The Spiritual Foundation of City Parks - Jonas Miller 03/12

Even before my start at CNU, I was enchanted by the wildlife present in the Hampton Roads area. After all, I made my choice to attend CNU based on an immensely successful wildlife survey with Virginia Herpetological Society in 2017. Since becoming a Captain, I've loved spending time in the local green spaces but my initial observations were little more than circumstantial. That changed  two years ago when I was assigned a reading by Dr. Sherwin called The Accidental Ecosystem by Peter S. Alagona. Over the course of his book, Alagona describes the historical and ecological processes behind urban ecology, beginning with early creation of Central Park and ending with the modern considerations of the survivability of animals in any urban green spaces. We tend to view ecosystems through the black and white definitions of protected or not; a perspective that animals do not share. 

Early in the stages of urban development, there were few animals present in cities beyond the livestock needed for transportation and food (e.g., horses, chickens, and pigs). The reason for such a biological community was simple: there was little dirt, even fewer trees, and the same story applied to the grasses and weeds. As the American identity began to define itself following industrialization and urbanization, the desire for "wild spaces" entered the popular opinion. One of the early figures in this movement was Frederick Law Olmstead, who was responsible for conducting a survey of land within Wyoming to establish the bounds of what would become Yellowstone National Park. Over the course of his reports to the Federal Government, Olmstead wrote of the spiritual and mental renewal he felt when experiencing nature and hypothesized of the benefits that nature may yield to urbanite Americans. Upon his return to New York City, Olmstead partnered with architect Calvert Vaux to draft a revolutionary idea: Central Park. 

City parks were not a new idea at this time. Highly maintained and manicured gardens could be found throughout Europe, although their formalized structure provided few ecological benefits. Olmstead and Vaux sought to replicate true wilderness within Central Park, embracing the "scraggly" elements that can be seen in a natural setting. Unintentionally, this replication of natural ecology provided the highly necessary habitat for a new breed of urban wildlife. The pursuit of spiritual places within our concrete castles created the opportunity for cities to become sanctuaries for wildlife, which, in many cases, snuck in under our noses. My initial observations served as the foundation for what would become my primary focus at CNU: learning how we can turn cities into sanctuaries for the animals that are already here.