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Professor Brock teaches undergraduate surveys in modern American history and the history of science. She also teaches specialized undergraduate courses in the history of the field sciences, environmental history, and the history of the American West. She will offer graduate seminars in environmental history and the history of the field sciences. She has particular historical interest in the history of ecology, the twentieth century American West, and the economics of natural resources and land use.
Her forthcoming book, Permanent Forest: Science, Industry, and Wilderness in the Pacific Northwest, explores the tensions at the intersection of the science of forestry and the demands of a growing lumber market in the early and middle 20th century Pacific Northwest.
Current
Activities
My work lies at the intersection of history of science and environmental history. I am interested in the ways in which ecologists and other field scientists affect, and are affected by, the landscapes in which they work.
My current research is particularly focused on the nature of economically-important landscapes, and the way these landscapes are understood both ecologically and economically by the historical stakeholders involved. My current work is on the interactions of forest science, the lumber industry and environmental politics in post-logging landscapes in the twentieth century Pacific Northwest. The desire to create a permanent Douglas fir lumber industry in the region led to demands for workable methods to regenerate forest following clearcuts. The pressure placed upon forest scientists by the lumber industry caused the redefinition of both the profession of forestry and the forests themselves. The result was an increasing gap between wilderness-oriented forest ecologists from more applied, economically-oriented foresters. Likewise, there was an increasing contrast between untouched wild forest from the working forest’s patchwork of tree farms, clearcuts, and regrowth. This divergence has profoundly affected Americans’ perceptions of their forests in both the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.
My other research interests include further explorations of the interaction between specific landscapes and the field scientists who work with them. I plan a study of American field scientists in 20th century Antarctica, focusing on the expression of cultural values in one of the most demanding research settings of modern times. I am also interested in long-term ecological research projects in the twentieth century, and the use of these long-term sites as models for ecological understanding.
Professor Brocks's c.v. is located here.
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