What is NiCHE?

Understanding today's environment demands a clear understanding of its past. Unless environmental matters are studied in their historical context, there can be no measurement of relative change. NiCHE is a confederation of researchers and educators working at the intersection of nature and history who seek to provide that context. And make it available to fellow researchers, policy makers and the Canadian public.

Our mission is to provide a forum for the field and to support collaboration amongst scholars.

In 2007, NiCHE was awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Strategic Knowledge Clusters grant, giving it stable funding through 2014.

Who is NiCHE?

We currently have nearly 300 registered members from around the world. Our members range from environmental historians, to historical geographers, to visual artists and interested students. Joining is free and we encourage interested parties to visit our registration page.

NiCHE is administered by an executive of eight scholars from across Canada.

Two elected representatives support the executive; one each from the New Scholars group and the Regional Networks.

An advisory board of international scholars and government researchers provide strategic advice on the network's development.

What is NiCHE working on?

One of our major goals is to provide relevant news to visitors, as well as a way for members to promote their own news. For more information on this, see our Help section.

NiCHE has organized its efforts along thematic lines. Members of the executive lead NiCHE's six Core Projects which divide the field of environmental history into categories ranging from Early Canadian Environmental Data to Forest History and Transnational Ecologies. These ongoing Core Projects seek to compile and create resources related to their field and make them available to other researchers.

Each year at CHESS - a workshop for graduate students organized by NiCHE - the students elect a new representative who initiates projects aimed at helping students establish themselves in the field. In 2008-09 the New Scholars committee worked hard to create a Comprehensive Exam reading list.

Regional Networks from five parts of our country also receive support from NiCHE. These groups organize events and compile resources relevant to their geographical region rather than purely along thematic lines.

Individual members routinely submit Member Projects. These projects tend to be one-time endeavours that help disseminate, display and mobilize Canadian Environmental History and can take on a variety of forms. Past projects have included an audio-narrative history PEI's back-to-the-landers of the 1970s, a photo-journalistic exhibit of archeological fishing stations along the Newfoundland coast and a monograph that teaches researchers how to use computer programming to their advantage in research.