The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History edited by Andrew C. Isenberg

Review of Andrew C. Isenberg\u27s The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History

The Cultural Politics of Canadian Land Trusts: Exploring the Ethos and Structureof the Social Economy as Articulated Across Protected Private Lands

This paper examines the emerging structure and culture of Canadian land trustorganizations that set aside private land for conservation purposes. While a numberof researchers in both the US and Canada have viewed land trusts as privatizedconservation mechanisms, a closer examination of their social, economic andecological objectives demonstrates that land trusts inhabit the space between thepublic and private sector in a manner characteristic of social economyorganizations. However, a comparison of the structure and ethos of the Canadian landtrust movement to the ideals embraced by the social economy sector reveals thatwhile land trusts have many of the foundational elements of the social economy, theyneed to engage more consciously and broadly with civil society if they are to fullyfulfill their conservation and social mandates.Ce document de recherche traite de la naissance de la structure et de la culturedes fiducies foncières canadiennes qui réservent des terres privées à des fins deconservation. Un grand nombre de chercheurs, aux États-Unis comme au Canada, ont vules fiducies foncières comme des mécanismes de conservation privatisés, mais unexamen plus minutieux de leurs objectifs sociaux, économiques et écologiques montrequ’elles occupent l’espace entre le secteur privé et le secteur public d’unemanière caractéristique des organisations de l’économie sociale. Toutefois, si l’oncompare la structure et l’éthos du mouvement des fiducies foncières canadiennes auxidéaux adoptés par le secteur de l’économie sociale, on constate que, même si lesfiducies foncières possèdent un grand nombre des traits fondamentaux de l’économiesociale, elles doivent s’engager consciemment et plus largement dans la sociétécivile pour remplir leur mandat de conservation et leur mandat social

Landscape-Scale Prioritization Process for Private Land Conservation in Alberta

There are 12 conservation land trust organizations (CLTOs) in the province of Alberta, Canada that actively steward land. Together they have protected over 1.09 million hectares of land. Using in-depth interview data with published documents on CLTOs, this paper examines how CLTOs make decisions as to which projects to pursue and the kinds of justifications they offer for the projects they have completed. We identify 13 aspects that such a decision-making process should contain. The CLTOs studied have, to some degree, incorporated 7 of them. The remaining 6 aspects could easily be contributing substantially to some of the main the challenges identified in both the literature and our own research regarding private land conservation. Consequently, we recommend developing a robust landscape-scale approach to private land conservation, communicating that approach to all CLTOs, and increasing cooperation among CLTOs and between them and government. Keywords Private land conservation . Land trusts . Alberta . Landscape ecology . Conservatio

Fish Eating Birds Can Spread Bacterial Diseases Between Catfish Ponds

Severe outbreaks of Motile Aeromonad Septicemia disease in commercial catfish aquaculture ponds have been associated with a virulent Aeromonas hydrophila strain (VAh) that is genetically distinct from less virulent strains. We demonstrated that Great Egrets (Arde alba), Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus), American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), and Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) can carry and shed viable VAh after consuming fish infected with Vah. Edwardsiella ictaluri and E. tarda are considered the primary species of Edwardsiella to cause disease outbreaks in North American catfish aquaculture. Genetic analysis has determined that most isolates designated as E. tarda were actually a new species, E. piscicida. There has been an increase in E. piscicida diagnostic cases in recent years possibly due to an increase in hybrid (Channel x blue) catfish production. We conducted a study to determine if Great Egrets (Ardea alba) shed viable E. piscicida when fed catfish infected with the bacteria. Great Egrets fed infected fish shed viable E. piscicida bacteria for multiple days, (Table 1), after last consuming infected fish on day 2 of the study. Great Egrets in the control group did not shed the bacteria. Given that Great Egrets can shed viable E. piscicida after consuming diseased fish, we hypothesize that they could also serve as a reservoir for E. piscicida and could spread the pathogen while predating fish in catfish ponds. Additional research is needed to determine if this shedding could cause disease in these ponds

Conservation Land Trusts in Alberta

This presentation to the 2009 symposium of the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA) reports on the results of BALTA related research into land trusts, specifically an examination of conservation land trusts in Alberta, Canada.BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA) ; Athabasca Universit

Potential of Double-crested Cormorants (\u3ci\u3ePhalacrocorax auritus\u3c/i\u3e), American White Pelicans (\u3ci\u3ePelecanus erythrorhynchos\u3c/i\u3e), and Wood Storks (\u3ci\u3eMycteria americana\u3c/i\u3e) to Transmit a Hypervirulent Strain of \u3ci\u3eAeromonas hydrophila\u3c/i\u3e between Channel Catfish Culture Ponds

Aeromonas hydrophila is a Gramnegative bacterium ubiquitous to freshwater and brackish aquatic environments that can cause disease in fish, humans, reptiles, and birds. Recent severe outbreaks of disease in commercial channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) aquaculture ponds have been associated with a hypervirulent Aeromonas hydrophila strain (VAH) that is genetically distinct from less virulent strains. The epidemiology of this disease has not been determined. Given that research has shown that Great Egrets (Ardea alba) can shed viable hypervirulent A. hydrophila after consuming diseased fish, we hypothesized that Doublecrested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus), American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), and Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) could also serve as a reservoir for VAH and spread the pathogen during predation of fish in uninfected catfish ponds. All three species, when fed VAH-infected catfish, shed viable VAH in their feces, demonstrating their potential to spread VAH

