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HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS: A USEFUL EDUCATIONAL TOOL
Citation:
Pesch, C AND R Voyer. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS: A USEFUL EDUCATIONAL TOOL. Presented at Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Snowbird, Utah, August 6-10, 2000.
Description:
An historical analysis that presents the ecological consequences of development can be a valuable educational tool for citizens, students, and environmental managers. In highly impacted areas, the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors can result in complex environmental conditions. Historical analysis is important because it allows us to separate some of these impacts on a time line and have a better understanding of how current ecological conditions arose. Historical analysis enables us to make the connection between land use and environmental conditions, and to see the long-term consequence of development decisions. With an historical analysis, we can identify modification or loss of habitat, changes in water circulation patterns, and qualitative changes in species composition, and get information on past pollutant inputs. Examples of some of these points will be given from an historical analysis we did of New Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts. An historical study can generate citizen and student interest in local environmental issues because it makes history come alive and promotes an understanding of real events in their community. Citizens can use this information in a community-based environmental decision-making process. Historical studies provide teachers with material to use in an integrated curriculum, combining science, history, and writing, for middle and high schools. Such a cross discipline curriculum provides a context for students to see the relevance of science and history, and gives the opportunity for analysis and problem-solving in the classroom. Historical studies are also useful as background information for environmental managers and are useful in planning remediation projects. Historical studies can be presented in a variety of formats: slide shows, posters, written material, and web sites. The historical analysis we did of New Bedford Harbor, when presented as a slide show to citizens and teachers, attracted much interest. We are in the process of responding to that interest by putting the information from the New Bedford study in a written monograph, in collaboration with the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and on a web site to make it accessible to students and the general public.