Abstract
This Independent Study fosters a dynamic conversation between the communities and stakeholders of Lake Erie, focusing on the cultural evolution, resource exploitation, and conservation practices behind these interactions. This discussion will suggest how to best implement more effective conservation policies in the Lake Erie watershed by examining the importance of the lake to the ecosystem, the relationship between the lake and surrounding communities, and how stakeholder groups propose conservation efforts to the public.
The importance of Lake Erie to the regional environment and hydroclimate cannot be understated. Local communities are not only reliant on the lake for food, water, and recreation, but also its role in maintaining the regional climate and ecosystems. Cultural evolution leads to specific resource exploitation to maintain large populations, in this case, often leading to pollutants entering the lake. Human-sourced pollution dates back to Indigenous agriculture, where archeological evaluations of Indigenous sites and their geologic environments suggest that pre-European contact agriculture would have directly caused an increase of sedimentation in Lake Erie. Today, stakeholder groups hold the power to decide the resource exploitation and conservation efforts applied to Lake Erie. Yet often the communities and stakeholders alike feel their efforts fall short of success.
The contamination of the Lake Erie watershed greatly affects the surrounding communities, not the stakeholders, and yet the communities are not the ones allotted the power to decide the goals of conservation efforts. Theorist, Carol Carpenter, suggests that without the support and involvement of the communities, implementing effective conservation efforts will not often be successful. This conversation will ideally persuade local stakeholders to conduct policy changes regarding their communication techniques and involvement with the populations living in the Lake Erie watershed. Ultimately encouraging stakeholders to place some of their decision-making power back in the hands of the community members and closing the sociopolitical and socioeconomic gaps that are often so prevalent in conservation today.
Advisor
Wilson, Mark
Second Advisor
Brush, Nigel
Department
Earth Sciences; Sociology and Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Tanner, Natalie, "The Coevolution of Humankind and Lake Erie – Past, Present, and Future Interactions" (2024). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 11238.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/11238
Disciplines
Biological and Physical Anthropology | Climate | Environmental Monitoring | Fresh Water Studies | Geology | Hydrology | Natural Resources and Conservation | Organizational Communication | Other Anthropology | Sedimentology | Social and Cultural Anthropology | Sustainability | Water Resource Management
Keywords
Lake Erie, conservation, stakeholders, community engagement, Anthropology of Conservation
Publication Date
2024
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2024 Natalie Tanner