The contribution of environmental history to the development of a model to aid watershed management: A comparative study of the Big Darby Creek and Deer Creek watersheds in Ohio

The problem being explored in this dissertation is one that has roots in both Environmental History and Natural Resources. Generally, the problem is that there is a need for environmental policy makers to integrate and adopt a holistic regulatory approach in their decision-making process. Specifically, in watershed management, the problem is that there are places in the country where for reasons not well understood, a particular watershed has been able to effectively sustain high levels of species richness and habitat quality over long-term periods while a nearby, apparently similar watershed has not. The general theoretical problem is "Why is this so?" Is there a general model of factors that can be looked at to explain these differences, thereby contributing significantly to future administration and regulation?; In this dissertation, a model is developed by combining elements from the domains of knowledge in both Environmental History and Natural Resources. These domains of knowledge indicate that, by researching the contribution of both human and natural disturbance, historically and currently, coupled with the natural geological, topological and hydrological characteristics of a watershed, a solution may be found. As a means of exploring the potential of the model to be successful, the methods of the model are applied to the Big Darby Creek and Deer Creek watersheds and have been found to be successful.