The Redneck Underbelly: The Alberta Advantage and the Cycle of Boom, Bust and Echo! Co-Presented Paper with Gloria Filax at the 6th International Conference on the International Council for Canadian Studies, May 27-29, 2008, Ottawa, ON

It was a small but wonderful conference. I chaired a session on environmental issues that attracted a good crowd of about 20 people for the four presenters and resulted in much lively discussion. My session also had four presenters , which made for a very tight timeline, and two of us did more political papers and two had more cultural topics, so there wasn’t a thread that connected us all. Noetheless, there were some great questions directed my way and I was able to meet some very interesting people who do regional work similar to that which Gloria and I have done on Alberta – which this paper focuses on. I will follow up with the few people who I met and have already sent out the paper for informal review to assist me in getting it published.A proliferation of popular and academic books and articles has appeared over the past few years focused on Alberta. The celebration of Alberta’s centennial as a province within Canada, the current economic boom, and the election of a conservative prime minister whose home base is Alberta, has been the impetus for many to reflect on the transformations within Alberta over the past hundred years, the kind of place Alberta has become, and where it is headed (Collum, 2005; Ford, 2005; Lisac, 2004; Payne, Wetherell & Cavanaugh, 2006; Sharpe, Gibbins, Marsh & Bala Edwards, 2005). While an image of gun toting, truck-driving, Christian, white, male rednecks often inform the popular sense of Albertans, a highly sophisticated, busy workforce drives the province’s rapid economic growth. Human expertise combined with vast reserves of oil and gas that lie within the Athabasca tar sands are responsible for making the province into what some call “Saudi Alberta,” with all the riches and exotic lifestyle that this representation evokes (Nikiforuk, 2006). Alongside this, the province promotes what it calls the Alberta Advantage: Albertans have the highest disposable income, the lowest unemployment rate, the lowest taxes, no provincial debt, an abundance of natural resources and, if this isn’t enough, a beautiful natural environment (Government of Alberta, 2006). Yet, the view that Albertans are white, Christian, rugged individuals concerned only with entrepreneurialism, resource development, and continual growth is only one story among many about Alberta and the people who live there. Many in Alberta resist what they view as excessive resource extraction and a business ethos based on market solutions to everything – economic or otherwise; not everyone in Alberta agrees with what has been called the Alberta Advantage and questions who and what is advantaged (Harrison, 2005; Laxer & Harrison, 1995). This paper will examine the effects of the recent economic boom in Alberta in terms of its impact on the environment and social cohesion. Based on research arising from a larger project which is broadly exploring Alberta culture, in this paper we will examine two specific case studies: the recent proposals to develop a huge electrical transmission line across Alberta to feed American markets, and housing and homelessness in the province. Although these two case studies may at first appear unrelated, we will discuss how many of the same themes/discourses related to Alberta culture, politics and history connect them. Our interest is in speaking to some of the dominant discourses that support provincial policies that fail to deliver the “Alberta Advantage” to many of its citizens

Wild Imaginings: Discourses and Representations of Nature from the Alberta Report

This was the one published in the final conference materials. I presented at the conference (full presentation attached) and it was well received, and chaired another session, and I am currently working on turning that presentation into a publication.Alberta Report, founded by ultra-conservative Ted Byfield, was a weekly publication that espoused political and social conservatism and provided a training ground for a generation of conservative journalists. Byfield saw his magazine as way to combine his love of the news business with his desire to proselytize and he used the magazine as an opportunity to rail against various political initiatives and groups. Nonetheless, according to the Alberta Online Encyclopaedia, it was arguably one of the province’s most important publications in recent years. Byfield was an early champion of causes that have since become much more main stream such as: balanced budgets, back-to-basics education and tougher sentences for young criminals. Copies of AR were provided free of charge to schools, libraries and many businesses and were found in the offices of every provincial government department, banks and most other large-scale institutions. The result was that for 30 years AR had considerable impact on discourses about social values in Alberta. In this presentation I will provide an overview of some of the common discourses and representations of nature that were featured in AR over its thirty year run as a lens to provide a unique understanding of environmental politics in Alberta.Academic & Professional Development Fund (A&PDF

Articulations of Wild Rose Conservation: The Land Trust Movement in Alberta

I presented and chaired my session; four participants, there was a lively discussion after all the papers.The accelerating fragmentation of landscapes across Canada and their conversion into industrial, residential and recreational uses has sparked growing concern about how these areas might be protected from intensive and extensive development. Decreased public expenditures for conservation purposes and disappointments with state-led land protection efforts has resulted in a greater focus on private sector solutions, and out of this has emerged an increased interest and expanded provision for land and water protection through land trusts. Over the past two decades, land trusts have become one of the fastest growing segments of the conservation movement in Canada, whereas in Alberta it is only in the last decade that there has been much activity and growth in the numbers of land trusts. While at first glance some have viewed land trusts as privatized conservation mechanisms (McLaughlin, 2006; Stephens & Ottaway, 2003), a closer examination of their social, economic and ecological objectives indicates that in a manner characteristic of social economy organizations, they inhabit the space between the public and private sector. Drawing from interviews with more than a dozen individuals involved with land trust organizations, I explore the land trust movement in Alberta. I introduce the concept of the social economy as a means of exploring the brand of conservation that is unfolding in Alberta as result of the growing popularity of these private-sector conservation solutions