The Shack Landscape and Its Restoration: A Natural history

Author(s):  
Estella B. Leopold

“The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism,” wrote my father in Round River. As he was hinting, we can locate many of the parts, but how these fit together in the land organism was another matter. Finding the native plant species would be a good start. To reunite some of these came next. The work of our family was creative in its own right: figuring out what conditions these species needed, including by experimentation. Essential to that is appreciating how this landscape got its form—what processes have worked on it and with what results. This much helps us with our understanding of the setting and the soils—what I would call the lay of the land. In the work to restore old habitats and old vegetation types, it is really useful and interesting to know something of the land history, ancient and recent. As Mary Austin wrote, “To understand the fashion of any life, one must know the land it is lived in and the procession of the year.” The Shack experience involved both of these elements. When you live in an area, a natural question that arises is how the landscape got the way it is. What forces shaped it, and over what periods of time? In the Shack area, two different prominent ridges (about twenty-five feet in height) are oriented perpendicular to the Wisconsin River. One is the north-south ridge just west of the Shack—the Sand Hill/Clay Hill ridge. The other is the north-south ridge downstream from Gilbert’s farm; it is the ridge on which the Leopold Center is built. At the point where the river cuts the nose of that ridge (Barrows Bluff) are a great number of large boulders and clay. The Sand Hill site also has an enormous boulder on it. Both have sand on top near the river. I wondered how ridges like these formed in the first place. Then I read the report by Robert Dott and John Attig about the history of the glacial ice lobes in Wisconsin.

1985 ◽  
Vol 24 (95) ◽  
pp. 327-340
Author(s):  
Francis Thompson

The Irish land act of 1881, it is generally agreed, was a victory for the Land League and Parnell, and nationalist policy with regard to the act and the attitude of southern tenants towards it have been many times subjected to detailed examination by historians of this period. In these analyses of the events of 1880–81, however, little reference is normally made to the part played by the different parties and interests in the north of the country. It is often assumed, for example, that the Ulster tenants held aloof from the campaign for reform, lending no more than occasional vocal support to the agitational efforts of tenants in the south and west. Indeed, they were later excoriated by William O'Brien, Michael Davitt and others not only for giving no support to the land movement but also for sabotaging Parnell's policy of testing the 1881 act by precipitately rushing into the land courts to take advantage of the new legislation: ‘that hard-fisted body of men, having done nothing themselves to win the act, thought of nothing but turning it to their own immediate use, and repudiating any solidarity with the southern and western rebels to whom they really owed it’. If, however, northern tenants were harshly judged by nationalist politicians in the years after 1881, the part played by the northern political parties in the history of the land bill has been either ignored or misunderstood by historians since that time. The Ulster liberals, for example, are rarely mentioned, the implication being that they made no contribution to the act even though it implemented almost exactly the programme on which they had been campaigning for much of the previous decade. The northern conservatives, on the other hand, are commonly seen as leading opponents of the bill, more intransigent than their party colleagues in the south, ‘quick to denounce any weakening of the opposition’ to reform, and ‘determined to keep the tory party up to the mark in defending the landlord interest’


Kavkazologiya ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 219-288
Author(s):  
M.A. KHAKUASHEVA ◽  
◽  
L.B. KHAVZHOKOVA ◽  

The article examines some of the issues of the formation and evolution of the genre of the story in Circassian literature. The relevance of the study is due, on the one hand, to the insufficient development of the stated topic, on the other hand, to the need to identify trends in the development of national prose, starting from the problems of its genesis. In the center of research attention is the ideological and thematic orientation of the Circassian story mainly of the initial stage of evolution, i.e. Soviet era. In particular, the author examines the stories of S. Temirov, I. Amirokov, M. Adamokov, H. Gashokov and others, who laid the foundations of the genre in Circassian literature. During the indicated period, the Circassian tale was the first attempt to comprehend the problems of collective farms, youth brigades, the Soviet attitude to work, the range of urgent problems of young people, their aspirations, the formation of the criteria of Soviet morality. It also reflects various aspects of the Great Patriotic War, mainly as a war for independence. The research uses the method of artistic analysis. The results obtained can be used in compiling special courses on Adyghe (Kabardino-Circassian) prose, writing the history of the literature of the peoples of the North Caucasus.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mordechai Cogan

