Cronon 6
changing use of the land
- forests grew more dense when Indian populations were
reduced by disease and Indians set fewer fires
- settlers cleared land of forest for agriculture and for
wood
- the European settlers wanted their new
home to look like the home they had left behind
Timber was free for the taking but had to be sawed and
shipped
- wood already cut for construction use or barrel staves
had enough value to ship
- tall straight trees for masts were very valuable, so much
so that the English government tried to control their cutting
in the colonies
- different kinds of trees yield wood useful for different
purposes, so some trees were cut and others not
- wooden shingles were used around New England for roofs
and often for exterior walls
- lumbering moved further from the coast as coastal regions
were cleared
Settlers were aware that they were changing the environment
and there were some proposals for conservation
- but they also saw particular kinds of forests as signs of
the best land for agriculture
- those forests built up soils, but without the trees the
fertility of the soil could be used up
clearing forested land to plant crops was terribly hard
(read James Fenimore Cooper, The
Pioneers)
- cut down all those trees, or girdle them so they die
- an improved
axe was one of the most important American
inventions--allowing trees to be felled three times faster
- how to get rid of the wood you don't need? If you are
near to a town or river you can sell it, but if farther away
it is too expensive to ship
- so instead the settlers burned the dead wood
- the ashes fertilized the soil or could be sold for potash
and lye for making candles and glass
- work around the stumps
- land was full of rocks you remove
Ecological impact of large-scale clearing of forests