Biodiversity Research Seminar: Jennifer Bonnell

Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia

This presentation will introduce the context and process for the creation of Bonnell’s book, Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia, published by the Royal BC Museum in Fall 2023, and reflect on some of its key findings.

Spanning the deep history of human relationships with wildlife, from pre-contact Indigenous land stewardship to the present day, Stewards of Splendour explores the ways that scientists, Indigenous leaders, hunter-conservationists and naturalists have contributed to and contested wildlife management practices in British Columbia. Drawing upon historical and scientific literature and over 80 interviews, the book examines the effects of rising scientific understanding and public appreciation for the province’s fish and wildlife and the gradual reclamation of land and management authority by First Nations. With its astonishing biodiversity and unusually high proportion of public land, Canada’s westernmost province continues to carry the greatest opportunities for wildlife conservation and to risk the greatest losses.

Jennifer Bonnell teaches Canadian and environmental history at York University in Toronto. She is the author of Reclaiming the Don: An Environmental History of Toronto’s Don River Valley (University of Toronto Press, 2014) and co-editor of two collections on historical methodology. Her current book project explores the history of beekeeping and environmental change in the Great Lakes Region. For more on her work, visit: jenniferbonnell.com.