Nature

In the years preceding the publication of the WPA Guide, Wisconsin natural landscape looked quite different than it does today. The generations of loggers, farmers, and other settlers of Wisconsin had all played a role in the destruction of forests and reduction, and sometimes extinction, of species. This caused the issue of conservation to become one of the key issues that the New Deal sought to deal with. In partnership with other agencies like the CCC, the WPA worked on numerous projects. And, like the creation of the Chute Pond dam, these projects managed to provide recreational opportunities as well as preservation of natural flora and fauna. Looking at the WPA Guide it is clear that conservation and preservation were two of the main influential factors in putting together the guide, back when the guide was originally penned.

Expanding further within the topics of Nature in Wisconsin history, it is important to understand that conservation and preservation have been core themes throughout Wisconsin History. Even today, there are continuous efforts within Wisconsin to maintain different area’s biological integrity and diversity without doing damage to whatever may be living within these environments. There are extreme cases of success of maintaining a biological integrity, such as the efforts made to keep Schmeeckle Reserve as untainted as possible. But, there are also extreme cases of blatant disregard for the environment, like the environmental impact that the buildup of the Wisconsin Dells has had on its area. Continuing to study both of these themes within Nature is just part of how Nature has been a common theme within Wisconsin’s History, and how these themes, as they were expressed in the writing of the WPA, are still relevant today.

The common themes of maintaining biological integrity or blatant disregard is an ever constant changing force just like nature itself. In Wisconsin’s natural history the people experience devastating consequences for the actions they have taken upon their resources. However, in the recent 20th century, redemption has been a new story that has been started to be told among the citizens of Wisconsin. It’s the story of people developing a land, perhaps breaking that land, and then coming up with new thoughts and ideas to try and change that land for the better.

In other words, nature was, in the 1930s and 40s, just as important as it is today. In what many people think of as an uncertain future, where they are left with many questions of where things are going, how will the world change, the WPA guide and its commentary on nature can serve as a reminder of how things were and how, in some cases, the situation has improved. People and nature can and do co-exist.

If the WPA guide was to be officially rewritten — officially reissued and updated to the modern day, the guide would likely include these themes of redemption, as well as making comments on the lessons of conservation and preservation that are still very much applicable.