The Flora and Fauna
- 612 threatened/endangered species in North America
- 746 endangered plants
- 18,000 BP - Wisconsian Ice Sheet at maximum
- ecotones
- antelope, mountain lions, moose, bears, camel, bison
- 10,000 BP - Holocene
- forests expand, cover almost half of country
- aridity of Southwest region
- 8,000 BP - Archaic cultures
- by 1492, activity of First Peoples had modified landscapes
- Great Plains
- expanse of short grass and long grass plains
- FP had been hunting bison here for more than 8,000 years - "longest sustained human lifeway in North American history"
- 2,500 BP
- Indigenous agriculture so extensive that it modified soil and landscape, "fundamental biotic change"
- Birds, fur trade from Euro-American intervention continue to change landscape
- By 17th century, Native way of life changed by Euro-American influence - domestic livestock, technology, alphanumeric literacy, Christianity
- Tribal community of 1,000 could have as many as 20,000 horses
- Horses provided means for trading items for things like weapons
- No one really tried to set up settlements in Coastal NW regions, compared to Great Wall
- Timber harvesting not significant til late 19th century
- Great Plains deemed uninhabitable by white people
- Bison suffered greatly, lost 99% of their land
- Floristic Province
- hydraulic mining ruined salmon runs
- 50-90% of California's grasslands Europeanized by introduced plant species
- Pacific Northwest
- Beavers being exterminated to sell their pelts to Europe
- 94% grasslands and 97% wetlands have been converted into farmland in Palouse region
- Gold and commercial logging
- Americans Start to Get their Shit Together
- 1872 - Ulysses S. Grant creates Yellowstone National Park, first ever nature preserve
- 1900 - Lacy Act to protect wildlife
- case number CA121278265
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