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WORK TITLE: Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Stuart
STATE: FL
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaniel-osborn-06388370/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2015108535
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Osborn, Nathaniel
Located: Jensen Beach (Fla.)
Place of birth: Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Found in: Osborn, Nathaniel. Indian River Lagoon, 2016: ECIP
(Nathaniel Osborn is a member of the History Department
at The Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida. Born and
raised in Santa Barbara, California, Osborn moved to the
Indian River Lagoon at seventeen. He lives with his wife
and three children in Jensen Beach, Florida.)
================================================================================
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Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Born in Santa Barbara, CA; married; children: three.
EDUCATION:Covenant College, B.A., 2002; Florida Atlantic University, M.A., 2012.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Indian River State College, Fort Pierce, FL, adjunct professor. The Pine School, Hobe Sound, FL, teacher of European history, U.S. history, modern world history, and world geography. Florida Environmental Initiative, co-director. The Pine School sailing team, coach. Taught previously at Jupiter Christian School and Community Academy.
MEMBER:Florida Historical Society, member; American Historical Association, member. Martin County Historic Preservation Board, vice-chair.
AWARDS:Stetson Kennedy Book Award, Florida Historical Society, 2017.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Nathaniel Osborn is a writer and teacher. He teaches European history, U.S. history, modern world history, and world geography at the Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida and is an adjunct professor of 20th century world history and U.S. history from 1877 at Indian River State College. Osborn is a member of the Florida Historical Society and American Historical Association and is vice-chair of the Martin County Historic Preservation Board. He is the coach of the Hobe Sound sailing team.
Osborn was born in Santa Barbara, California and moved to Florida at the age of seventeen. He received his B.A. from Covenant College in 2002 and his M.A. from Florida Atlantic University in 2012. He lives in Jensen Beach with his wife and three children.
Osborn received the Stetson Kennedy Book Award from the Florida Historical Society in 2017 for his book, Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History.
Osborn’s Indian River Lagoon examines the history of Florida’s Indian River Lagoon, a river once abundant with wildlife but now filled with algae and unhealthy fish. Osborn argues that man is not solely responsible for the current state of the Indian River Lagoon, but rather the ecosystem of the river and humankind interact with and influence one another.
Contrasting with other Floridian historians, Osborn suggests that there are no actions mankind could take to restore the Indian River Lagoon to a previously pristine state, because the river is defined by fluctuation. The lagoon exists at the boundary between saltwater and fresh water and is influenced by both Florida’s subtropical climate and the Southern U.S.’s temperate climate. This combination of factors causes constant shifts in the salinity and temperature of the water and environment, leading to large-scale plant and animal deaths.
Osborn does not overlook the impact of humans on the river’s current state. He explains that early settlers were drawn to the river specifically due to its changing nature, ultimately depleting it of its health. He compares this relationship to that of conservationist efforts, which also attempt to control an ever-changing force of nature. Osborn concludes the book without a clear explanation for how to proceed, suggesting that there may not be a solution through human intervention.
In Journal of Southern History, Christopher M. Church described the book as “a clear, succinct look at the mutability of Florida’s wetlands that should be of interest to a general educated public and be particularly well suited for use in undergraduate classrooms.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Journal of Southern History, February, 2017, Christopher M. Church, review of Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History, p. 192.
ONLINE
Florida Times Union, http://jacksonville.com/ (April 2, 2016), Lee Scott, review of Indian River Lagoon.
Journal of Florida Studies, http://www.journaloffloridastudies.org/ (August 20, 2017), review of Indian River Lagoon.*
About
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CONTACT INFO
http://upf.com/book.asp?id=OSBOR001
https://twitter.com/NEOsborn
MORE INFO
About
Author of Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History (University Press of Florida, 2016), Chair Martin Co Historic Preservation Brd
Twitter: @NEOsborn
Impressum
University Press of Florida, 2016
Biography
Nathaniel Osborn teaches American history at The Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida. He is the chair of the Martin County (Florida) Preservation Board.
categories
Author
STORY
Stretching along 156 miles of Florida's East Coast, the Indian River Lagoon contains the St. Lucie estuary, the Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River Lagoon, and the Indian River. It is a delicate ecosystem of shifting barrier islands and varying salinity levels due to its many inlets that open and close onto the ocean. The long, ribbon-like lagoon spans both temperate and subtropical climates, resulting in the most biologically diverse estuarine system in the United States.
