How people perceive wetlands has always played a crucial role in determining how people act toward them. In this readable and objective account, Hugh Prince examines literary evidence as well as government and scientific documents to uncover the history of changing attitudes toward wetlands in the American Midwest.
As attitudes changed, so did scientific research agendas, government policies, and farmers' strategies for managing their land. Originally viewed as bountiful sources of wildlife by indigenous peoples, wet areas called "wet prairies," "swamps," or "bogs" in the late nineteenth...

The rural landscape of England and Wales in the mid-nineteenth century is minutely depicted in the large-scale plans and schedules drawn for the Tithe Commissioners. Among other features shown on the maps are field boundaries and rights of way, whilst the accompanying schedules record the names of owners and occupiers, field names, land use and area. The amount of detailed information they provide, together with their uniformity, place the surveys as the most complete record of the agrarian landscape at any period. This book describes the nature of tithe payments, the Tithe Commutation Act of...