Lincoln did one very important thing for what would eventually become a part of “America’s Best Idea”.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Senate Bill 203, on June 30, 1864. The legislation gave California the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove “upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation.”
The Act represents the first time the federal government acted to protect and preserve scenic lands. Conservationists persuaded Senator John Conness of California to introduce a bill to keep Yosemite Valley from being ruined by increasing commerce and tourism.
Thanks, Bryan, for drawing out the living thread that connects these two. It would be nice to know of them conversing on the natural world, but stitching them together with Mallards and Red Admirables is lovely.
Fascinating. I’ve never heard them called Red Admirable, obviously a name that has fallen out of common use. I wondered where Darwin would have seen a Great Egret or Osprey, both, I imagine, would have been very rare then. I wondered about Barn Owl as an alternative?
Alfred Russel Wallace is buried not a mile from where I’m sitting. His grave is something to behold. I still think it was Alfred rather than Charles that should have been lauded for the theory of evolution by natural selection, though, at the time Alfred seems to have been more interested in getting out there and studying in the field.
This is helpful, Jane. This post was a bit of a rush job. So I will correct accordingly today. I think I did indeed mess up on Great Egret and Osprey. Barn Owl was on my list, and perhaps easier to encounter here in the U.S. 200 years ago. They can be scarce now.
I really enjoyed it. I've travelled around the USA quite a bit in the past and loved spotting 'our' wildlife (your pests are now our endangered - from starlings to sparrows). I have to be honest, I've never seen barn owls in the USA (and they're not easy to see here, though are hanging on and increasing in places). I once spent a day watching burrowing owls on a golf course in the Florida Keys (surrounded by iguana, they didn't really stand a chance - god, it's depressing, isn't it!)
Florida defies logic in so many ways. It's has such incredible pockets of diversity scattered around the state, and yet with some of the most oppressive of human impacts anywhere on the continent, to say nothing of its odd politics. Yep, indeed disheartening to say the least.
And I would be moved to my core to be standing beside Wallace's grave. Wow. (It's happened to me here in the U.S. beside the grave of my favorite 19th century naturalist William Hamilton Gibson — a writer and illustrator far too unknown (which I hope to remedy some day).
Thanks for another intriguing post. In the UK we are now in line with the term Red Admiral, abbreviated from the original. Darwin and Lincoln would probably have known the butterfly by those slightly different names. And recognised the foodstuff of their caterpillar, the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).
Oh, darn -- that's too bad. (And let's at least hope that folks in the UK don't replace "bloody" and "blimmin'" with "darn" as an adjective. 😀 Or perhaps I've got those usages wrong as well.) In any event, thanks for the correction, AJ!
What an interesting idea for a book to examine. The whole idea is at least to me, an original one: to explore the linkages between contemporaneous historical figures and the one thing such persinages would haved shared in common- aspects of the natural world they would or might have encountered.
Lincoln is my hero. I think him America's greatest president and as close to a political saint as the country has yet produced. At one time I had at least forty books on him in my library, more than any other president except FDR. The books covered every aspect of Lincoln's life, family and friends, writings, famous speeches, melancholia, rise to power, diplomacy... nothing seems to have escaped the Lincoln historian academy's gaze. Except what you brought forth: his relation to nature.
Maybe there is not enough in the record, or maybe the scholars and admirers didn't consider it important, but I think it's a conspicuous void in the studies of great political figures (although such studies have been done for both FDR and TR.) It reflects our own scale of what's important to examine..our relations to each other and society, Nature hasn't historically been invited to the party.
Adam Gopnik beat you to it: "Angels and Ages: Lincoln, Darwin, and the Birth of the Modern Age." You know, Michael, I admit that I did wonder whether the scholars and journalists were making a bit much of the coincidence here. Would we be comparing Lincoln and Darwin were they born a day apart?
Had I not decided only on Saturday to write this post, I might have unearthed more on Lincoln's affinity to the natural world. Most everyone lived closer to the land 200 years ago, of course, which does lend support to my thesis that — either purposefully or accidentally — Lincoln did share certain wildlife and plant species with Darwin.