Nineteen canals and five man-made inlets have dramatically reshaped the region in the past two centuries, intensifying its natural instability and challenging its diversity. Indian River Lagoon traces the winding story of the waterway, showing how humans have altered the area to fit their needs and also how the lagoon has influenced the cultures along its shores. Now stuck in transition between a place of labor and a place of recreation, the lagoon has become a chief focus of public concern. This book provides a much-needed bigger picture as debates continue over how best to restore this natural resource
Nathaniel Osborn is a teacher at The Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida. He teaches European History, US History, Modern World History, and World Geography, and coaches the high school sailing team. He’s also co-director of the Florida Environmental Initiative.
Osborn is a member of the Florida Historical Society, the American Historical Association, and is vice-chair of the Martin County Historic Preservation Board. Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History (Florida Press: 2016) is his first book.
Indian River Lagoon:
An Environmental History
Nathaniel Osborn
Hardcover: $26.95
Hardcover ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-6161-0Pubdate: 3/1/2016 Details: 224 pages, 6x9
Awards
Stetson Kennedy Award - 2017
Stretching along 156 miles of Florida's East Coast, the Indian River Lagoon contains the St. Lucie estuary, the Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River Lagoon, and the Indian River. It is a delicate ecosystem of shifting barrier islands and varying salinity levels due to its many inlets that open and close onto the ocean. The long, ribbon-like lagoon spans both temperate and subtropical climates, resulting in the most biologically diverse estuarine system in the United States.
Nineteen canals and five man-made inlets have dramatically reshaped the region in the past two centuries, intensifying its natural instability and challenging its diversity. Indian River Lagoon traces the winding story of the waterway, showing how humans have altered the area to fit their needs and also how the lagoon has influenced the cultures along its shores. Now stuck in transition between a place of labor and a place of recreation, the lagoon has become a chief focus of public concern. This book provides a much-needed bigger picture as debates continue over how best to restore this natural resource.
Nathaniel Osborn teaches American history at The Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida.
Nathaniel Osborn
Nathaniel Osborn
Teacher at The Pine School
Stuart, Florida
Primary/Secondary Education
Current
Indian River State College, The Pine School, US Sailing Center Martin County
Previous
Jupiter Christian School, Community Academy
Education
Florida Atlantic University
Websites
@neosborn
Summary
Chair of Department (2008-2013)
Researcher, exhibit consultant: Historical Society of Martin County
Primary researcher for museum exhibit entitled “Women and Children of Florida’s Houses of Refuge” (2010)
Experience
Indian River State College
Adjunct Professor
Indian River State College
August 2015 – Present (2 years)
Taught 20th Century World History, US History from 1877
The Pine School
Teacher, Upper School History
The Pine School
June 2013 – Present (4 years 2 months)
AP European History Reader
Teaching AP European History, US History (Honors), Modern World History, World Geography, AP Psychology
Sailing team coach
Co-Director, Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam
Co-Director, Florida Environment Initiative
Coach, High School Sailing
US Sailing Center Martin County
2014 – Present (3 years)
Created curriculum and coach at training center for area high school sailing teams.
The Pine School, Jensen Beach High School, Martin County High School, South Fork High School, Clark Advanced Learning Center, Marine and Oceanographic Academy
Teacher, Department Chair
Jupiter Christian School
August 2007 – June 2013 (5 years 11 months)
Taught Advanced Placement US History, World History, Civics, Comparative Politics, Economics, Geography, Government, Journalism
Hired, mentored and evaluated new teachers, created new classes and curricula, chaired committees related to school reaccreditation, hosted AP symposium
Teacher
Community Academy
August 2003 – August 2007 (4 years 1 month)
Organizations
Martin County Historic Preservation Board
Vice Chair
American Historical Association
Member
Florida Historical Society
Member
Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society
Member
Certifications
Professional Educator's Certificate
Florida Department of Education, License 901574
June 2007 – July 2017
Sailing Instructor, Level One
US Sailing, License 313695C
June 2002 – April 2017
Publications
Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History
University Press of Florida
March 2016
Indian River Lagoon traces the winding story of the waterway, showing how humans have altered the area to fit their needs and also how the lagoon has influenced the cultures along its shores.
