In many ways our task is more daunting than theirs. They rode a rising public tide of environmental concern; they toiled in more optimistic and economically expansionist times than the present; and in "environmental history" they carried aloft a bright new torch. Today, when our commitments are as important as they have ever been, but less fresh, populist aversion to government expenditures, shrinking institutional budgets, a widespread animus toward science, and intense opposition to regulatory restrictions on business and industry threaten both the environment and ASEH. Atop these systemic challenges, ASEH must also address a number of issues specific to the society.

My predecessor, Kathy Brosnan (who has been an admirable steward of the society's interests) sought to address the limited diversity of our membership. Words have been crafted and a new statement on Diversity will soon appear on our website. But we need to go beyond words. Members will soon receive - and be invited to respond to - a report from the Women's Environmental History Network. Please do share your thoughts in ways that will be indicated. We also need to be proactive in making ASEH a place where no one feels less than warmly welcomed. To this end, and others, I aim to encourage the development of regional/ local clusters, of environmental historians and others, to organize activities of their choosing to expand our "base" in ways more welcoming and inclusive than our now-large annual meetings may appear to be. More will be forthcoming on this.

http://www.epaalumni.org/hcp/Overview.pdf

Links to more detailed program-specific essays (air, water quality, etc.) are included in the Overview.

The Report reflects the contributions of EPA alumni who were involved in developing policy. It describes the state of the U.S. environment in the 1960s; the legislative, regulatory, and other actions that were taken to protect and restore; the improvement that has been made; and remaining and evolving issues. The purpose is to provide background for those who were not alive, not aware, or don't remember why environmental protection programs were implemented and what they have accomplished. The Report informs and reminds students, educators, journalists, and other citizens of the national approach to environmental protection over the past half century.

Now that the continuing need for a strong national environmental program is under debate, looking back is even more significant than the authors imagined when they began the Half Century of Progress project.

Additional background on why and how the report was written is available on the EPA Alumni Association website at http://www.epaalumni.org/hcp/ (which itself has a link to the report). We have incorporated comments on previous drafts from a number of educators as well as other EPA alumni. As indicated on the website, the EPA Alumni Association is developing teacher guide materials to use with the report later this year.

We would welcome any comments from ASEH members; send to gamses@aol.com.

Note: Comments on the evaluation of existing EPA regulations can be entered here: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=EPA-HQ-OA-2017-0190-0042&p=1

Philipp Nicolas Lehmann, "Infinite Power to Change the World: Hydroelectricity and Engineered Climate Change in the Atlantropa Project," 

American Historical Review (February 2016).

Eric Steven Zimmer, "Red Earth Nation: Environment and Sovereignty in Modern Meskwaki History." 

Great Plains EH Workshop

Brian Frehner and Kathleen Brosnan are co-PIs for a NSF-sponsored interdisciplinary workshop, "The Great Plains: An Environmental History," May 22-24, in Oklahoma, with participants from North America and Europe.  There will be a live feed of the workshop or interested parties can tweet with  #NSFGreatPlains or #envhist. For the schedule and information on participants, please visit http://history.ou.edu/great-plains.

The Forest History Society's film America's First Forest: Carl Schenck and the Asheville Experiment, produced for public television, claimed a 2016 Midsouth Regional Emmy Award. The film won in the Music Composer/Arranger category, and was also nominated for Best Documentary/History. Jamie Lewis and Steven Anderson of FHS served as executive producers and historical consultants; Jamie also co-wrote the film. Joint FHS-ASEH members Char Miller and Matthew Booker also served as historical consultants.

Jay Taylor received a John Topham and Susan Redd Butler Off-Campus Faculty Award to continue gathering data for the Follow the Money website, which is part of the Spatial History Project at Stanford University's Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis.

Greetings, ASEH grad students. 2017 saw some changes in our caucus: after a number of years of slowly growing, the caucus' work had expanded to the point of not being able to be done by just one person. I applaud both the Herculean task that Rachel Gross had to coordinate all the caucus' various activities, as well as the aseh Executive Committee in recommending that the number of caucus' leadership positions rise from one to three. Temporary presidential appointees Jessica DeWitt and Camden Burd have been instrumental in creating new programs and outreach and in continuing those that previous caucus liaisons and members had already set up.

Theirs is much to be done this summer to prepare for next year's conference. I will be contacting Los Angeles-area graduate programs-not only History departments, but also American Studies, Chicano Studies, History of Science, and Geography departments-to encourage graduate students to submit proposals that will expand the content of the next conference. This month I'll also be soliciting candidacies for the new positions of President-Elect and Media Officer. The two people elected will help coordinate not only the graduate panel at Riverside, but also the Writing Workshop, the Graduate Reception, the Caucus Meeting, and even more prosaic tasks like organizing ride-sharing from LAX, a Happy Hour, and group rooming options. Even if you're not an officer, there are many ways you can be involved-drop me an email if you're interested (znowak@fas.harvard.edu).

The caucus also has several digital initiatives that members can participate in. The first is a monthly blog series between the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE) and Edge Effects. This series, Seeds: New Research in Environmental History, is designed to specifically highlight the research of members of the ASEH grad caucus. Former liaison Rachel Gross and Media Coordinator Jessica DeWitt are now designing a second "Seeds" series. If you have any suggestions for how the grad caucus should use the Twitter account (@ASEHGradCaucus) or if you are interested in helping to run it, please contact Jessica (jessicamariedewitt AT gmail DOT com). Lastly, join the Facebook group for other updates about the caucus.

I look forward to meeting more of you at next year's conference!