I recently wrote a couple of articles on the history of forest fires and fire prevention in MN, one an overview and one more in-depth. #envhist #MinnesotaHistory #Wildfire @mprnews.org @minnpost.bsky.social Links to the articles: niche-canada.org/2026/06/13/t... www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...

MPR News@mprnews.org · 2d ago

There was a new fire detected over the weekend — the lightning-caused Finstad Fire, burning near Finstad Lake near Buyck. It was last reported to be just a tenth of an acre; crews were dropping water on the fire to try to keep it from spreading.

Companion read - "The Past, Present and Future of Forest Fires" by @haydenlnelson.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/06/13/t... @nichecanada.bsky.social #envhist #wildfires

The Past, Present, and Future of Forest Fires

Upfront costs–in research, in personnel, and in deployment–are essential for fire prevention. Yet today, as in the early twentieth century, the federal government, despite possessing knowledge indicat...

niche-canada.org

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d ago

CARTOON OF THE DAY (if you know who made this let us know)

Happy to share a trio of MNopedia articles that I wrote. They trace the rise of commercial logging, industrial logging’s discontents, and the end of commercial logging in MN, covering more than a century. Since I can’t share three separate links, here’s my author page:

Search results | MNopedia | Hayden Nelson

Hayden L. Nelson is a Gale Scholar and research historian at the Minnesota Historical Society. He earned his PhD in history in 2025 from the University of Kansas, specializing in environmental and Ind...

mnhs.org

And if you’re still looking for panelists, here’s the open sessions spreadsheet! #envhist #envhum

Open Sessions for ASEH 2027

docs.google.com

American Society for Environmental History@aseh.bsky.social · last wk.

Submit your panel or paper for the ASEH Conference in Richmond, VA March 31-April 3. The submission portal is open until August 16: convention2.allacademic.com/one/aseh/ase...

Thread 🧵 ⬇️

Hayden L. Nelson 🌲🐺🦫🔥🪵@haydenlnelson.bsky.social · last wk.

I had the opportunity to review Cathy Coates’s book, To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota (2024) for the Summer 2026 issue of Minnesota History.

I had the opportunity to review Cathy Coates’s book, To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota (2024) for the Summer 2026 issue of Minnesota History.

So amazing to experience between about 6 to 8 humpback whales bubble net feeding off the coast of Juneau.

Let's do some Canadian pipeline-wildfire math. The Canadian Energy Center says growing oil exports by 1.5M barrels/day **could** boost GDP by ~31B annually. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke health costs alone - just the health costs, nothing else - averaged 23B/year, past tense. And they're growing fast.

Ontario hardest hit as wildfires cost Canada billions | NOW Toronto

A new report estimates wildfire smoke has cost Canada $231 billion since 2014. See how much each province has spent.

nowtoronto.com

(1/3) The Anishinabek Nation is now accepting in-kind donations on behalf of Namaygoosisagagun First Nation in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Acceptable items: ▪️Adult clothing (in all sizes & genders) ▪️Non-perishable food items & goods ▪️Toys for children of all ages

Also the oldest living organism on the planet! The current colony is estimated to be between 9,000 and 16,000 years old (since deglaciation), but the root system replicating these countless generations of clones is likely much older.

Philip Amies@philipamies.eurosky.social · 3w ago

Pando clone, Populus tremuloides covers 43 hectares, and contains approximately 47,000 genetically identical, interconnected tree stems. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

As fire season heats up and wildfire smoke begins to choke cities up and down the East Coast, a reminder that this administration has gutted the Forest Service, making fire prevention and responses even harder. Read more from @cplusc.bsky.social fellow Sara Nelson on our substack

Setting Fire to the Forest Service

The Trump administration’s USFS reorganization plan is bad news for people and the planet

climatecommunityinstitute.substack.com

The Austrian artist Franz Hölzlhuber visited the United States in the 1850s, painting a series of watercolors from his travels. During the summer of 1859, he rode a train between Lansing and Grand Haven in Michigan that got caught in a fire. firearchive.omeka.net/items/show/64

Meade Krosby@meadekrosby.bsky.social · 3w ago

A clip from a freight train stopped in a wildfire near Armstrong, Ontario. Thankfully, the crew escaped safely. Wildfire is nothing new but the burning of fossil fuels is making them larger, more frequent and severe.

Fires are raging in the Upper Midwest/Canada and their smoke blanketing much of the broader Midwest and East. I wrote an article a couple of years ago on how forest fire smoke can change our conception of regional environments:

Wtf am I even reading at this point

Mother Jones@motherjones.com · 3w ago

The most extreme GOP candidate in the nation

Submit book proposal ✅ Submit article ✅ Submit research grant app ✅ Now to finish my slides for tomorrow.

“Done is better than perfect.” Thank you @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. It can be so difficult and uncomfortable to send a draft off, but the peer collaboration in the editorial process is vital and one of the really beautiful things about the profession.

Drafting the Past@draftingthepast.bsky.social · 4w ago

If you're facing down long travel to #HSS26, might I suggest some Drafting the Past episodes with historians of science? Like my latest with @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social: draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis...

