William Bartram and the Nature that Could Have Been
Two hundred fifty years ago, on the eve of the American Revolution, William Bartram, the young naturalist, illustrator, and observer of indigenous customs traveled the Southern backcountry in search of species new to science. His journey was a rich and rhapsodic description of nature and of landscapes largely undisturbed by colonial settlers, though on the eve of great change and upheaval. The result of his journey, the 1791 publication TRAVELS, is a beautiful rendering of the plant and animal world, and a vivid account of native American villages and people, providing us with a baseline of ecological conditions at that time. WILLIAM BARTRAM AND THE NATURE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN is a look back at the nature described by Bartram, as well as the vast changes and seemingly irreversible damage inflicted upon the American landscape since that time. It is a reflection upon the choices made by a new country that diverted from Bartram's view of nature and the holiness that was imbued within it, and that instead chose a more utilitarian, extractive, and exploitative path that inflicted irreversible damage to many species and landscapes visible to this day. At its core, it is lamentation, but not without hope. Art and efforts to conserve and restore are alive within these Bartram landscapes today, and Martin offers readers a glimpse into these efforts, as well as some insight on how we might move forward towards recreating landscapes and places that still inspire and offer hope for the nature that remains and that can be.