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The American Forest: Its Ecology, History, and Representation
Spring Semester 2012
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management C191 (cc# 29577)
History of Art C 189 (cc#04956)
American Studies C112F (cc# 02087)
Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies C136 (cc#89021)
Professor Joe R. McBride (jrm2@berkeley.edu)
office hours: 9:30-11:00 Tuesdays, & 2:30-4:00 Thursdays 412B Wurster Hall
Professor Margaretta M. Lovell (mmlovell@berkeley.edu)
office hours: Tuesdays 11:00-12:30 in 409 Doe and by appointment
GSI William Coleman (wcoleman@berkeley.edu)
office hours: in 409 Doe 9:30-11:00 Tuesdays, & by appointment
GSI Matthew Hughes (matthewhughes123@gmail.com)
office hours: in 43 Mulford Hall Mondays 2:30-4:00 & by appointment.
Lectures: Mondays & Wednesday 4:00 – 5:30 in 112 Wurster Hall
This course is 4 units. There are no prerequisites.
Sections:
(101) Wed. 2-3
(102) Wed. 3-4
(103) Wed. 11-12
(104) Wed. 12-1
(105) Wed. 6-7
2030 Valley LSB
2030 Valley LSB
174 Barrows
2032 Valley LSB
251 Dwinelle (cc# 04970)
Course Description and Objectives: Looking at historical and at present-day forests, this
course is designed to introduce students to both the scientific dimensions of forest
environments and to the ways in which those environments have been seen, analyzed,
utilized, and represented in this country since the seventeenth century. It investigates
geographic facts, cultural value systems, the operation of forest ecosystems, and the
mechanisms by which photographers, artists, and writers have engaged the American
forest imaginatively.
This course fulfills the L&S breadth requirements in Arts & Literature, Historical
Studies, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences. It fulfills the American Studies 102
('Place') requirement for that major. It is one of several courses sponsored by The
Geballe Research Opportunities for Undergraduates Program, and it is one of the courses
included in the Townsend Center’s Course Threads, specifically the Humanities &
Environment Thread that “analyzes how humans imagine, represent, interact with, and
change within their natural and cultural environments.”
Assignments and Exams:
Weekly readings. One midterm, one final exam: exams will cover materials presented in
readings, sections, field trips, and lectures (by the course instructors and by visitors).
There is one paper due in several stages or steps. Students must complete both exams and
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each aspect of the research project, as well as contribute to section discussions and
attend both field trips in order to pass. Point values for these segments of the course:
research essay (all parts) 35%; midterm 15%; final exam 30%; section attendance,
participation, and mini-assignments 20%.
Dates and Deadlines:
To ensure fairness to all members of the class, exam and assignment deadlines are hard
dates; if you are unable to meet them you would be advised to enroll in a class that better
meets your other commitments and priorities.
Field Trips:
Two required weekend field trips will involve on-site study of forests and forest products:
1. Muir Woods and the manufacturing of wood. Saturday February 25. This is
an all-day trip leaving Berkeley campus at 8:00 am, and returning by 6:00 pm that
evening. Bring a bag lunch, snacks, and something to drink; dress warmly in layers as
the morning will be cool and the afternoon warm. Bring your camera.
2. Forest of Yosemite National Park. April 21 and 22. This is a two-day trip,
leaving at 7:00 a.m. from the Berkeley campus on Saturday morning April 21 and
returning by 7:00 p.m. on Sunday April 22. We will be staying in cabin-tents. Bring a
bag lunch for the first day. Field trip costs for both trips: budget $100.
The field trips for this course are subsidized by a G.R.O.U.P. grant from the Townsend
Humanities Center .
Required Texts:
1. The Reader for this course is available on bSpace
2. Michael Williams, Americans and Their Forests (Cambridge: 1989, 1999). This
book is available online at Amazon and other vendors; it is also be on reserve in the
Bioscience Library.
3. The “Student Term Research Assignment” manual will be available on bSpace
Handouts and Resources:
There are hardcopy handouts at each class. Extra handouts are to be found in a box
labeled “Lovell/McBride” in the hallway outside of 200 Wurster Hall—available
whenever Wurster is open. They will also be posted to bSpace.
