| Many wetlands in northeastern North America should be considered relict agroecosystems as a result of widespread use for hay production and pasture during the colonial era. Open land in the heavily forested Northeast was frequently confined to areas with high water tables and colonists relied on graminoid-dominated wetlands to provide livestock fodder. Although legacy effects are largely unknown, wetland function, stratigraphic integrity, and appearance were undoubtedly affected by mowing and grazing. Wetland management through ditching, burning, diking, and irrigating would also have had impacts. Identifying the lingering influence of such activities is especially relevant for the United States where the remaining half of original wetland acreage is highly valued for ecosystem services. This dissertation used archival texts (court minutes, tax rolls, probate records, journals), maps and property surveys, and proxy records (pollen, macrofossils, phytoliths, fungal spores, charcoal) to document wetland agriculture within the relatively understudied Dutch colony of New Netherland. Of specific interest are written references to the timing and frequency of disturbances like mowing and grazing. A regional-scale narrative of wetland use and management is developed based on results for New Netherland combined with what is known for French and English settlement groups. Because wetlands in the Northeast were similarly managed by different settlement groups, ecologists and historians working in this region may be able to carefully assume land-use histories based on wetland type and location. Possible short-term and legacy effects are suggested by contemporary ecological assessments from North America and Europe serving as modern analogs. |