Beginning with the death of David and the rise of Solomon, 1 Kings charts the history of Israel through the divided monarchy, when Ahab reigned in the north and Jehoshaphat reigned in the south. This new translation, with introduction and commentary by biblical scholar Mordechai Cogan, is part of the Anchor Bible Commentary series, viewed by many as the definitive commentaries for use in both Christian and Jewish scholarship and worship. Cogan's translation brings new immediacy to well-known passages, such as Solomon's famously wise judgment when asked by two prostitutes to decide their dispute regarding motherhood of a child: "Cut the live son in two! And give half to one and half to the other." With a bibliography that runs to almost a thousand articles and books, Cogan's commentary demonstrates his mastery of the political history described by 1 Kings, as well as the themes of moral and religious failure that eventually led to Israel's defeat and exile.


Author(s):  
Ben McFarland

The process of scientific discovery is something like a walk near Freswick Castle. I assume you’ve never been there. (Neither have I, but a friend has.) Freswick Castle stands at the end of Scotland’s northeast end, at the mouth of the Burn of Freswick in the district of Caithness. As of this writing, it is unlisted in Google Maps, and I had to manually scan the coast to find it. Outside the castle is a simple, unlabeled structure that doubles as a biochemical parable. The castle itself is narrow and three stories tall, with orange shingles and gray stone, set on an arc of narrow beach between hills to the north and cliffs to the south. The building is approximately the cruciform shape of a shrunken cathedral, with the rightward wing moved to the top of the structure so it resembles a lowercase f. If you wander the grounds near Freswick Castle, you will discover a stone wall in the wind-blown waves of yellow- green grass, worn but still standing firm like Hadrian’s Wall. From above, it is a period preceding the castle’s f. Let’s approach this as a scientist, with measurement. From the castle side, this structure resembles the circular stump of a roofless tower, eight feet tall and twice that wide. The stones are ancient sand, compacted and weathered, stained different shades of red from iron deposited millions of years ago, but the mortar is new. But inspection is not enough—we should go in. Walk around to the other side, and an opening appears, as shown in Figure 2.1. The structure is not a closed circle, but it is a spiral wall open to the sea, and to you. Inside, a small stone bench invites you to sit. A window slit next to the bench is an eye to the outside. Surrounded by a jigsaw of rocks, you can hear the echo of waves all around and watch the blue-gray sky above. If the spiral’s opening is a mouth, then you are Jonah in the whale. You are both inside and outside at once.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2796 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS A. MARTIN ◽  
ZHI-QIANG ZHANG

Nameriophyes sapidae Xue & Zhang (Acari: Eriophyidae) was found on transplanted nikau palms, Rhopalostylis sapida (H. Wendl. & Drude) in Auckland, New Zealand and described as a new species (Xue & Zhang 2008). Although R. sapida is a native plant species, it was not known if this mite species was indigenous or adventive because it was collected only from transplanted palms in unnatural gardens in Auckland. A survey was undertaken of R. sapida and the Kermadec Island palm, Rhopalostylis baueri (Hook. f.) Wendl. & Drude in the northern part of the North Island and Chatham Island.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-65
Author(s):  
M R Hasanov