Then again, well, nature is what I know — so that was my means of linking the two on their shared birthdays!
By the way, might you send me to at least one of your posts on humanity's temporal range? (I can't recall who, but I read recently of a respectable scholar placing reasonable confidence with another 1,000 years or so.)
I'd be happy to Bryan. But off the top of my head I can't recall ever having the temerity to make a predictions about that. I've written over 300 posts in the last 14 months and something may be buried in that pile, I'll rummage around. If I find something how do I send it to you? I'm woefully un tech-savvy!
This comment supplements the larger one made earlier. I think I will summon up my courage and predict Humanity, as we know it, will disappear within the next five hundred years tops. But won't be entirely gone. Most of its DNA will remain in that of the humans we bioengineer ourselves into.
All.of this is contingent on some catastrophe or calamity not halting scientific progress.
This was great, thank you. One other insect might have been a Wandering Glider, of course (though Darwin wouldn’t have seen it in England but in lots of other places!). I wonder if one saw them in urban areas in the 19th century as often as we do now?
It was the first organism that came to mind! Yeah, they don't typically get as far north as the U.K., but Darwin no doubt saw them in South America, perhaps even from the decks of the HMS Beagle itself. Do they sort of flood into D.C. on "tropical" days there?
Yeah, they do that car thing -- there's literature on this! Having been around in one form or another for about 300 million years, you'd think they'd know a rainpool when they see one. Then again, cars aren't exactly in their genome. And, of course, they'll outlive us and our vehicles anyway. A nice thought!
I’ll have to find the article on the car thing - that’s hilarious. When my mom sees one on her car she calls me and says “one of your friends came by for a visit”! Thanks again for the great piece & enjoy your Monday
This birthday celebration is simply a wonderful speculation to wake up to this morning. Wish I knew more from earlier education. I use the word knew instead of remember, as education was not this thoughtful. Never too late. Hypothetical speculation works for me. Thanks!
Good question! Non-native nectar sources do indeed work for cosmopolitain butterflies. It varies a lot, of course, by species. (Buddleja would be a good example -- attractive to lots of butterflies even if they didn't "grow up" with it.) It is host plant co-evolution (food for the larvae), of course, that's far more critical. I'm not entirely sure those D.C. cherry blossoms are that attractive to Red Admirals, but they are indeed iconic. :-) Thanks, Susan!
What a delightful piece. Thanks for yet another one, Bryan. The coincidence of these two men's birthdays is quite wonderful. I'd also like to respond to Michael's comment about the "conspicuous void in the studies of great political figures" when it comes to nature. This isn't actually the case as it relates to the founding fathers, especially Washington and Jefferson. Relatively recently Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation is a fascinating study of these men and their relationship to nature.
Soooo....this is what I did with your bulleted footnotes. I noticed that Lincoln's mother's maiden name is Hanks. So I immediately, like a school girl, Googled whether Tom Hanks is related to Abe Lincoln. Well, guess what?!!
A skilled surgeon or seamstress can throw stitches which pull the edges of things neatly together. You have done it here with an ease and skill that is an absolute pleasure to behold. Love this!
Lincoln did one very important thing for what would eventually become a part of “America’s Best Idea”.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Senate Bill 203, on June 30, 1864. The legislation gave California the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove “upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation.”
The Act represents the first time the federal government acted to protect and preserve scenic lands. Conservationists persuaded Senator John Conness of California to introduce a bill to keep Yosemite Valley from being ruined by increasing commerce and tourism.
Of course! Thanks, Michael!
Thanks, Bryan, for drawing out the living thread that connects these two. It would be nice to know of them conversing on the natural world, but stitching them together with Mallards and Red Admirables is lovely.
I once wanted to reincarnate Edward Abbey for some sort of fictional (and aspirational) meeting with a more buttoned-down conservationist. :-)
Would love to read that one.