Authors:
Nathaniel Osborn
Skills
TeachingCurriculum DevelopmentTeacher MentoringSymposiaCommitteesAcademic conference presentationsPublic history lecturesHistoryResearchPublic SpeakingAmerican History
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Education
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University
Master's degree, History, (4.0 GPA)
2008 – 2012
Covenant College
Covenant College
Bachelor's degree, History
1998 – 2002
Honors & Awards
Stetson Kennedy Book Award
Florida Historical Society
May 2017
Dr. William R. Jones, Chair of Black Studies at FSU, has said, "Stetson Kennedy may well go down as our first investigative historian." A native of Jacksonville, (1916--), Stetson has authored such works as Palmetto Country, Southern Exposure, The Klan Unmasked, Jim Crow Guide, After Appomattox, and We Charge Genocide. The foundation which bears his name and seeks to carry forward his legacy is sponsoring this award. This category is open to authors or presses for books which cast light on historic Florida events in a manner which is supportive of human rights, traditional cultures, or the natural environment.
Green Teacher Award
US Green Building Council, Treasure Coast
February 2017
Grant Co-Recipient ($10,000)
Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam,
June 2017
Indian River water quality monitoring system
www.tpsinventeam.com
@tpsinventeam
School Teacher of the Year
2010
Groups
East Coast Greenway Alliance
East Coast Greenway Alliance
Environmental History
Environmental History
Florida Historical Society
Florida Historical Society
American Historical Association
American Historical Association
Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History
Christopher M. Church
83.1 (Feb. 2017): p192.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Southern Historical Association
http://www.uga.edu/~sha
Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History. By Nathaniel Osborn. (Gainesville and other cities: University Press of Florida, 2016. Pp. xii, 210. $26.95, ISBN 978-0-8130-6161-0.)
Rejecting the declensionist narratives pitting humanity against a pristine environment that often characterize environmental histories, Nathaniel Osborn deftly explores the ecological history of Florida's Indian River Fagoon--a water system along Florida's Treasure Coast once teeming with wildlife but now plagued by algae blooms and lesioned fish. Osborn describes the lagoon as "a complex system that has at various times been conducive and hostile to animal and plant health" (p. 3). Central to his story is the interaction of humanity with this ecosystem from the pre-Columbian era to the present. This environment engendered conflict between Native Americans and Europeans and, eventually, boosters and settlers. The Indian River ecosystem provided as often as it took away, and Osborn's central point is that humanity does not stand apart from nature. Humans are not external destroyers of pristine systems but are part of, and contribute to, nature's roiling instability.
As Osborn explains in chapter 2, the waterway has always been unpredictable. The lagoon's location at the boundary between salt water and the inland watershed, as well as between Florida's subtropical and the South's temperate climate, has historically led to massive plant and animal die-offs due to wide swings in salinity and temperature. In a departure from fellow Floridian historians such as David McCally and Jack E. Davis, who have suggested that restoration efforts could return Florida's waterways to some Edenic state, Osborn shows that no original state existed to which one could restore the Indian River Lagoon. As an interstitial ecosystem, the waterway has shifted and changed, with and without the interference of humanity, over centuries.
