Oct. 12 Talk at Duke to Explore How the Cold War Unexpectedly Benefitted Conservation

DURHAM, NC – Environmental historian Lisa Brady will deliver a free talk, “No-Man’s-Land as Nature Preserve: The Strange Case of Cold War Conservation,” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, at Duke University.

The lecture, which is open to the public, will be at Field Auditorium in Environment Hall, which is located at 9 Circuit Drive on Duke’s West Campus. A reception will immediately follow.

The talk is the 2017 Lynn W. Day Distinguished Lectureship in Forest and Conservation History.

Brady is a professor of history at Boise State University and a widely published expert on the impacts of military actions on natural landscapes.

In her talk at Duke, she will explain how Cold War animosities in the aftermath of World War II turned large swaths of land in places such as Germany and Eastern Europe, Korea, and Puerto Rico into militarized areas. Although subject to extensive damage and pollution, these sites also experienced varying degrees of “rewilding,” becoming de facto nature preserves.

Brady will explore what scientists have learned from studying these accidental “eco-zones” and   how conservation may ultimately help heal even the wounds of war.

In addition to serving on the faculty at Boise State, she edits the peer-reviewed journal Environmental History and is the author of War upon the Land: Military Strategy and the Transformation of Southern Landscapes During the American Civil War (University of Georgia Press, 2012).

As part of her lectureship, Brady will be available to meet with Duke students and faculty on Oct. 12 until 3 p.m., and on Oct.13 until 4 p.m.

The Forest History Society, Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Duke’s Department of History sponsor the annual Lynn W. Day Distinguished Lectureship.

For more information about Brady’s talk or to schedule faculty or student meetings with Brady during her visit, contact the Forest History Society at (919) 682-9319.

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