Article ID: CBB978624329

Valuing Shorebirds: Bureaucracy, Natural History, and Expertise in North American Conservation (2020)

unapi

This article follows shorebirds—migratory animals that have gone from game to nongame animals over the course of the past century in North America—as a way to track modern field biology, bureaucratic institutions, and the valuation of wildlife. Doing so allows me to make interrelated arguments about the history of wildlife management and science. The first is to note the endurance of observation-based natural history methods in field biology over the long twentieth century and the importance of these methods for the persistent contribution of amateurs. The second major line of argument advances the historical significance of scientific, government bureaucracies as sites of natural knowledge production. Historians of biology and ecology have tended to stress scientists with institutional homes in universities, museums, and at land-grant field stations—particularly as various forms of field biology became professionalized over the twentieth century. In contrast, migratory animals like shorebirds, whether under the auspices of the US Biological Survey or the contemporary Fish and Wildlife Service, were primarily studied and conserved by biologists in bureaucratic agencies. Mid- to low-level bureaucrats, along with avocational birders, have mainly been responsible for developing what we know about shorebird migration, behavior, and life history. And third, shorebirds foreground the importance of bureaucratic context for the valuation of nature, from their economic value to agriculture in the early twentieth century to their value as rare, endangered species in the twentyfirst.

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Authors & Contributors
McGregor, Russell
Christian H. Ross
Eyal, Gil
Nicholas A. Famoso
Federico Brandmayr
Elizabeth Varner
Concepts
Authority of science
Expertise
Science and government
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Public understanding of science
Wildlife conservation
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
20th century, late
20th century, early
19th century
Places
United States
North America
Australia
Norway
Japan
Italy
Institutions
Cornell University, Laboratory of Ornithology
Department of the Interior, United States
Cornell Library of Natural Sounds
United States. Department of Agriculture
United States. Geological Survey
Yellowstone National Park
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