THE HUMAN ECOSCAPE: APPRECIATING PLACE, GOVERNING THE COMMONS, AND INTERPRETING LANDSCAPES

Students earning masters degrees at Lewis & Clark College in education and counseling often complete their programs with the interdisciplinary elective, “Ecoscapes.” The course emphasizes ties between people and the landscapes they inhabit by integrating appreciation of place, governing “the commons,” and learning natural history.

One section, formatted as an intense 3-day field study, examines the Lower Columbia River as a commons. (In a commons, either the property itself or the rights of its use are held in common or allocated by the community according to a set of rules.) The journals of Lewis & Clark provide insights into the conditions of people and places along the lower Columbia 200 years ago. Fisheries, canneries, dairies, timber, and recreation have all laid claim to the Columbia as a commons—most importantly, the Columbia River is a navigable waterway that requires maintenance of the shipping channel.

A second, more ambitious section of “Ecoscapes,” again with a focus on water as a commons, features an opportunity to participate in watershed restoration while living with families in the Costa Rican community of San Isidro de Heredia and field study at the Campanario Biological Field Station on the La Osa peninsula. At Campanario, biodiversity is addressed as a commons on a large scale and sea turtle nesting beaches as a historical commons on a local scale.

“Ecoscapes” braids together the voices of writers, economists, historians, and scientists. As Northwest author Barry Lopez instructs, values reside in our sense of place—in the cultivation of local knowledge. Political theorist Elinor Ostrom recounts ways in which different societies have organized governance regimes that avoid the “tragedy of the commons.” Richard White describes how ideas about nature, machines, and people combine through history. Botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer urges attention to how individuals assume roles within a community—metaphorically resembling ecological interactions. “Ecoscapes” combines these authors’ voices, the rich experience of immersion within landscapes, and a deliberate attention to community.