Algonquin-Adirondacks Connections

Imagine an international zone so fluid that natural species migrate more easily than humans.  It  exists and sits about 50 miles from our campus.  The Frontenac Arch-Thousand Islands terrestrial passage along the St. Lawrence River is where small and large animals, reptiles, and fish annually migrate. The Algonquin-to-Adirondacks (A2A) Collaborative is an undertaking by Canadian and American educators, scientists, and people to enhance biodiversity in this region.  They have plotted an ecological corridor stretching from Algonquin National Park in Ontario to New York’s Adirondack State Park. 

What are the deeper natural and human connections that foreground the A2A concept?  That will be a central question of this seminar.  A particular focus of the material will be the enduring indigenous (Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee) presence and interaction with these ecozones.  Using a chronological approach to the material, we will explore how the region changed as Canada and the United States emerged as individual nation-states between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries?  We will read short academic and news articles, access documentary films and podcasts, appreciate various forms of artistic expression, and likely hear from guest speakers. This course will count for Canadian Studies, and Native American Studies credit.