To view artworks, see class bSpace site, or more generally, ARTstor
Absences:
“Students are responsible for material covered during missed classes whether or
not they have been formally excused; therefore it is the student’s responsibility to
inform him/herself about the material missed. Because of serious workload issues
it is not the instructor’s or the GSI’s responsibility to tutor students in missed
material. For this reason it is recommended that students absent from class for any
reason make timely contact with several other students in the class to arrange for
thorough briefing on the material they missed.”
From UCB Academic Senate Guidelines Concerning Scheduling Conflicts
with Academic Requirements, adopted, 2006
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I. Introduction
Week 1
A. Wed. Jan. 18: Introduction I: Objectives of the course, overview of the
forests of North America. Forests and cultural interpretation.
Sections: No sections this week
Extra Credit Assignment: Go to the Oakland Museum (1000 Oak St.) and
look at the temporary exhibit “A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John
Muir’s Journey” (budget $15 for BART & admission) open 11-5 Wed.
thru Sun. N.B. this exhibition’s last day is Jan. 22.
Readings:
Kloss, M. 2002. Picturing Yosemite. American Forest. (Summer): 41-43.
Gobster, P. H. 1994. The urban savanna. Restoration and Management
Notes. 12(1): 64-71.
Duffield, J. W., 1982. Forest Regions of North America and the World.
In R. Young (ed.) Introduction to Forest Science. J. Wiley & Sons
NY, pp. 37-66.
II. Introduction II and Pre-Revolutionary Period
Week 2
A. Mon. Jan. 23: Introduction II: Forest communities and psychological
response to experience. The prehistory of thinking the American Forest:
Robin Hood, Thomas Gainsborough, and others.
B. Wed. Jan. 25: The Pre-settlement Forest and The Colonial forest:
Distribution and characteristics of the forests. The use and management
of these forests by the Native Americans and by early European colonists.
Sections:
1. Enrollment; expectations of the discussion sessions; field trips
2. Response to a forest image
3. Conceptualizing forest data (comparison of redwood and red fir forests)
4.Discussion of childhood experience of forests, of forest images in books and
media; impact on adult attitudes and understandings
5. Introduce term research projects
Readings:
Simon Schama, 1995, "Liberties of the Greenwood" in Landscape and
Memory, pp. 135-85.
Cronon, W. 1983. Changes in the Land. Hill and Wang. N.Y. pp. 108-126
(“Taking of the Forest”)
Williams, M. 1989. Americans and their forests (Chapter 2: The forest
and the Indian). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 22-49.
Williams, M. 1989 Americans and their forests (Chapter 3: The forest
and pioneer life; Chapter 4: Two centuries of change: The
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commercial uses of the forest). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ.
Press. pp. 53-81; 82-110.
Con’t 
Bonnicksen, T. M. 2000. “The Spanish Explorer’s Forests” in America’s
Ancient Forests. NY: John Wiley and Sons. pp. 226-35, 258 –92.
Week 3
C. Mon. Jan. 30: Thinking and Picturing the Colonial Forest--Euro-Americans
map, draw, and paint the forest, utilize it as an intellectual resource and
recurrent metaphor.
D. Wed. Feb. 1: Using the Colonial Forest--colonial wood products: home use,
import, and export--building buildings, crafting furniture, burning wood
for warmth and industry.
Sections:
Instead of going to section room go (rain or shine) to
* Redwood Grove (between Men and Women’s Faculty Clubs, along Strawberry
Creek)
* Oak Woodland (adjacent to Strawberry Creek, on west side of Valley LSB)
In each 'forest,' note the presence, relative scale and density of ground cover,
underbrush, mature trees. Write a brief statement of (1) sunlight conditions, (2)
people who were present (3) animals, birds, insects and sounds (4) your response
to each stand. Do you see any correlation between physical and biological
characteristics of the different stands and your response to them? To what degree
was your response influenced by sunlight condition and the people (or
animals/birds) present?
Return to classroom for last 10 minutes.
N. B. Wednesday 6-7 section: do this exercise earlier in the day (or on
Tuesday) when you have good light, then go to classroom at 6:45.
Readings:
"Champlain, Among the Huron, Lost in the Woods" from The Voyages of
Samuel de Champlain, 1615, collected in Heath Anthology of
American Literature, v.1, pp.135-6.
