John James Audubon: An American Visionary

I'm a couple of weeks into my first semester of Vermont College's Adult Degree Program, where I'm finishing a BA in nature writing and environmental studies. This semester I'm doing a study of American nature writers, beginning with colonial times and progressing to current writers, with an eye toward exploring how our relationship with the land, and particularly with wilderness, has changed throughout history. Although my studies won't often have any bearing on what's going on in my backyard, every now and then I'll share something which I may have found to be particularly noteworthy. After all, what are our backyards if not a microcosm of what's happening with the environment as a whole?

Yesterday I came across a particularly poignant passage from a book by John James Audubon called "Delineations of American Scenery and Character." Although best known for his art, and particularly his paintings of birds, Audubon was also a skilled writer:

"When I think of these times, and call back to mind the grandeur and beauty of those almost uninhabited shores; when I picture to myself the dense and lofty summits of the forest, that everywhere spread along the hills, and overhung the margins of the stream, unmolested by the axe of the settler; when I know how dearly purchased the safe navigation of that river has been by the blood of many worthy Virginians; when I see that no longer any Aborigines are to be found there, and that the vast herds of elks, deer and buffaloes which once pastured on these hills and in these valleys, making for themselves great roads to the several saltsprings, have ceased to exist; when I reflect that all this grand portion of our Union, instead of being in a state of nature, is now more or less covered with villages, farms, and towns, where the din of hammers and machinery is constantly heard; that the woods are fast disappearing under the axe by day, and the fire by night; that hundreds of steam-boats are gliding to and fro, over the whole length of the majestic river, forcing commerce to take root and to prosper at every spot; when I see the surplus population of Europe coming to assist in the destruction of the forest, and transplanting civilization into its darkest recesses; when I remember that these extraordinary changes have all taken place in the short period of twenty years, I pause, wonder, and although I know all to be fact, can scarcely believe its reality." (John James Audubon, Delineations of American Scenery and Character, p. 4).

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