The Once and Future Great Lakes Country: An Ecological History (Volume 2) (McGill-Queen's Rural, Wildland, and Resource Studies Series)

Neat history of humans in the Great Lakes area. Well researched, with lots of discussion of pre-European human/environment interactions.

This is a unique book covering a wide range of subjects regarding the valuable environmental treasure that is the northSlow reading but well worth it

About the great lakes.

An excellent, well written and thoroughly researched book which should be read by all environmental professionals in great lakes country (i.e. southern Ontario, northern New York, Ohio, and Michigan). The discussion of how this area was shaped by different cultures throughout the millennia is fascinating and sheds a new light on the commonly held idea of the "primeval wilderness" that European settlers faced when they first colonized this part of North America.

This is a beautifully-written book that provides a unique study of the inter-twined ecological and cultural histories of the Great Lakes region since the final advance and retreat of the last Ice Age (approximately 12,000 to 15,000 years ago). The author begins his narrative, by placing his own homestead within a rural township in Ontario. He provides a concise descriptive 'time capsule' of the settlers who have lived on his property since it was first released by the Crown for private ownership back in the 1800s. Then, he widens the reader's view to a nearby cave where an investigation by a small team of professional archeologists yields a collection of pre-contact artifacts, including the bones of an extinct species of pica. From here, John Riley inspires his readers with an even broader view of this geographical region, explaining the cultures of pre-contact native societies, followed by the first European settlers, right up to modern towns and cities. Throughout this written journey, the shifting post-glacial landscapes are juxtaposed with their impacts upon changes in biota, human societies, and vice-versa. I consider this book to be the first complete eco-historical account of the Great Lakes region, and the different species and societies who have inhabited it over the last 15,000 years. John Riley certainly takes the long view, and nothing escapes his astute biological and historical lenses. This book is a 'must read', particularly for people who inhabit this region.

The Once and Future Great Lakes Country by John L. Riley, chief science advisor at the Nature Conservancy of Canada, is a marvelous overview of lands and waters of this vital region of North America. He provides many fascinating bits of information, historical and contemporary, that help the lay person appreciate the historical growth and development of the Great Lakes region, as well as its current ecological health. He has a considerable gift in shaping a compelling narrative that describes the geological and natural history of several thousand years of the Great Lakes, as well as the impact that the various human migrations have had over millennia. One of the most compelling is the contrast between the original forest cover that migrating tribal peoples would have encountered with today’s all but decimated “older” growth forests, which stand in mute testimony to the rapaciousness of modern times. Another fascinating period of history he describes is the native Algonquin and Iroquoian peoples and their land use development of the region in the centuries preceding European arrival that opened up large swathes of forest for cropland and hunting/grazing, and how conflicts between various tribes, as well as the colonial wars (and indigenous population decline due to disease) of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries put much of this developed land out of production for a century and a half, “re-wilding” much of the forest lands, whose remnants we see today. He writes with conviction and from a lifetime of study and I thoroughly recommend his book. (Another helpful book along the same subject, with more focus on the ecological history of the Great Lakes themselves is the Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan.)

This is an excellent exploration of the human and natural history of the region based on a prodigious research project and the review of many original letters and documents. It changed my understanding of the historic landscape and the forces that shaped it. When it comes to the recent past and future, this book includes insight from an insider with a unique perspective gained through many years engaged in land use planning and natural heritage protection. He knew the players and helped shape the future of the region.

If you like history, or ecology, or both and live in Ontario, buy this book now !

I loved this book! Riley takes an in-depth look at the history of the Great Lakes area, specifically the Ontario side - of its land and its people, essentially from about 1500 on.The story of the land is wonderfully told and the reader learns what the Great Lakes Country used to be, how it has changed, and where it's headed. There is one treasure after another of incredible information. Sourcing a plethora of references, from personal journals, first hand accounts, and information he's gathered over what certainly must be a lifetime of passionate work, Riley tells the land's story reliably, and accurately. What a treat that it has been put together so well in this book.John Riley has spent a lifetime learning about the land, the Great Lakes Country, and he shares it with us.Read it, own it, and if it means buying two, share this book!