Graphic: Mankato's Ashes

This graphic is from the City of Mankato. It marks a boulevard ash tree with a green line. All the green lines are placed on a map of Mankato's streets and buildings. In total there are about 2,400 green lines on this map. Note that this does not account for all the trees in the city—just the boulevard ash trees, which the city has planted. The amount of ashes planted on private property and public parks is certain to be 5 or 10 times the amount on the boulevards.  

Of course, the map is hard to read. The lines create a green tint to the map from a distance. Close up, it is hard to tell where the trees are, especially when the street runs parallel to the direction of the line markers. 


The density of monoculture planting is evident in a closeup of Balcerzak, seen below.

That's a lot of ash trees! The lines make this seem more like a computer score card than an information graphic though. Another representation, made from the same source of information, from the Mankato Free Press looks much better because it maintains a stronger figure-ground contrast and it "tames the grid" as Edward R. Tufte would say.

Article: Property Owner's Relationships With Land

McNeil, Claire. "THIS LAND IS OUR PLACE: PROPERTY OWNERS’ RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE LAND IN THE GREATER PARK ECOSYSTEM OF ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK." Thesis. McGill University, 1997. Royal Roads University. Royalroads.edu 2009.

Article: Conservation Writing

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard and Lawrence Morgan. "Conservation Writing: An Emerging Field in Technical Communication." Technical Communication Quarterly. 18(1) 9-27. 2009.


This article argues for a new category of genre in technical communications. Because of the past writing and the future need, the authors argue that conservation writing should be taught in technical communications departments as a form of technical writing. 


As technology continues to become more advanced, studies on the environment continue to become more detailed and intertwined with other aspects of ecology and global urban life. I can see how the authors expect this form of writing to advance. Indeed, many of us need a concise, simple description of the advanced, detailed environmental problems, such as climate change, because they—or their study methods and implications—are too detailed for us to understand.


The authors lay out their argument through a literary study. They make a quick case in the introduction for how conservation writing shoots the hole surrounding emotional nature writing and ultra-logical science writing. Conservation writing does both, they argue, but never so much as to be extreme or leave out emotional impact. 


They seek to convince the audience through a dense literature review of past conservation writers and new genres which have emerged. The lists are not complete lists, but good examples from different eras.


However, they offer no theory to back their claim of new genres. In fact, I believe Caroline Miller dismissed one of their claimed genres (the environmental impact statement) on the claims that the content was just too diverse, I can't recall the specific article, but I think it was in the early 1990s. 


Also, should we in the technical communications field look to create curricula when the jobs aren't present to support the finished degree? What good is it to engage 200 students in a genre, have them graduate only to find they have to hold a degree in biology in order to get a job with the company (or government agency) that disseminates the genre? The authors make no attempt to discuss these questions, they only suggest we start teaching before technical communications misses the bus.


Here's a breakdown of the article.


Introduction 


The authors show why much of the public has a new, pro-conservation attitude about the environment. They state their three goals:

1. "Offer a history of conservation writing in order to define it as a field of technical communication."
2. "Describe the most common genres and conventions in this emerging field."
3. "Offer strategies for bringing conservation writing into the technical communication classroom and building new curricula around it" (10).