Osborn does not lose sight of the ecological impact of humanity, however, whose movement from a transitory to a sedentary lifestyle and concomitant population growth amplified the lagoon's instability. In his treatment of the region's industrial and commercial development in chapters 3 and 4, Osborn situates these historical developments as internal to the system rather than as external influences, arguing that Anglo settlers' ambitions to exploit the region's fantastic aviaries and fisheries influenced the lagoon as much as the settlers themselves were influenced by the environment. Perversely, it was precisely settlers' attempts to stabilize the inherently unstable hydrologic system that sapped it of its health. Ultimately, the story takes a tragic turn in chapter 5, when rapid postwar growth, spurred by air conditioning and insect control, hastened the lagoon's deterioration and dramatically altered its nature through residential construction and gentrification. With an eye toward the region's several failed remediation projects, Osborn concludes with some difficult and rather fatalistic questions about how and whether humanity can fix a permanently transitional ecological body. Somewhat dismally, he offers no clear solution.
Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History makes interventions that are well established within the field of environmental history, and though they bear repeating for Florida, Osborn's work is generally light on historiography--he does not note the important work of William Cronon or William M. Denevan on the myth of pristine nature, for instance. Nevertheless, Osborn's work speaks to current political discussions in Florida; his prose is accessible to nonspecialists; and his claims are firmly established through governmental reports, contemporary periodicals, published primary sources, and the substantive use of secondary literature. Osborn also does an admirable job pulling together insights from a variety of disciplines, namely, archaeology, geography, and environmental science.
At just over two hundred pages, Indian River Lagoon does not dwell on any one topic for long, but it is nonetheless a clear, succinct look at the mutability of Florida's wetlands that should be of interest to a general educated public and be particularly well suited for use in undergraduate classrooms.
Christopher M. Church
University of Nevada, Reno
Church, Christopher M.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Church, Christopher M. "Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental History." Journal of Southern History, vol. 83, no. 1, 2017, p. 192+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/pi.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA481354170&it=r&asid=7f24d862aca24695d8cca2d5037e1db5. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A481354170
Volume 1, Issue 5 , 2016 Book Review The History of an Imperiled Lagoon Leslie Kemp Poole, Rollins College Osborn, Nathaniel. Indian River Lagoon : An Environmental History. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016) xii +211 pages. $26.95 (cloth), ISBN 978 - 0 - 8130 - 6161 - 0 . [All citations in this review are from this book.] Throughout human history there has been an urge to improve upon nature, to see raw land and natural r esources as something in need of change to be more perfect. Nowhere is this more evident than in Fl orida where the peninsula’s early settlers and promoters did their best to drain wetlands, remo ve predators , and build and/or redesign wat erways to suit navigation. W e are living with the results of their ignorance and boosterism as evidenced by damaged Ev erglades, dwindling bird populations, polluted springs , and toxic chemical dumps . The list is long and disheartening. Today the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) sits on the brink of environmental collap se, owing in large part to human “makeovers.” Its waters are polluted with runoff from suburban yards, leaking septic t anks, and the periodic outflow of muddy, contaminated water from Lake Okeechobee. Algae blooms have left only a few inches of visibility and environmentalists worr y that it s sea grasses and spec ies such as manatees and pelicans may be threatened. Th e enormity of this loss is made clear in Nathaniel Osborn’s Indian River Lagoon: An Environmental His tory . In this concise book, Osborn , a Hobe Sound educator, surveys the human damage to this extensive estuarine system on Florida’s east coast, documenting two centuries of dreams and destruction that set the stage for what may be the IRL’s final act. Osborn recalls first - hand accounts of the lagoon from its earliest Anglo settlers who entered lands large ly emptied of native people who had succumbed to disease, slavery, and warfare. Soldiers who were part of federal efforts to remove the last of the area’s nativ e people were amazed at its natural bounty. Osborn provides the reader with a quote from a military surgeon in 1838. “Inadequate are words to express the quantity and quality of fish tha t abounded in those waters . We all of us began to grow so fat upon this good