Thomas Morton (1632), Roger Williams (1643), Timber Merchant’s
Inventory (1682), and Proclamation of 1730 documents, collected
in C. Merchant, Major Problems in American Environmental
History (Lexington, 1993), pp. 72-77..
Lovell, M. 2005. Art in a Season of Revolution. Philadelphia, PA: Univ.
Pennsylvania Press. pp. 225-266.
III. Early National Period (1776-1840)
Week 4
A. Mon. Feb. 6.: Newly Acquired Forests--Nature of the forests acquired by the
new nation.
B. Wed. Feb. 8: Conversion and Utilization of the Forests during the Federal
period.
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****Come to section Feb. 8 with part A of your project in hand (give it to your section
leader before section begins)****
Sections:
1. Forests in the news – Part I
2. Discuss the readings to date; "how to read with a purpose."
Readings:
Williams, M. 1989. Americans and their Forests. Cambridge Univ. Press.
N.Y. pp. 111-45; 507-10 (Chapter 5 - The Quickening Pace:
Agricultural Clearing, 1810-60).
Williams, M. 1989. Americans and their Forests. Cambridge Univ. Press.
NY. pp. 146-89; 510-13 (Chapter 6: The Quickening Pace: The
Industrial Impact, 1810-1860).
Bonnicksen, T. M. 2000. “Forests of the Fathers” in America’s Ancient
Forests. NY: John Wiley and Sons. pp. 293 – 343.
McBride, J.R. and E. C. Stone. 1976 Plant succession on the sand
dunes of the Monterey Peninsula, Calfornia. American Midland
Naturalist 96(1): 118-132.
Week 5
C. Mon. Feb. 13: Painting the Hudson, Thinking New England--Ralph
Earl, Thomas Cole and others
D. Wed. Feb. 15: The Republican Farm, Forest, and City: Trees Aesthetic,
Scientific, and Useful: Thomas Jefferson, Washington Square, and
Balloon Framing.
Sections
Reading paintings; reading buildings: description and analysis
Readings:
Cole, Thomas, "The Bewilderment" and, "Essay on American Scenery"
(1836), collected in Thomas Cole: The Collected Essays and
Prose Sketches, ed, Marshall Tymn (N.Y, 1980), pp. 3- 17, 97-102.
Jefferson, Thomas, Notes on the State of Virginia (1781) ,
selections; pp. 148-74.
Cikovsky, Jr., N., “The Ravages of Axe: meaning of the tree stump in
Nineteenth-century American Art,” The Art Bulletin. V. 61. (Nov.Dec. 1979).: 611-626.
Godman, John D., "Rambles of a Naturalist: No. IX," from Rambles of a
Naturalist (1828), collected in This Incomparable Lande, ed.
Thomas J. Lyon (Boston, 1989), pp. 126-31.
Heiman, Michael, "Civilization Over Nature" (1989), collected in C.
Merchant, ed., Major Problems in American Environmental
History (Lexington, 1993), pp. 191-99.
A Report on the Trees and Shrubs Growing Naturally in the Forests of
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Massachusetts (Boston, 1846), pp. 1-36.
IV. Mid-19th Century (1840-1870)
Week 6
A. Mon. Feb. 20: No Lecture: UCB holiday
B. Wed. Feb. 22: Abandoning the Land--Exodus from the New England
landscape and the resulting old-field succession.
****Come to section Feb. 22 with part B of your project in hand (give it to your section
leader before section begins)****
Sections:
Review for mid-term exam
Readings:
Raup, H. M. 1966. The view from John Sanderson's farm: A perspective
on the use of land. Forest History 10:2-11.
Nicholas T. Mirov, The Pines of Ravenna, Natural History v. 80, no. 1,
January 1971, pp. 24-26.
*Saturday February 25 all-day Field Trip to Muir Woods*
Week 7
C. Mon. Feb. 27: Picturing Trees: Forests as Sites of War, National Ideology,
and Contemplation--F. Church, John F. Kensett, Winslow Homer, and
Henry D. Thoreau at Walden.
