Exercise #1: Local Environmental History
Instructions
For Exercise #1, you will bring environmental concepts home by looking at your neighbourhood’s environmental history.
- Using the submission form, post a photo of your area (Google Street View if you do not want to show your home) on this interactive map and explain the ecological history of this space, as per this example.
- Write a 700 to 1100 word of the ecological history of this physical environment, including where applicable: pre-contact use and settlement; wildlife past and present; early settlement and resource extraction; invasive species; urban development; stewardship actions (urban stormwater retention systems; community gardens; composting facilities).
- You must show where you found your information, either through footnote citations or with links embedded in the text, or a combination of both.
- The writing can be informal, as per the Exercise 1 Sample (you may even use first person, which definitely will not fly with your historiography and major essay projects!) but correct spelling and grammar are expected.
- In most cases, given the readily available information online, this exercise need not take more than 6–8 hours to complete. It is meant to help you think historically about your environment—to read it through an ecological lens. If you live in a rural area or small town, you may think that there is less to say than what you read in the sample based on a Vancouver neighbourhood, but this is not the case. The environmental history will be very different, and you might focus far more on, say, the settlement period of the late nineteenth century, or the implications of the introduction of cattle or irrigation and less on events of the 1960s and 70s.
- Please note, you should write and edit your submission in a separate file then copy and paste it into the submission box. Once submitted to the HIST 3991 trubox site, you will not be able to edit your post.
Are you a student of HIST 3991? Click here to add a submission to this assignment.
Submissions
Latest Posts
704McGill Road
March 2, 2026 By:
The area around 704 McGill Road in Kamloops is part of the traditional and unceded territory of the Secwépemc Nation and has a long ecological history shaped by human–environment interaction. Prior to European settlement, Indigenous peoples actively managed the landscape through seasonal movement, harvesting of salmon, roots, and berries, and controlled burning. These practices maintained open grasslands and supported wildlife populations while reducing the risk of large wildfires. During the nineteenth century, European settlement introduced ranching, transportation infrastructure, and new plant and animal species that altered local ecosystems. Grazing changed soil structure and vegetation, while railways and roads fragmented habitats…
New Westminster, BC
March 1, 2026 By: Dustin McColl
The Royal City: An Ecological History of New Westminster I live in New Westminster, British Columbia, a city situated on the north bank of the Fraser River, approximately 20 kilometers east of Vancouver. As noted in The Canadian Encyclopedia by Patricia E. Roy and Erin James-Abra, the city was incorporated in 1860 and is famously recognized as the oldest city in Western Canada. My neighborhood is characterized by a blend of historic Victorian architecture and modern urban density, yet its physical environment hides a complex ecological history of transformation, from ancient old-growth forests to an industrial stump city,…
Pitt Meadows
February 27, 2026 By: Kaiagolab
I live in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, on the traditional territory of the Katzie First Nation, in a landscape defined by water. The Fraser River and Pitt River shape this low-lying floodplain, which was a network of wetlands, sloughs, and salmon-bearing streams throughout history. For Katzie people, these waterways were not just scenery but sources of food, transportation, and cultural meaning. In particular, salmon was the main focus of ecological and spiritual relationships, reflecting a reciprocal system of stewardship that continues today through habitat restoration and Indigenous governance. Colonial settlement altered this ecosystem dramatically. Most of Pitt Meadows was drained…
Juniper Ridge Environmental History
February 23, 2026 By: Clay Roper-Daniels
Dr. Norman Fennema HIST 3991: Environmental History Clay Roper-Daniels Feb. 22, 2026 Exercise #1: Local Environmental History Juniper Ridge Environmental History I live in Juniper Ridge, a hillside community overlooking the South Thompson River in Kamloops, British Columbia. It is located within the traditional and unceded territory of the Secwépemc Nation. Furthermore, the Secwépemc people lived in the region of Kamloops thousands of years prior to European settlement. From the City of Kamloops website, it explains that Secwépemc communities lived in pit house villages during the winter season. Afterwards, during the warmer months, they would move throughout the…
Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond
February 20, 2026 By: JingYuan Zhu
I want to introduce Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond. The park covers 63 acres, with the Salish Sea to the west. I lived and studied in the community just east of the park for two years. Terra Nova’s history shows how a coastal delta nature reserve can change over time, becoming farmland, an industrial area, a park, and part of flood control infrastructure.[1] Before modern development, this coastline was not completely wild. According to the City of Richmond’s heritage inventory, a Musqueam shell midden at Terra Nova is the first sign of human settlement in the area. The inventory…