The Environmental Pre-History of Prince Edward Island 1769--1970: A Reconnaissance in Force

Academic analysis of the historical interaction between humans and the environment has been extremely limited on Prince Edward Island. The following thesis is one of the first studies to utilize Island Studies research methodologies to examine Prince Edward Island as a case study in environmental history. Prince Edward Island's "islandness" plays a significant factor in this history because any environmental changes are amplified by the compression of the limited geographical area of the Island.The main question revolves around how Islanders' attitudes have evolved toward the environment. Before a conscious environmental movement began in the 1970s, Islanders have had concerns over the environment. These early concerns over the environment generally revolved around conserving natural resources that had economic value as opposed to preserving the environment for the sake of nature. However, there were some surprising examples of individuals who were ahead of their time as far as understanding the importance of preserving the environment. Thus, if such awareness toward environmental issues did not emerge in an organized way until the 1970s, this thesis examines changing attitudes over time, to create a "pre-history" of environmental concerns.The thesis is organized chronologically and thematically. The introduction describes the research method, environmental history historiography, the importance of conservation law in environmental history, Island Studies research methods, and the idea of garden and Eden mythologies effecting legislation on islands. Chapter One reviews the impact of the Aboriginal and French impact to the environment, because their limited footprint justifies why the study focuses on the British Colonial and post-Confederation periods. Chapter Two outlines the impact that the British settlement era had on the Island's environment. Chapter Three covers changing environmental attitudes from the post-Confederation period to the Second World War. The final chapter covers postwar environmental impacts until the watershed of the Comprehensive Development Plan in 1970.The thesis examines the evolution of attitudes toward the environment on Prince Edward Island through one major research method: the provincial government's legislative records. The Journals of the Legislative Assembly provided the bulk of the research material because they contain records of the legislation and government reports. Researching environmental related legislation is often the most fundamental research method in environmental history because it can be used to illustrate when and why humans became concerned for regulating and protecting the environment.This thesis adds to the historiography of Prince Edward Island by expanding environmental history scholarship. Aside from geographies, natural history articles, forestry research, and works by Alan MacEachern focusing on National Parks and the Institute of Man and Resources, environmental history has been limited on Prince Edward Island. However, Prince Edward Island has a long history of trying to protect the environment, which was accelerated by "islandness" and limited geographical area. It is hoped that this thesis will add historical perspective to policy makers working on sustainable development in the future.Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 50-04, page: 2155