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ETD Abstract Container

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“The Show Windows of a State”: A Comparative Study on Classification of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio State Parks

Bayless, Brittany N.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1143423813

Abstract Details

2006, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, History.
State parks constitute a valuable portion of the United States’ national, regional, state, local, and private lands devoted to the conservation and preservation of nature and American culture. State parks also represent state values through their display of special natural, cultural, and historic characteristics. Thus, it is important to consider how citizens and policy makers value their natural areas at the state level. This study maintains that there are fifty different state park systems in the United States. Each system and park represents different ideals and attitudes toward the use of natural resources and unique wilderness areas. These sentiments convey state and public values of recreational areas. This thesis examines how the creation and organization of Maumee Bay State Park in Ohio, Indiana Dunes State Park, and William C. Sterling State Park in Michigan reflect different state and public sentiments toward the use of natural resources and wilderness areas. This study argues that each state government’s priorities, as transmitted through their representative Departments of Natural Resources (DNRs), shaped the histories of specific state parks. State DNRs hold notions of what a state park should be, how it should be administered, and what its obligations are to the public. These beliefs differ from state to state and are apparent in levels of park development such as landscape alteration, facility construction, and a range of recreational opportunities. To measure differences prevalent in these state parks, this study uses a developmental continuum to classify each of the three parks. This scale not only gauges state views of nature, but land use priorities conveyed by different DNR mission statements and goals. Ultimately, state parks can be classified under one of three levels of development established by this study’s state park development continuum. This classification presents the field of environmental history, which has been dominated by literature on national parks, with new, original work on state parks.
Edmund Danziger (Advisor)
135 p.
History, United States
state parks; environment; united states history; michigan; indiana; ohio; parks; environmental history; department of natural resources

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bayless, B. N. (2006). “The Show Windows of a State”: A Comparative Study on Classification of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio State Parks [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1143423813

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bayless, Brittany. “The Show Windows of a State”: A Comparative Study on Classification of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio State Parks. 2006. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1143423813.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bayless, Brittany. "“The Show Windows of a State”: A Comparative Study on Classification of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio State Parks." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1143423813

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1143423813
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© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.