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E-book
Author Kinzer, Mark, author

Title Nature's return : an environmental history of Congaree National Park / Mark Kinzer
Published Columbia, South Carolina : The University of South Carolina Press, [2017]

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 308 pages)
Contents Chronology -- Managing the Presettlement Landscape -- First Settlement, Land Clearing, and the Open Range -- The Rise of Plantation Agriculture -- Early Park Plantations -- Reclaiming the Floodplain -- The Location and Extent of Historic Clearing -- Industrial Logging : First Inroads, 1870-1918 -- Logging after 1920 -- Conclusion: The Impact of Human Disturbance -- Appendix A: Selected Floodplain Cultural Features -- Appendix B: Biographical Sketches
Summary "Located at the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree Rivers in central South Carolina, Congaree National Park protects the nation's largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest. Modern visitors to the park enjoy a pristine landscape that seems ancient and untouched by human hands, but in truth its history is far different. In Nature's Return, Mark Kinzer examines the successive waves of inhabitants, visitors, and landowners of this region by synthesizing information from property and census records, studies of forest succession, tree-ring analyses, slave narratives, and historical news accounts. Established in 1976, Congaree National Park contains within its boundaries nearly twenty-seven thousand acres of protected uplands, floodplains, and swamps. Once exploited by humans for farming, cattle grazing, plantation agriculture, and logging, the park area is now used gently for recreation and conservation. Although the impact of farming, grazing, and logging in the park was far less extensive than in other river swamps across the Southeast, it is still evident to those who know where to look. Today Congaree National Park is a forest of vast flats and winding sloughs where champion trees dot the landscape. Indeed its history of human use and conservation make it a valuable laboratory for the study not only of flora and fauna but also of anthropology and modern history. As the impact of human disturbance fades, the Congaree's stature as one of the most important natural areas in the eastern United States only continues to grow"--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on May 25, 2017)
Subject Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- South Carolina -- Congaree National Park -- History
Landscape changes -- South Carolina -- Congaree National Park -- History
Environmental degradation -- South Carolina -- Congaree National Park -- History
Environmental protection -- South Carolina -- Congaree National Park -- History
Nature conservation -- South Carolina -- Congaree National Park -- History
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- General.
NATURE -- Environmental Conservation & Protection.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Infrastructure.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Ecology
Environmental degradation
Environmental protection
Landscape changes
Nature conservation
Nature -- Effect of human beings on
SUBJECT Congaree National Park (S.C.) -- Environmental conditions
Congaree National Park (S.C.) -- History
Subject South Carolina -- Congaree National Park
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2017020426
ISBN 9781611177671
1611177677