In other words, he’s basically Jimmie Foxx (163 OPS+) and Pedro Martinez (154 ERA+) in one.

Hayden L. Nelson 🌲🐺🦫🔥🪵@haydenlnelson.bsky.social · 4w ago

If you want to get a sense of how insanely good Shohei Ohtani is at baseball, consider this: The average career OPS+ and ERA+ for all Hall of Fame hitters and pitchers is between 120 and 130. Ohtani has a 160 career OPS+ and a 151 career ERA+.

If you want to get a sense of how insanely good Shohei Ohtani is at baseball, consider this: The average career OPS+ and ERA+ for all Hall of Fame hitters and pitchers is between 120 and 130. Ohtani has a 160 career OPS+ and a 151 career ERA+.

Bluesky Friends! I’ll be giving a talk at 1pm CDT next Tuesday at the International Falls Public Library. I’ll be expanding upon the work I’ve published on the V&RL and its relation to the end of industrial logging in MN. If you’re up in the International Falls/Fort Frances area, please stop by!

Hayden L. Nelson 🌲🐺🦫🔥🪵@haydenlnelson.bsky.social · 5mo ago

@minnpost.bsky.social featured my MNopedia article on the Virginia and Rainy Lake Company a couple of days ago. Pretty cool to see my work gaining traction and reaching new audiences! www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/202...

The Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine, the expansion of which caused Hibbing to relocate two miles to the south in 1919-1921 (costing $18 mill.), is marketed today as the “Grand Canyon of the North.” Miners have moved twice the amount of earth in excavating this single mine than in building the Panama Canal.

Jordan van der Hagen@thejvandy.bsky.social · 4w ago

The Blood Red Hole Where American Iron is Born. Mesabi Range. Hibbing, Minnesota

Our Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration series is accepting proprosals on an ongoing basis. niche-canada.org/2025/04/11/c...

Call for Submissions - Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration

NiCHE is soliciting submissions of blog posts that help document the effects of the current United States federal administration on the discipline of environmental history and the practices of environ...

niche-canada.org

Jason Scott@textfiles.com · last mo.

I'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.

Hey! Drafting the Past is currently #200 on Apple Podcasts' history chart! I know this probably does not seem impressive to you (fair), but is an extremely big deal to me, so I'm celebrating!

“Come on, brain, work.” I say to myself as I try to finish two projects that I’m behind on.

"Thinking through forests: Colonialism, capitalism, and the global timber trade". Iva Lučić and I are excited to share the special issue on Timber Colonialism. #envhist @nichecanada.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thinking through forests: Colonialism, capitalism, and the global timber trade

This introduction to the special issue on timber colonialism argues that forests offer a uniquely productive lens for comparing how colonialism and ca…

sciencedirect.com

"in late March 2026, the Trump administration announced a massive overhaul characterized as “common sense forestry”... these policies echo an earlier era when weak governmental oversight, inadequate funding, and deference to extractive industries contributed to devastating forest fires..."

NiCHE Canada@nichecanada.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Today we have "The Past, Present, and Future of Forest Fires" by @haydenlnelson.bsky.social. This is the latest article in our Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration series. niche-canada.org/2026/06/13/t... #envhist #firehistory #uspoli

Really enjoyed writing this piece connecting some of my research on two lesser-known forest fires and the slow development of forestry in #MNHistory in the context of the recent gutting of government institutions (like the USFS) for @nichecanada.bsky.social! #envhist #envhum

NiCHE Canada@nichecanada.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Today we have "The Past, Present, and Future of Forest Fires" by @haydenlnelson.bsky.social. This is the latest article in our Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration series. niche-canada.org/2026/06/13/t... #envhist #firehistory #uspoli

Excited to announce that the Extractive Midwest project that I’m co-editing with @haydenlnelson.bsky.social, Jeff Schramm, & Sarah Mittlefehldt was awarded an @h-net-humanities.bsky.social Editor Project Fellowship. Which is an excuse to say: see our CFP below! networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

Hayden L. Nelson 🌲🐺🦫🔥🪵@haydenlnelson.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Call for Proposals! I’m co-editing a collection on “The Extractive Midwest” with @brianleechphd.bsky.social, Jeff Schramm, and Sarah Mittlefehldt. We seek 300-500 word abstracts for book chapters between 6,000-8,000 words (not including notes). Send us your submissions before August 30, 2026!

UPDATES: -The Great Lakes Fire History Digital Archive has hit the 100 item mark! -I’ve also built out an expanded “About” section explaining the project and how to use the site. -The “Suggested Materials” page now features relevant historical markers throughout the region. #envhist #envhum

Hayden L. Nelson 🌲🐺🦫🔥🪵@haydenlnelson.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Happy to share that I've begun curating the Great Lakes Fire History Digital Archive, a digital archive collating primary source documents pertaining to forest fires in the Great Lakes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Excited to see how it evolves moving forward! firearchive.omeka.net

Writing a book proposal is hard 🙃

Do I know anyone on here who has done research on the Pinkerton Agency? I found something unexpected and very interesting that I’d like to dig into further.