* Wed. Feb. 29 Midterm Exam *
Section:
Discussion of Saturday (Feb. 25) Field trip
1. Impressions of Muir Woods
* Experience of a National Park vs. non-recreational forest
* Your cultural and historical context for observing the forest
* Previous images which influenced your expectation of the forest
2. Impressions of the manufacturing of wood and wood related products
Readings:
Harvey, Eleanor Jones, " The Artist in the Field" and "The Alchemy of the
Studio" from The Painted Sketch, (Dallas, 1998), pp. 25-61.
Kelly, Franklin, "The Stillness of Twilight and the Solemnity of
Undisturbed Primeval Nature: Twilight in the Wilderness," in
Frederic Edwin Church and the National Landscape, pp. 102-22.
Thoreau, H. D., Walden, selections.
Week 8
D. Mon. March 5: Fitz H. Lane: Picturing the New England Lumber Economy
at Mid-century
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V. Turn of the Last Century (1870-1910)
A. Wed. Mar. 7 Forests of the West Coast--Characteristics and
distribution of the forests along the west coast of the United States.
Section:
1.Analysis of Nicholas T. Mirov, The Pines of Ravenna, Natural History v. 80,
no. 1, January 1971, pp. 24-26.
2.Discussion of term projects--models, strategies, evidence, argument.
Documenting research.
If you miss this section meeting, make an appointment to see Prof. Lovell
Readings:
Bonnicksen, T. M. 2000. America’s Ancient Forests. NY: John Wiley and
Sons. pp.240-257, 401-419, and 386-401.
Week 9
B. Mon. Mar. 12: Harvesting the forest of the west (1850-1900) Technologies
used by the early loggers of the western forest. Innovations in timber
harvesting necessary due to the large size of trees: axes, saws, Dolberg
steam donkey.
C. Wed. Mar. 14: Forests of the Rocky Mountains The geography and ecology of
the forests of the Rocky Mountains and the role mining played in their
utilization.
Section:
Bancroft Library as a resource: photographs, paintings, books.
Meet in foyer of Bancroft Library rather than usual section location.
N. B. Wed. 6-7 section: come to one of the earlier sections if possible.
Readings:
Williams, R. L. 1976. The Loggers. Time-Life Books. New York.
pp. 89-127.
Bonnicksen, T. M. 2000. America’s Ancient Forests. NY: John Wiley and
Sons. pp.344 – 385 and 236 - 240.
Week 10:
D. Mon. Mar. 19: A. Bierstadt and T. Moran: Hunting the Sublime in The Forests
of the West
VI. 1910-1950 (Twentieth Century, part one)
A. Wed. March 21: The Development of Forest Conservation in America: John
Muir and Gifford Pinchot
Section:
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J. G. Howard, Senior Men's Hall (1906); B. Maybeck, Faculty Club
(original hall: 1902). Meet in front of Senior Men's Hall instead of usual
section classroom.
Readings:
Truettner, William H., "Ideology and Image: Justifying Westward
Expansion," in The West as America, ed. W. H. Truettner,
(Washington, 1991), pp. 27-53
Rebecca Bedell, “Thomas Moran and The Western Surveys,”
chapter 6 in The Anatomy of Nature: Geology and American
Landscape Painting 1825-1875 (Princeton U. Press), pp. 123-146
Williams, M. 1989. Americans and their Forests. pp. 393-424; (Chap 12Preservation and Management, 1870-1910).
Nash, R. 1968. The American Environment: Readings in the History of
Conservation (Catlin, Marsh, Olmsted, Schurz, Pinchot, Muir,
Johnson). pp. 5-9, 13-18, 18-24, 24-28, 39-42, 58-68, 68-71, 71-74.
Week 11 – Spring Break
Week 12
B. Mon. April 2: Forests, Memory, and Loss--Tree Portraits, Sugaring Off;
Schwinfurth, John G. Howard, and Bernard Maybeck.
C. Wed. Apr. 4 Forests in the City
Section:
1. Discussion of readings
2. Forest Issues in the News: each student will bring to section at least one news
item relating to forests to discuss with class; select a topic on which you have
particular insight or strong opinions.
Readings:
Margaretta Lovell, “The Forest, The Copper Mine, and the Sea: The
Alchemical and Social Materiality of Greene and Greene,” in A.
Mallek and E. R. Bosley, eds., A ‘New and Native’ Beauty: The
Art and Craft of Greene & Greene, exh. cat., Huntington Library
2008, pp. 84-109.
