The ranchers who resettled BC’s interior in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries depended on grassland for their cattle, but
in this they faced some unlikely competition – from grasshoppers and
wild and feral horses. With the help of the government, settlers
resolved to rid the range of both. Resettling the Range explores the
ecology and history of the grassland and the people who lived there by
looking closely at these eradication efforts. In the claims of
“range improvement” and “rational land use,” author John
Thistle uncovers more complicated stories of marginalization: the
destruction of wild horses worked to dispossess aboriginal people and
discredit their claims to land and resources, while the campaign to
exterminate grasshoppers exposed long-standing class conflicts and
competing versions of resettlement among immigrant ranchers. When
settlers and governments separated environmental issues from their
social and ecological contexts, they not only made their problems
worse in many cases, but also created new ones that no one
anticipated. This unconventional history examines the implications for
humans and nature alike, in the process revealing a fascinating –
and troubling – chapter of BC history.
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Animals, Ecologies, and Human Communities in British Columbia
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780774828406
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
University of British Columbia Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter