Canadian Environmental History at ASEH 2026

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From March 25-28 the American Society for Environmental History (ASEH) will hold its annual meeting in Kansas City.

For your convenience, we present a round-up of all the Canadian content, as well as content being presented by scholars based in Canada. If we have missed your presentation, panel, or roundtable, please leave us a comment or send a message and we will make sure to add you to the list.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

250 Years of (North) American Environmental Histories 1776-2026: Telling New Stories from National, Local, and Canadian Perspectives. 

Thu, March 26, 8:30 to 9:45am, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Hosp.. Suite #211 – Second Floor
Roundtable Presenter: Claire Campbell, Bucknell University

Beyond Bovine Health: Enmeshed Conceptions of Human, More-than-Human, and Ecosystemic Well-Being

Thu, March 26, 8:30 to 9:45am, Intercontinental Kansas city at the Plaza, Pavillion Seven – Pavillion Level
Angus Bisgard Cummings, Montana State University – Bison Consumption: Disease, Race, and Indigeneity at Buffalo National Park

International History and Environmental History

Thu, March 26, 2:15 to 3:30pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Hosp. Suite #217 – Second Floor
Roundtable Participant: Jessica Wang, University of British Columbia

Borderland Animals/Animal Borderlands

Thu, March 26, 2:15 to 3:30pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion Five – Pavillion Level
Will Wright, Augustana University – Of Wolves and Wildlife Corridors: Animals on the U.S.-Canada Border

Ceremonial Ecologies and Indigenous Sovereignty: Cosmology, Mobility, and Power in Early North America

Thu, March 26, 2:15 to 3:30pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion Seven – Pavillion Level
Zoe Packel, William & Mary – Spiritual Currents: Mobility, Cosmology, and Power in Anishinaabe Great Lakes Diplomacy

Histories of Ecological Science

Thu, March 26, 2:15 to 3:30pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion Two – Pavillion Level
Andrew Mitchell Hoyt, Princeton University – Towards a “Science of Surprise”: The Origins of Resilience Thinking in Postwar Ecosystem Ecology

Technological Environmentalisms: Histories of Environmentalist Technologies and Infrastructures

Thu, March 26, 4:15 to 5:30pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion Six – Pavillion Level
Malcolm Sanger, McGill University – Tree Planting Techniques & Technologies 

Friday, March 27, 2026

Healthscapes

Fri, March 27, 8:30 to 9:45am, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion Three – Pavillion Level
Rebecca Kaplan, Oklahoma State University – Viral Space: Laboratory Environments and the Concept of Foot and Mouth Disease Eradication in North America, 1947 – 2024

The Vernacular Envirotechnical: Place-Based Solutions to Environmental Problems

Fri, March 27, 8:30 to 9:45am, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Rooftop Bar – Roof Top
Blair Stein, Grand Valley State University – Moose Glue and Melted Snow: An Interwar Bush Flying Story

Making Meaning out of Mountains

Fri, March 27, 10:30 to 11:45am, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion Two – Pavillion Level
Liza Piper, University of Alberta – Reading the land as primary source: Place-based analysis of industrial histories

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Contested Oceans

Sat, March 28, 3:45 to 5:00pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion One – Pavillion Level
Sarah Pickman, Independent scholar – Floating Fortresses: Project ICICLE and the Defence of the North American Arctic

Responding to Environmental Crises in Africa

Sat, March 28, 3:45 to 5:00pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Pavilion Seven – Pavillion Level
Patrick Chukwudike Okpalaeke, York University – “The Most Important of a Country’s Natural Resources are its Forests”: Unpacking the Ambiguities of Colonial Soil Conservation Scheme in Southeastern Nigeria, c.1935-c.1956

Material Studies

Sat, March 28, 3:45 to 5:00pm, Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, Rooftop Bar – Roof Top
Yu-Han Huang, University of Toronto – Too Salty to Be Concrete: Cold War Housing and Soil-Cement Brick Technology in 1950s Southwestern Taiwan

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Daniel Macfarlane

Daniel is a Professor in the School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability at Western Michigan University. He is an editor for The Otter-La loutre and is part of the NiCHE executive. A transnational environmental historian who focuses on Canadian-American border waters and energy issues, particularly in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin, Daniel is the author or co-editor of six books on topics such as the St. Lawrence Seaway, border waters, IJC, and Niagara Falls. His book "Natural Allies: Environment, Energy, and the History of US-Canada Relations" was published in summer 2023. His newest book is "The Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History" (September 2024). He is now working on a book about Lake Michigan, co-editing a book on the St. Clair River/Delta/Lake, and is planning to eventually write a book on the environmental history of the Great Lakes. Website: https://danielmacfarlane.wordpress.com Twitter: @Danny__Mac__

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