Did Fur Trappers Trigger Landscape Changes?
When 18th-century trappers trekked through the forests of what is now Baltimore, their minds were on money. They collected beaver pelts because the fur fetched high prices from clothing makers in Europe. At the same time, however, their hunting habits may have dramatically changed the landscape, altering the flow of local streams and the mix of vegetation nearby, new research at The Johns Hopkins University suggests. Today, more than two centuries after the decimation of the beaver population, Hopkins scientist Grace Brush is digging into the mud beside Baltimore-area streams to find signs of how humans changed the ecology of a region once dominated by dense forests and meandering waterways. By studying the pollen, seeds, tiny animals and chemicals preserved in sediment, Brush hopes to learn how natural resources were affected by the people who hunted animals, farmed the land and finally turned Baltimore into a bustling metropolis. Her work is a key facet of a new long-term ecological
