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"Wilderness" and the Evolving American Mindset

September 15, 2008

In his article, “Wasty Ways”: Stories of American Settlement, Alan Taylor offers a unique viewpoint on the deforestation and species devastation that characterized early frontier America. While settlers on the frontier are often denounced for excessive manipulation and exploitation of the environment, Taylor contends that these actions represented reciprocity for the hardships nature had previously inflicted. Europeans and wealthy Americans had the luxury of condemning atrocities against nature because they lacked the memory of a wilderness that had only recently been a superior adversary. Those settlers who endured the wrath of nature instilled in their children their sense of accomplishment and the virtue of conquering the wild.

Early settlers on the American frontier faced innumerable dangers during their long and arduous efforts to transform the forests into farmland. These challenges often resulted in hunger or death and left settlers feeling “threatened and often overmatched by their new environmental setting” (181). Those who were able to shape the landscape and survive harsh winters had their subsistence and livelihoods further endangered by large predators such as “bears, panthers, and wolves who threatened the domesticated livestock and plants” (182). When these and other threats were overcome, settlers claimed victory over nature and proceeded to act as vindictive conquerors, exploiting the land that had opposed them.

This wanton domination and destruction of nature was not without reproach, however, even during the time of new settlement in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Prominent writers and powerful citizens like James Cooper of Cooperstown, NY condemned the abusive actions of the settlers and expressed shock at their utter disregard for the value of wilderness. Taylor, however, while not challenging the deplorable destruction of nature, describes Cooper as an “elitist” and explains that “by exploiting nature’s bounty, settlers meant to transform the conditions that entailed their hardships” (187). Furthermore, it was prosperous people who “felt little pressure… to forsake the comforts of an old community” that would leave the “rigors of a new settlement” to “relatively poor families” (183).

Successive waves of settlers would seek to leave their communities and secure their own piece of land as payment for a battle waged with the wilderness. As the wilderness retreated, however, these battles would become less severe until there came a time when there was little justification to abuse the landscape that had succumbed so easily. There eventually came to be an understanding that our destruction of nature was more threatening to our safety and prosperity than the dangers that lurked in the forest.

For subsequent generations of Americans, including my own, nature has come to be perceived as a vulnerable victim, rather than an imposing oppressor. The balance of power has shifted to the point where humans have nearly limitless ability to alter the natural environment in the short term. With the destructive force of man only now being fully realized, it’s becoming clear that our greatest challenge is to have as little impact on wilderness as possible.

Filed under: Perspectives on the Environment