Fascinating. I’ve never heard them called Red Admirable, obviously a name that has fallen out of common use. I wondered where Darwin would have seen a Great Egret or Osprey, both, I imagine, would have been very rare then. I wondered about Barn Owl as an alternative?
Alfred Russel Wallace is buried not a mile from where I’m sitting. His grave is something to behold. I still think it was Alfred rather than Charles that should have been lauded for the theory of evolution by natural selection, though, at the time Alfred seems to have been more interested in getting out there and studying in the field.
This is helpful, Jane. This post was a bit of a rush job. So I will correct accordingly today. I think I did indeed mess up on Great Egret and Osprey. Barn Owl was on my list, and perhaps easier to encounter here in the U.S. 200 years ago. They can be scarce now.
I really enjoyed it. I've travelled around the USA quite a bit in the past and loved spotting 'our' wildlife (your pests are now our endangered - from starlings to sparrows). I have to be honest, I've never seen barn owls in the USA (and they're not easy to see here, though are hanging on and increasing in places). I once spent a day watching burrowing owls on a golf course in the Florida Keys (surrounded by iguana, they didn't really stand a chance - god, it's depressing, isn't it!)
Florida defies logic in so many ways. It's has such incredible pockets of diversity scattered around the state, and yet with some of the most oppressive of human impacts anywhere on the continent, to say nothing of its odd politics. Yep, indeed disheartening to say the least.
And I would be moved to my core to be standing beside Wallace's grave. Wow. (It's happened to me here in the U.S. beside the grave of my favorite 19th century naturalist William Hamilton Gibson — a writer and illustrator far too unknown (which I hope to remedy some day).
Now hurriedly looking up William Hamilton Gibson!
Thanks for another intriguing post. In the UK we are now in line with the term Red Admiral, abbreviated from the original. Darwin and Lincoln would probably have known the butterfly by those slightly different names. And recognised the foodstuff of their caterpillar, the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).
Oh, darn -- that's too bad. (And let's at least hope that folks in the UK don't replace "bloody" and "blimmin'" with "darn" as an adjective. 😀 Or perhaps I've got those usages wrong as well.) In any event, thanks for the correction, AJ!
What an interesting idea for a book to examine. The whole idea is at least to me, an original one: to explore the linkages between contemporaneous historical figures and the one thing such persinages would haved shared in common- aspects of the natural world they would or might have encountered.
Lincoln is my hero. I think him America's greatest president and as close to a political saint as the country has yet produced. At one time I had at least forty books on him in my library, more than any other president except FDR. The books covered every aspect of Lincoln's life, family and friends, writings, famous speeches, melancholia, rise to power, diplomacy... nothing seems to have escaped the Lincoln historian academy's gaze. Except what you brought forth: his relation to nature.
Maybe there is not enough in the record, or maybe the scholars and admirers didn't consider it important, but I think it's a conspicuous void in the studies of great political figures (although such studies have been done for both FDR and TR.) It reflects our own scale of what's important to examine..our relations to each other and society, Nature hasn't historically been invited to the party.
Adam Gopnik beat you to it: "Angels and Ages: Lincoln, Darwin, and the Birth of the Modern Age." You know, Michael, I admit that I did wonder whether the scholars and journalists were making a bit much of the coincidence here. Would we be comparing Lincoln and Darwin were they born a day apart?
Had I not decided only on Saturday to write this post, I might have unearthed more on Lincoln's affinity to the natural world. Most everyone lived closer to the land 200 years ago, of course, which does lend support to my thesis that — either purposefully or accidentally — Lincoln did share certain wildlife and plant species with Darwin.
Then again, well, nature is what I know — so that was my means of linking the two on their shared birthdays!
Be all that as you say Bryan, I still think yours a brilliant idea!
By the way, might you send me to at least one of your posts on humanity's temporal range? (I can't recall who, but I read recently of a respectable scholar placing reasonable confidence with another 1,000 years or so.)
I'd be happy to Bryan. But off the top of my head I can't recall ever having the temerity to make a predictions about that. I've written over 300 posts in the last 14 months and something may be buried in that pile, I'll rummage around. If I find something how do I send it to you? I'm woefully un tech-savvy!
