Karl Jacoby Crimes Against Nature Summary

One of the important questions that is simple but yet compelling is the question of who actually lived in The Adirondacks, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon before they became national parks in the United States? Karl Jacoby asks this question in the novel Crimes Against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation. Most people would focus on the positive efforts to protect nature in environmental tends but Jacoby examines the negative aspects of how nature was mistreated. In Crimes Against Nature, Jacoby argues that the history of the Conservation Movement has two sides. Jacoby seeks to challenge the traditional history of protection of the environment and nature. Jacoby describes that the narrative of conservation is more
According to the Preface (xvii) of Crimes Against Nature, Jacoby explains his belief of American history as he states “American history is a history that regards humans and nature not as two distinct entities but as interlocking parts of a single, dynamic whole”. Though his ideas have a broad selection, Jacoby constructs his argument on three case studies he has previously done: the creation and administration of Adirondack Park by the State of New York in the late nineteenth century; the federal government efforts to manage Yellowstone National Park through civilian life and military activities between the 1870s and 1910s; and the different protection ideas and efforts at the grand canyon by different public land agencies from the 1890s and 1930s. In each one of these cases, selecting certain boundaries and rules for these areas had consequences for the residents who lived in that area. In Adirondack Park in New York, the mountains surrounded some of the little towns and abutted others meaning a serious concern of limited use of the forest for natural