The Article examines the preconditions of the struggle of the mountaineers Sevres-Eastern Caucasus in the 20-50-ies of the XIX century On the basis of analysis of sources and existing literature reveals the principal causes of the struggle of the mountaineers against the colonial policy of tsarism and the local rulers. It stresses that the dissatisfaction of the highlanders was caused by construction on arable land fortresses, device the so-called fortified lines with the Cossack settlements, permanent mobilization of the local population to build roads, fortresses, requirements, burdensome taxes and the heavy duties and activities assigned to mountain communities and possession of the king's officers and the commandant of managers to intervene in the internal life of the highlanders. The article talks about the brutal repression used by the Royal officials in relation to the unhappy mountaineers - the burning of entire villages, destruction of crops and grain reserves, the destruction of the gardens - all this aroused the indignation of the mountaineers and led to the struggle against tsarist oppression and local feudal lords. The article is subjected to criticism the concept of M. M. Bliev, if the mountaineers lived by raids on their neighbors. His thesis is that in the first half of the nineteenth century the mountaineers have experienced a period of expansion of tribal relations, not only clarifies the issue of their struggle in the 20-50 years of the XIX century, but also confuses the history of the peoples of the region. The publication highlights how local authorities based on the Royal arms, brutally oppressed rank and file of the highlanders, were taken from their last horse or bull, the last under the grain in the tax bill. The article presents material about the ill-treatment of Aslan-Khan Kyurinsky and the other lords with their subordinates. The feudal lords levied a population with taxes and duties at its discretion, enriched by direct robbery. Therefore, according to the article, the idea of anti-colonial protest in the minds of the highlanders were merged with the anti-feudal aspirations.


Author(s):  
Garth Fowden

This book examines history and thought “before and after Muhammad” by offering a new perspective on the debate about “the West and the Rest,” about America's destiny and Europe's identity. One party explains how Europe and eventually North America—the North Atlantic world—left the rest in the dust from about 1500. The other side argues that Asia—China, Japan, and the Islamic trio of Mughals, Safavids, and Ottomans—remained largely free of European encroachment until the mid-1700s, but then either collapsed for internal reasons, or else were gradually undermined by colonial powers' superior technological, economic, and military power. In seeking to overhaul the foundations of this debate, especially as regards the role of Islam and the Islamic world, the book reformulates the history of the First Millennium, by the end of which Islam had matured sufficiently to be compared with patristic Christianity, in order to fit Islam into it. The book draws primarily on Edward Gibbon's account of East Rome and Islam.


1878 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thos. W. Kingsmill

One of the most interesting migrations on record is that of the Yuehti from their old seats in the north-west of China to the site of the Greek kingdom of Bactria. Its interest is increased rather than diminished by the fact that we can trace its origin by the aid of authentic records, as well as from the knowledge that it was but one in a series, the original exciting cause of which still remains veiled in an obscurity apparently only to be pierced, on the one hand, by the geologist who shall work out the changes in the physical geology of Asia, within the human period, or, on the other, by the comparative mythologist, who, placing side by side the myths and traditions of its ancient inhabitants, sees, though dimly, some sort of order rising out of what, at first sight, is a veritable chaos.


2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Liebherr ◽  
Paul D. Krushelnycky

Abstract Mecyclothorax palikea, sp.n. is described from the vicinity of Palikea, southern Waianae Range, Oahu, HI, USA and is assigned to Britton's Mecyclothorax flavomarginatus species group. Cladistic analysis, based on 20 morphological characters and including several outgroup taxa, places Mecyclothorax impunctatus Liebherr of Molokai as adelphotaxon to the other eight species of the group, with subsequent speciation events successively isolating M. sharpi Britton of West Maui versus a clade of seven Oahu species. Phylogenetic relationships among the Oahu clade species posit three historical speciation events vicariating ancestors on the western Waianae and eastern Koolau Ranges. Mecyclothorax palikea is placed as adelphotaxon to M. carteri (Perkins), a species allopatrically distributed to the north in the Waianae, corroborating existence of southern and northern areas of endemism within the Waianae Range. Relative ages of the respective volcanoes housing M. flavomarginatus group species — Waianae (3.7 million years ago), Koolau (2.6 million years ago), Eastern Molokai (1.8 million years ago), West Maui (1.3 million years ago)—imply that ancestral occupation of Oahu by this group occurred subsequent to completion of the shield building phases of Oahu's two volcanoes, Waianae and Koolau. Diversification within the group on Oahu was associated with vicariance events that occurred within a terrestrial environment. Whereas all four species of the M. flavomarginatus group occupying Waianae Range habitats have been observed recently in nature, collection of M. flavomarginatus in 1906 represents the most recent record for any M. flavomarginatus group species in the Koolau Range, indicating the importance of conserving appropriate Waianae Range habitats in order to preserve representative biodiversity in this species group.


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