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Re: reply to Mizrach
Deward E. Walker Jr. (walkerde@SPOT.COLORADO.EDU)
Tue, 27 Sep 1994 13:22:51 -0600
I have been interested in the ongoing discussion concerning small scale
societies and environmental degradation. For the record, it is possible
to demonstrate archaeologically that tribes of the Columbia River Basin
of northwestern North America were able to maintain a sustained fishery
for at least ten thousand years, whereas that fishery has been virtually
destroyed in less than 100 years by Euroamerican practices. In the
preceding ten thousand years to this virtual extinction of most
anadromous fish runs, tribal populations seem to have varied little. My
question, therefore, is whether economic sustainability of such
environmental resources is a reflection of basic population stability, or
something else such as technological advancement, capitalism, world view,
etc. For me, this debate affects such things as whether rebuilding the
fish runs or attempting to restore other endangered environmental
resources makes sense in the long run.
Thank you.
Deward E. Walker, Jr.
walkerde@spot.colorado.edu
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