Context 

• History of Conservation Writing. "Conservation writing is an umbrella term for a range of writing about ecology, biology, the outdoors, and environmental policies and ethics" (10). Although conservation writing shares concern for ecology as nature writing does, and shares emphasis on evidence as science writing does, it differs from both in that it is pragmatic and calls the audience to action.
• The authors provide a quote from Luke Wallin's book, Conservation Writing, which mentions audience awareness. 
• History
• Early 1800s: Gilbert White, William Bartram, John James Audubon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. While not all the works by these authors can be considered conservation writing, several should be, such as Nature and Selected Essays by Emerson and Walking and Walden by Thoreau; because they argue for a change in the way we act toward the environment.
• Late 1800s: George Perkins Marsh, John Burroughs, and John Muir. These authors expressed "concerns about the environmental destruction caused by rapid expansion into the Western United States and the industrialization of the Eastern United States" (13).
• Early 1900s: Conservation Clubs, President Theodore Roosevelt, and the Antiquities Act. The clubs promoted conservation writing in their pages, President Roosevelt wrote a book promoting conservation, and the Antiquities Act created new conservation genres, "such as natural histories and technical descriptions" (14). Soon colleges created extension services and more conservation writing ensued.
• Mid 1900s: Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson. These two writers made strong cases for ethical use of land and pest treatments. They both wrote with care for the ecology and a core of knowledge about the environment.
• Current: Federal Conservation Writing and Contemporary Conservation Writing. While the government demands many types of writing today, other authors such as Terry Tempest Williams and John McPhee have continued to open the genre Carson and Leopold made more popular. Even Albert Gore got in on the action.
• Genres of Conservation Writing
• Natural Histories
• Feature Articles and Essays
• Analytical Reports
• Technical Descriptions
• Environmental Impact Statements
• Grants
• Brochures, Handouts, Websites
• Newsletters
• Natural Resource Inventories
• Environmental Management Plans
• ISO 14000 Environmental Management Systems

Teaching Conservation Writing

• The authors outline what they can do to "prepare students for this emerging field" (21).
• Learn about biotechnology and conservation issues.
• Practice writing in the genres.
• Learn conservation laws.
• Create service-learning projects.
• Learn about other writers in conservation and politics.

Conclusion

The authors conclude by mentioning again that the field of conservation writing will only increase. They stress how important it will be for students to connect clear information with a variety of audiences.

Graphic: Ash Tree Quantity in Great Lakes States

This graphic by Kevin Hall displays the quantity of ash by county across the northeastern and north central United States. With a quick glance, the readers establish a high concentration of ash in Minnesota, New York, and Maine. 

While the graphic makes it appear Minnesota has the highest concentration, this is only because of the larger counties (St. Louis County is one of the largest in the nation). Maine has the largest concentration of ash trees in the United States.

The small grey lines show the general quarantine of the Twin Cities, which is now a general infestestion. 

 Hall, Kevin G. Star Tribune. 2 June 2009

Narrative: Finding the Beast

When I made it to the shop on the day in early April 2009, my fellow coworkers were shouting out the news.

“It is here! The bug has landed and it is going to change everything!”

I rushed to tell them I had seen the news the night before, when the Minnesota Department of Agriculture confirmed Emerald Ash Borer’s presence in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. One of our own co-workers at Rainbow Treecare, a recently hired lanky sales arborist, found the infestation. On the news he stood near a 40-foot green ash, grinning wildly, telling the reporter how he looked closer at the boulevard trees after he responded to a homeowner’s request to examine a backyard ash. 

The news cut to the confirmation by the Department of Agriculture’s spokesperson, a tall blond-haired man who couldn’t have been over 35 years old; he spoke soberly, but with a quickened pace, as if the bugs were spreading further even as he spoke.

Our crew of arborists we drove to ground zero after a short meeting at the shop. The infestation was right off University Avenue in St. Paul, where several ash trees were partially debarked at eye level. It was early spring and silver maples had yet to break their buds. From the thin-tipped branches and deep gouges in the surface of exposed wood, we could tell the trees were toast.

The dime-sized bug currently threatens more than just the street in St. Paul. An army of them will soon be attacking Minnesota’s urban and wild forests. The Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) Fairmaire (EAB), a flying insect with emerald-colored wings from northern China, was first found in the United States in 2002.

In the short time of nine years, the EAB has posed a threat to much of northeastern North America. To slow the progression of the but, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) already imposed a quarantine on ash wood from the following states: Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Kentucky (emeraldashborer.info).

EAB feeds on ash trees, specifically green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica). Because Minnesota is home to more ash trees than any other state in the US (besides Maine), the potential loss of forest canopy has both environmental organizations and forestry companies concerned. Many companies have come forward with suggestions to save the urban canopies in Minnesota since infestation was found in 2009 (in two separate places—St. Paul and a small town right near the Mississippi River). But the response to chemical injections and sprays is less favored than some possible biological alternatives suggested by the DOA and other environmental organizations.