Nature and Culture in the Northern Forest: Region, Heritage, and Environment in the Rural Northeast

Place as a Catalyst for Engaged Learning at Franklin Pierce University

T he mission of the Monadnock Institute of Nature, Place and Culture at Franklin Pierce University is the study and cultivation of place, a complex and layered concept that includes both physical landscape features and human attachments and emotions. Locations , after all, are not fully places until we are able to reconcile and unify their natural and cultural features into a single coherent narrative. For the faculty and staff involved in the Monadnock Institute, that narrative expands from observations and sensory impressions to scientific research in wetlands and forests, and ultimately beyond to include community recollections and archaeological survey data about past and current inhabitants. This essay attempts to summarize the study of place in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire from three distinct perspectives : Catherine Owen Koning describes her pedagogical approach as a wetland ecologist, Robert G. Goodby applies the study of place to his archaeological fieldwork, and John R. Harris explores the nexus between local natural and cultural history from the perspective of American studies. Place as a Catalyst for Engaged Learning at Franklin Pierce University CatheriNe oweN koNiNg, robert g. goodby, aNd johN r. harris 134 • teaChiNg aNd learNiNg Land and Community as Learning Laboratory CatheriNe oweN koNiNg When I joined the executive committee of the Monadnock Institute in 1996, I envisioned a regional resource that would shed light on the importance of local places by educating people about the ecological and cultural history of the buildings, forests, fields, and farms of their home towns. My thinking was focused on how the Institute might serve the local community in the broadest sense of the word—the community of Aldo Leopold’s definition, meaning the land community of earth and all of its living inhabitants. From the outset I hoped that these connections would change people’s behavior so that careful stewardship and a deeper land ethic might emerge. In fact, my involvement with the Monadnock Institute has transformed my academic perspective and my pedagogy. Creating the personal links I was hoping to foster in others has changed my teaching, research, and understanding of community. As a result, I have been able to enrich my students’ appreciation of their locale, deepen their intellectual understanding of the relationships between humans and nature, and strengthen their personal connections to the community. Franklin Pierce University’s Rindge campus sits on 1,200 acres of forest, wetlands, fields, and streams, which provides ample opportunities for students to learn the ecology of the area. This outdoor classroom is diverse, and faculty in environmental science, biology, and geology are able to illustrate the idea that every acre of forest is not the same as every other acre. Through repeated field trips to different research sites, students come to understand that the plants and animals that are found are distinct and that their presence is based not only on subtle physical site characteristics such as soil, topography, and sunlight but also on complex historical factors —human impacts and the effects of nonhuman species as well. My pedagogical approach in our outdoor “learning laboratory” is multidisciplinary . I often begin by asking students to observe and record specific data, species, or phenomena, through journals and sketches. They in turn ask questions about the structure and function of the area they are observing, questions that can only be answered by relying on both the scientific method and detailed historical research. This multidisciplinary approach spirals through all of the environmental science classes, building on knowledge from previous classes. plaCe as a Catalyst For eNgaged learNiNg • 135 Places off the university property also provide fertile ground for teaching about the interactions between nature and culture. For example, in the Introduction to Environmental Science course, which includes a “Population Growth and the Local Landscape” lab, students take a tour of the town, visiting places that illustrate a certain era in history, from pre-European settlement to today. At each stop, I provide information on how inhabitants lived on the land at that time, and I ask students to consider what kinds of impacts these people likely had on the landscape. This exercise incorporates basic information about population growth and allows students to consider the factors that influenced birth rates and death rates in the town of Rindge throughout its history. Although our location in rural New England makes this an ideal activity, it could be modified to apply almost anywhere. There are stops that represent the native Abenaki period...