browsed clones has declined, all attributed primarily to elk browsing rather than other factors proposed by natural-regulation advocates.

Nutritional research on northern-range elk and park-wide bison shows catabolic decline and mortality increase through winters, and as functions of population size and winter severity, collectively indicating usurpation of the range resource and intraspecific competition. Bighorn sheep numbers declined from the 1920s until about the 1960s, increased during and immediately after the elk population low, and then declined again in the 1980s and 1990s when they occurred at low population viability. Contrary to one hypothesis, the bison population increased steadily from the 1960s, except for slight population reductions in the 1980s and 1990s, until it reached ~3,000 when animals began leaving the park. Mule deer declined from the early 1900s to 1958-1970, and increased substantially by the 1980s and 1990s when they began wintering outside the park. Pronghorns, numbering in the thousands in early park years, now exist at low population viability. With speculative estimates, elk numbers and biomass increased 3.2x between park establishment and the 1990s; the other four species together declined 67% in numbers and 40% in biomass.

Beginning in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Darwinism had a varied impact on American sensibilities. John Muir, for example, studied science and accepted the transmutative premise of evolutionary theory--but retained a biblically colored piety that saw God’s presence inscribed “in magnificent capitals” at places like Yosemite. During this extended period, writings by Mary Austin and Black Elk reflect their encounters with versions of naturalistic piety lying outside Euro-American ethnic traditions. Still, the written form in which Black Elk expressed his ecological vision of holiness, as imaged in the great hoop of the Lakota nation, was decidedly influenced by his contact with non-Indian culture. Although Rachel Carson was a committed scientist whose work presupposed belief in organic evolution, her writing also reflects a robust spirituality founded upon reverence for life and for the mystery of things unseen.

This chapter investigates the hunting of deer, elk, and other creatures in Rocky Mountains during the prehistoric period. It describes the remains of mule deer and Rocky Mountain elk in archaeological remains and discusses the behavioral patterns of other animals including small mammals, birds, and black and grizzly bears. It also explains the hunting strategies for these animals.

This chapter examines a variety of written expressions that may be read in the context of elegy and are attributed to Native American authors. It begins by considering Black Hawk's autobiography Life, published in 1833 by John Barton Patterson. Life was long read as elegiac in the Western sense, mourning what was irrevocably gone, and Black Hawk's narration is more nearly elegiac in the Native American sense; it is not Western mourning but indigenous “melancholic mourning” of a particularly creative kind. The chapter also analyzes Black Elk Speaks (1932), Reverend William Apess's Eulogy on King Philip (1836), and the elegiac poetry of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, John Rollin Ridge, and others.

This chapter focuses on the restoration of the rivers of the Klamath region. The Trinity River Restoration Program proposed four river-building processes: water flow, vegetation, channel morphology, and sediment management. Efforts to restore the Klamath River's anandromous fish populations are ongoing, but have made less progress than was originally hoped for. Along the Klamath River, watershed restoration is under way, at Bluff Creek, at Elk Creek, in the Scott River, and in the upper basin.

This chapter examines the effects of grazing in California's grasslands, oak savanna understory vegetation, and associated herbaceous riparian areas, providing a brief history of grazing in California grasslands and examining the grazing effects on California grassland wildlife. It also describes the ways in which grazing by nondomestic large mammals such as elk differs from grazing by livestock.

What compels people to accept the burdens of firefighting? Why do they choose to take part in such a demanding and dangerous enterprise? This chapter demonstrates that the answers are to be found in the least likely place: downtime. Many sociologists have suggested that risk takers understand downtime as meaningless and dull. It is argued that, at Elk River, periods of waiting are saturated with meaning. Far from being “killed time” or “wasted time,” downtime is primetime. Elk River offers something more alluring than rushes or riches—something having to do with their country-masculine habitus.

This chapter explores the brotherly bonds forged between firefighters at Elk River by focusing on the sometimes unbrotherly practices of repartee and aggressive teasing. It also highlights how crewmembers discipline one another, and how they espouse and act on key principles of the Forest Service through ostensibly innocent everyday practices.

By mid-March, daytime temperatures above freezing have left muddy puddles all over the unpaved road that runs above and beside the beaver meadow. This road extends to the national park trailhead farther upstream but is now closed for winter. I enter the beaver meadow on a lightly overcast day that is windy, as I expect March to be. Lack of recent snowfall and warm temperatures have caused the snowpack to shrink down, and I no longer break through into hidden pockets of air around the base of the bushy willows. I do break through the ice on my snowshoes, sinking in a slow motion that allows me to scramble and keep my feet dry . . . mostly. I sink in above the ankle at one point and the resulting icy ache makes me appreciate the ability of beavers to stay warm. The snow covering the higher peaks and the adjacent lateral moraines appears about the same, but numerous spots of bare ground have appeared along the creek banks. The remaining snow resembles a blanket draped over the undulating, grassy ground rather than an integral part of the landscape. I stand on the snowbank at the downstream end of one of the larger beaver ponds. The dam merges into a vegetated berm and appears to be intact, but I can hear water flowing swiftly somewhere beneath the snow. Most puzzling is that I can’t see where the water is going: the nearest downstream standing water has no apparent inflow or current. Mysterious, intricate plumbing surrounds me. The beaver meadow is on the move, flowing and changing, preparing for the season of birth and growth. Standing water is noticeably more abundant than a month ago. Interspersed among the ice and snow are big puddles and little ponds, some connected and draining, others isolated and still. The still pond waters have a shallow covering of meltwater underlain by ice with large, irregularly shaped air pockets trapped in the upper layer. These I can easily break with the tip of my ski pole. Thousands of tiny bubbles deeper in the ice look milky.

This chapter looks at the large-scale fires of 1998 that swept through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, most notably in Yellowstone National Park. It resulted from a combination of drought, above-average temperatures, and numerous dry thunderstorms with lightning strikes and high winds. One of the biggest concerns of the public during and after the fires of 1998 was how individual plants and animals fared. Some of the greatest public concerns were for large animals, particularly Elk. Elk mortality and population responses after the fires took some surprising turns. The public interest in how fires affect water availability and quality.

This chapter describes Elk biology and ecology before and after the Yellowstone fires of 1988. Elk occupy an intermediate position in post-fire vegetal succession. The fires of 1988 in Yellowstone National Park provided a unique opportunity to study the effects of large-scale wildfire on one of the largest migratory Elk populations in North America. Several large, hot, fall fires burned about one-third of the 590,000 ha summer range and about one-quarter of the 134,000 ha winter range for Elk. It was predicted that the 1988 fires would alter elk distribution and habitat preferences, due to these changes in forages and forest cover. Elk would possibly avoid burned forests in the winter because these burned forests accumulate more snow than unburned forests and the snow will be more crusted from wind and diurnal thawing.