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Boreal Forest Hazards and Adaptations: The Past

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Boreal Forest Adaptations

Abstract

With the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, northern forest Algonkians1,* were plunged into a caldron of change. Though their lives and societies were forced into new channels, the natural environment was little altered, and we see in their struggles to adjust a mix of ancient hunting and gathering tactics with new needs and economic considerations. In this chapter, I will examine the varieties and magnitudes of problems confronting northern forest natives from first European impact until the end of the 19th century. Because there is some homogeneity of both environment and pattern of change, the zone covered will include northern New England as well as the St. Lawrence River—Great Lakes axis with its northern hinterlands. This area is mostly boreal forest, but some of the data employed derive from marginal areas of mixed boreal—deciduous woodlands.

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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York

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Steegmann, A.T. (1983). Boreal Forest Hazards and Adaptations: The Past. In: Steegmann, A.T. (eds) Boreal Forest Adaptations. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3649-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3649-5_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-3651-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-3649-5

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