This course introduces you to the history, present, and future of conservation in the US, the leading thinkers and conservation movements they spurred, the seminal organizations and policies that touch on natural resource conservation, and, most importantly, some time exploring the mountains and communities of western Montana. Montana represents a really powerful contrast with Iowa. Dominated by industrial-scale agriculture, Iowa is among the most human-altered landscapes on the planet and also one of the only states without a federally designated wilderness area. Montana is home to two of the largest and earliest federal land conservation designations in the US park system. Montana is also home to the second largest undeveloped land in the lower 48 states. Both states have abundant natural resources and are home to resource-extractive industries and scattered rural towns.
We will mix daily readings in classical and contemporary writings about conservation with the exploration of the range of conservation designations in the mountain west, including hikes in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area (among the largest wilderness areas in the lower 48), the Great Burn Wilderness Study Area, Glacier National Park and the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness Area (the first tribal wilderness area in the US). We will visit several rural communities and meet with conservation organizations in the Bitterroot and Flathead river watersheds. Evening fireside discussions will give us a chance to reconcile what we read with what we see and hear in our field travels. The last six weeks of the course will be completed online, back in Ames, from August 26 - October 4, 2024.
Course Credits: Course: SOC 234X (3 course credits)
This course was offered in fall 2023 and will be offered in fall 2024.