living, that we were afraid that unless some thing turned up very soon to produce a change in our felicitous mode of life, that we should have to borrow from our neighbors, the Indian their style of dress, for our clothes every day became tighter ” (31) . The IRL, stretching 156 miles south from Vo l usia County , was a wonderland, a natural inland system of four bodies of water – the St. Lucie Estuary, Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River Lagoon, and the Indian River — where salt and fresh water mixed to create a shallow estuarine nursery teeming with marine li fe. Dating to 125,000 B.C., the IRL evolved into an important ecosystem, even after native peoples inhabited the area by 5,000 B.C. (1 - 2) . Early Anglo settlers exulted in the area’s nearly frost - free climate, growing a range of crops from bananas to pineapples to the valuable citrus that woul d come to be associated with it (73 - 76) . A stable steamboat system was important to transport produce to market, therefore justifying the dredging of channels thro ugh the system’s shallow waters (78) . As techno logy and ambition advanced, so did manipulations of the IRL system, particularly in the nineteenth and twentie th centuries, with projects that included nineteen canals or altered creeks , five permanent inlets, and sixteen causeways (1) . Waterways that had shifted periodically with nature’s unstable forces were put into the control of humans and the IRL was never the same. The greatest project — wh ich today may cause the southern IRL’s ruin — was the 1923 completion of the Okeechobee waterway, which drained the great lake in the center of the state via canal into the S t. Lucie Estuary that had been c onnected to the Atlantic Ocean i n 1892 through a man - made inlet (79) . These projects “established a pattern that would define and reshape the peninsula in the tw entie th century,” Osborn writes (122) . And they , combined with rising coastal population s , would lead to today’s ecological problems. The book often strays into a lengthy battery of facts and dates ; Osborn is at his best when he recounts early descriptions of the IRL, of the amazed reaction of early visitors. Unfortunately he overlooks some fascinat ing stories including that of Frances “Ma” Latham, a Micco boarding house operator, who helped ornithologists understand the value and natural history of Pelican Island, the nation’s first national wildlife refuge. He also skims over the passionate , years - long efforts by modern activists to get protective federal designations for IRL and to create Canaveral National Seashore . Their work established the environmenta l and eco nomic value of the IRL system; they certainly are worthy of more attention, maybe even an entire volume . In the meantime, Osborn’s book serve s as a primer for those seeking basic information and history about this important ecosystem and how human manipulations may be the death of it. “The Indian River Lagoon stood at a crossroads in the second decade of the twenty - first century,” writes Osborn. “Longtime observers wondered if the lagoon had reached a tipping point and would collapse, as ha d central Florida’s Lake Apopka ” (160) . Let’s hope Florida’ s leaders help the IRL achieve a different ending.
Posted April 2, 2016 09:46 am
By Lee Scott
Book review: 'Indian River Lagoon' examines delicate and ever-changing ecosystem
The history of the Indian River Lagoon system on the state’s east coast is a microcosm of the environmental intemperance La Florida has been forced to undergo throughout its existence.
In his fascinating concise study of this unique piece of Florida real estate, historian Nathanial Osborn covers all the bases: dredging, filling, farming, fishing, citrus, industry, tourists, astronauts, retirees and, of course, mosquito control. Each have had a major impact on the fragile ecosystem behind the barrier islands.
“‘It is a wonderful river … immensely deep and very fine sweet water,’ wrote a northern visitor … in 1884. ‘The beauties of nature are here very manifest, in fact it is wonderful.’ … Roughly 100 years later observers described the same body of water as a river of mud that was so polluted that its ‘stressed-out snook and pompano were developing lesions so wide that their entrails were dragging behind.’”
Osborn points out that the system has always been in a state of transition: “always in the process of becoming something else.”
At the same time “a place of biophysical diversity unsurpassed in the United States and the scene of naturally occurring dead zones, largely inhospitable to life.”
This transitional nature interferes with attempts at restoration, as well as the question of how to reduce the human footprint brought on by massive development. But Osborn quotes environmentally conscious residents who believe that if “manmade freshwater discharges from canal and sewage systems” can be eliminated then the lagoon may be on the road to righting itself.
A big “if” that has all of us interested.
Lee Scott lives in Avondale.
INDIAN RIVER LAGOON
Author: Nathaniel Osborn
Data: University Press of Florida, 211 pages, $26.95