This comment supplements the larger one made earlier. I think I will summon up my courage and predict Humanity, as we know it, will disappear within the next five hundred years tops. But won't be entirely gone. Most of its DNA will remain in that of the humans we bioengineer ourselves into.
All.of this is contingent on some catastrophe or calamity not halting scientific progress.
Bryan, do you or does anyone else know what Bluebirds eat in the winter if they are not feed mealworms by well-meaning Bb enthusiasts?
Thanks!
They eat a big diversity of wild fruits in winter. And they'll indeed find over-wintering invertebrates — spiders, various larvae, maybe eggs as well.
This was great, thank you. One other insect might have been a Wandering Glider, of course (though Darwin wouldn’t have seen it in England but in lots of other places!). I wonder if one saw them in urban areas in the 19th century as often as we do now?
It was the first organism that came to mind! Yeah, they don't typically get as far north as the U.K., but Darwin no doubt saw them in South America, perhaps even from the decks of the HMS Beagle itself. Do they sort of flood into D.C. on "tropical" days there?
They do! They like to act like they’re ovipositing on cars in parking lots and at traffic lights
Yeah, they do that car thing -- there's literature on this! Having been around in one form or another for about 300 million years, you'd think they'd know a rainpool when they see one. Then again, cars aren't exactly in their genome. And, of course, they'll outlive us and our vehicles anyway. A nice thought!
I’ll have to find the article on the car thing - that’s hilarious. When my mom sees one on her car she calls me and says “one of your friends came by for a visit”! Thanks again for the great piece & enjoy your Monday
This birthday celebration is simply a wonderful speculation to wake up to this morning. Wish I knew more from earlier education. I use the word knew instead of remember, as education was not this thoughtful. Never too late. Hypothetical speculation works for me. Thanks!
"Hypothetical speculation" -- maybe I'll even call it a "thought experiment" next time! 😀
The Cherry Trees in D.C. are from Japan. If the Red Admiral did not co-evolve with that tree species, would it be attracted to the nectar?
Good question! Non-native nectar sources do indeed work for cosmopolitain butterflies. It varies a lot, of course, by species. (Buddleja would be a good example -- attractive to lots of butterflies even if they didn't "grow up" with it.) It is host plant co-evolution (food for the larvae), of course, that's far more critical. I'm not entirely sure those D.C. cherry blossoms are that attractive to Red Admirals, but they are indeed iconic. :-) Thanks, Susan!
What a delightful piece. Thanks for yet another one, Bryan. The coincidence of these two men's birthdays is quite wonderful. I'd also like to respond to Michael's comment about the "conspicuous void in the studies of great political figures" when it comes to nature. This isn't actually the case as it relates to the founding fathers, especially Washington and Jefferson. Relatively recently Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation is a fascinating study of these men and their relationship to nature.
Thanks, Cathy! And in particular thanks for the tip on Wulf's book. I read her amazing work on Humbolt, but wasn't aware of Founding Gardeners.
Bryan, today's piece is more whimsical and speculative than usual but no less informative or interesting. Nice to see this side of you in print.
Thanks, Joe! I hope all is going well with the recovery!
I love this idea & your species choices. Encounters with animals like a fox or an egret do have an ageless, universal feel.
As I myself age, I'm also wandering and finding meaning in the little and less obviously charismatic! :-)
They are very charming too!
In return for all your wonderful posts, I thought that every once in awhile a reader can reciprocate with
‘a little gift’ ;
https://fatfinch.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/abraham-lincoln-and-birds/
Soooo....this is what I did with your bulleted footnotes. I noticed that Lincoln's mother's maiden name is Hanks. So I immediately, like a school girl, Googled whether Tom Hanks is related to Abe Lincoln. Well, guess what?!!
A skilled surgeon or seamstress can throw stitches which pull the edges of things neatly together. You have done it here with an ease and skill that is an absolute pleasure to behold. Love this!