One of the things that America has been known for is its diverse and rich ecology. Many still view America as a place with untouched and boundless wilderness, a place where there still remains areas that have not been sullied by human hands. It is true that America has one of the most diverse landscapes of any country, from the deserts of the west to the cold winters of Minnesota, but many do not give credit to the massive ecological changes that have occurred in America in the last two thousand years. Native Americans were not as nonrestrictive in converting their environment as we thought, and few take into account the number of animals and flora fauna that came to America by way of the colonists. Upon noting these changes, one can then take into account the current implications that Native American conversion of nature could mean for environmentalists and environmental problems. .
When I was a child, I remember reading Little House On The Prairie and wondering what a prairie was like. Through the various encounters that the Ingalls had with the Native Americans, I never began to guess what kind of impact their culture had had on the land that was now occupied by "Americans." Lately, I have been surprised to find out that the prairies of America are not as natural as they seem, they were created over thousands of years by annual fires set by the Native Americans to control unwanted undergrowth and trees. .
In Ohio the first white settlers were astonished to find the woods open enough to drive their carriages through, no doubt they thought that god had made it that way for their convenience. But, surprisingly enough, god did not create the forests, nature and people did. As in the prairie of the west, The Native Americans used fire as a tool to keep the forest clear. Over thousands of years the annual burning created an intricate fire dependant ecosystem.
The ecosystems of South America are as dazzling as those of North America, I would even go so far as to call them amazing.