Sally Woodbridge, Bernard Maybeck, pp. 64-73.
Keeler, Charles, The Simple Home, c. 1900, pp. 7-17, 18-23, 32-3.
Schama, S. "Grizzlies" in Landscape and Memory, 1995, pp. 185-206.
Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., “Winslow Homer: Time in the Adirondacks” in
Winslow Homer: Artist and Angler, Patricia Junker and Sarah
Burns, eds., (Amon Carter Museum, 2002).
Week 13:
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C. Mon. Apr. 9: American Forest Management and Policy in the First Half of
the 20thCentury
VII. 1950-2012 (Twentieth Century, 1950 to the Present)
A. Wed. Apr.12: Authenticity (the return to wood in avant garde and vernacular
design) and Abstraction, Sofa Art, Everybody's Favorite Painting, and the
End of Landscape
Section:
Term research paper workshop: bring a draft of your opening paragraph to
section in multiple copies.
Readings:
Williams, M. 1989. Americans and their Forests. pp. 289-330; 520-25
(Chap. 9 - The Last Frontier: The Rise of the Pacific Northwest,
1880-1940)
Nash, R. 1968. The American Environment: Readings in the History of
Conservation (Hornaday and Leopold). pp. 117-121.
Whitman, Walt, "Song of the Redwood Tree," (1874), collected in
Selected Poems: Walt Whitman
Alinder, James and J. Szarkowski, "Ansel Adams, American
Artist," in Ansel Adams:Classic Images (Boston, 1992), pp. 7-23.
Frost, Robert, selected poems, from Complete Poems of Robert Frost
(N.Y. 1961), pp. 37, 126-27, 131-34, 152-53, 176-77, 228-30, 275.
Teale, Edwin Way, "The Lost Woods," from The Lost Woods: Adventures
of a Naturalist (N. Y., 1945).
Week 14
B. Mon. Apr. 16: Forest Wildlife, Ecology, Human Interventions. Guest lecture
by Reg Barrett, Professor of Wildlife Biology and Management (ESPM)
N. B. This lecture will take place in 36 Mulford Hall
C. Wed. Apr. 18: American Forest Management and Policy in the Second
Half of the 20th Century
Section:
Tree Trail exercise: meet in ground floor hallway of Mulford hall. Meet back in
section room for last 10 minutes of class time.
N. B. Wednesday 6-7 section do this exercise earlier in the day or on Tuesday.
Readings:
Nash, R. 1968. The American Environment: Readings in the History of
Conservation (Leopold, Marshall, Roosevelt, Fechner).
Pp. 105-109, 121-126, 127-130.
Muir, J. My first Summer in the Sierra. 1911, Sierra Club Books. San
Francisco, CA. pp. 49-85.
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*Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22 – Field Trip to Yosemite*
Week 15
D. Mon. Apr. 23: Art, propaganda, and the American forest. The employment of
art in support of different views of forest conservation.
E. Wed. April 25: Conclusions: The American Forest Today The present
condition and future of the American forest
Section:
1. Recap Yosemite trip
2. Review for Exam
Readings:
Nash, R. 1968. The American Environment: Readings in the History of
Conservation (Ridd, Carson,). pp. 178-183, 197-201.
Robinson, G. 1988. The Forest and the Trees. Island Press, Covelo, CA.
pp. 9-55.
Williams, M. 1989. Americans and their Forests. pp. 446-94; 539-42
(Chap 14 - The Rebirth of the Forest, 1933 and After).
Limerick, P. M. 2002. “Forestry and Modern Environmentalism: Ending
the Cold War.” Pinchot Lecture Series. Pinchot institute for
Conservation., D. C., 25 p.
Nelson, R. 1999. The religion of forestry: Scientific management. J.
Forestry 97 (11): 4-8.
Thomas, J. W. and J. Burchfield. 1999. Comments of the Religion of
Forestry: Scientific Management. J. Forestry 97 (11): 10-13.
Week 16 (April 30-May 4: R&R Week)
Monday April 30 Time and Place TBA:
Student Research Presentations.
***Term Projects are due Wed., May 2 (deliver them to 409 Doe 2:00-4pm)***
*** Final Exam: Group # 17: Friday May 11, 8:00-11:00am ***