buckleg1

"We all struggle to transcend the cruelties and the follies of mankind. That struggle will not be won by standing aloof and pointing a finger; it will be won by action, by men and women who commit their every resource of mind and body to the education and improvement and help of their fellow man."

- Robert F. Kennedy

"Always do right! This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

- Mark Twain

Research Interests
My research lies squarely at the nexus of historical geography and environmental history. I am particularly interested in resource conservation and sustainability; management of public lands, especially state forests and urban greenspaces; environmental justice; and the evolution of mining landscapes. Although much of my work to date has focused on coal mining in Appalachia, my most recent efforts build on my association with the Long-Term Ecological Research - Baltimore Ecosystem Study (LTER-BES). More specifically, I am conducting forest history and urban greenspace research in support of this project. An article on the development of the Patapsco Forest Reserve (Today's Patapsco State Park) was published in the 2006 issue of Historical Geography; another, on the desegregation of Baltimore's public golf courses, is featured in the April 2008 issue of The Geographical Review. I am also working on a book that examines the life of Maryland's first state forester, Fred W. Besley, and explores the Old Line State's early entry into the realm of forest conservation. A parallel "story" is the city of Baltimore's early experience with urban forestry. Currently in review, the expected publication date for the book is early 2009. A recent NSF award allows BES colleagues and I to begin a new phase of research - one that examines issues of environmental justice in Baltimore. Ongoing projects under this grant include: 1) analyzing the role that "improvement and protection associations" played in shaping Baltimore's social, cultural, and environmental landscape during the first half of the twentieth century and 2) investigating the rise and fall of asphalt as a popular paving material in American cities.

With regard to my Appalachian interests, my book, Extracting Appalachia: Images of the Consolidation Coal Company, 1910 - 1945, was published by Ohio University Press in 2004. Also in 2004, I contributed a 7500-word essay on the history of coal mining in Appalachia to the Encyclopedia of Energy. Along with a colleague in our department, I investigated the purchase and sebsequent demolition of the town of Cheshire, Ohio by American Electric Power. The results of our research were published in the October 2005 issue of The Geographical Review. Presently, another colleague and I are co-editing a book focusing on environmental justice issues in Appalachia.

In the future, I plan to continue examining environmental problems using a historical perspective. One can argue that if we are to make wise decisions with regard to the environmental problems we face today, we must understand the complex web of human and physical processes that, over time, have contributed to their existence.

Buckley, G. L. and C. G. Boone. In preparation. Blacktop: An Unnatural History of Asphalt in America's Cities.

Morrone, M. and G. L. Buckley, eds. In preparation. Appalachian Justice: Case Studies in Social and Environmental Equity.

Buckley, G. L. Forthcoming. The Conservation Impulse: A Century of Saving Trees in Baltimore and Maryland. Santa Fe: Center for American Places.

Articles and Book Chapters:

Buckley, G. L. In review. "To promote the material and moral welfare of the community": Neighborhood Improvement Associations in Baltimore, Maryland, 1900 - 1945.

McHenry, I., M. Morrone, B. Stuart, and G. L. Buckley. In review. The Challenge of Biofuels from the Perspective of Small-scale Producers.

Boone, C.G., G. L. Buckley, J. M. Grove, and C. Sister. In review. Parks and People: An Environmental Justice Inquiry in Baltimore, Maryland.

Wells, J., G. L. Buckley, and C. G. Boone. 2008. Separate but Equal? Desegregating Baltimore's Golf Courses. The Geographical Review 98(2):151-170.

Buckley, G. L., R. F. Bailey, and J. M. Grove. 2006. The Patapsco Forest Reserve: Establishing a “City Park” for Baltimore, 1907 – 1941. Historical Geography 34:87-108. PDF

Buckley, G. L., T. G. Anderson, and N. R. Bain. 2006. Living on the Fringe: A Geographic Profile of Appalachian Ohio. In: Pittsburgh and the Appalachians: Cultural and Natural Resources in a Post-Industrial Age, eds. K. J. Patrick and J. L. Scarpaci, 178-190. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. PDF

Buckley, G. L., N. R. Bain, and D. L. Swan. 2005. When the Lights Go Out in Cheshire. The Geographical Review 95(4):537-555. HTML

Buckley, G. L. 2004. History of Coal Mining in Appalachia. In: Encyclopedia of Energy, Volume 1, eds. Cutler J. Cleveland et al., 495-505. San Diego: Elsevier, Inc. PDF

Buckley, G. L., N. R. Bain, A. M. Luginbuhl, and M. L. Dyer. 2004. Adding an “Active Learning” Component to a Large Lecture Course. Journal of Geography103 (Number 6):231-237. PDF

Buckley, G. L. and J. M. Grove. 2001. Sowing the Seeds of Forest Conservation: Fred Besley and the Maryland Story, 1906 - 1923. Maryland Historical Magazine 96 (Fall):303-327.

Buckley, G. L., T. G. Anderson, and N. R. Bain. 2000. Living on the Fringe: A Geographic Profile of Appalachian Ohio. In: A Geographical View of Pittsburgh and the Alleghenies: Precambrian to Post Industrial, eds. K. J. Patrick and J. L. Scarpaci. Washington, DC: Association of American Geographers, 140-147.

Buckley, G. L. and T. G. Anderson. 1999. The Consolidation Coal Company Photograph Collection, 1910 - 1945. Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review 27 (1):62-83.

Buckley, G. L. 1998. The Environmental Transformation of an Appalachian Valley, 1850 - 1906. The Geographical Review 88(2):175-198. PDF

Buckley, G. L. 1998. Converting Minerals Into Merchandise: Landownership and Environmental Alteration in the George's Creek Valley of Western Maryland, 1789 - 1842. Historical Geography 26:151-175.

Buckley, G. L. and B. Burstein. 1996. When Coal Was King: The Consolidation Coal Company's Maryland Division Photographs. Maryland Historical Magazine 91(Fall):298-310.

Buckley, G. L. 1993. Desertification of the Camp Creek Drainage in Central Oregon. Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 55:97-126.

Korth, C. A. and G. L. Buckley. 2006. Leakin Park: Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.'s Critical Advice. The Olmstedian 16(1, Fall). PDF

Buckley, G. L. 2006. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In: Encyclopedia of Appalachia, eds. Jean Haskell and Rudy Abramson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Buckley, G. L. 2006. Maryland's State Forests and Parks. In: Encyclopedia of Appalachia, eds. Jean Haskell and Rudy Abramson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Buckley, G. L. 2006. History of the Consolidation Coal Company. In: Encyclopedia of Appalachia, eds. Jean Haskell and Rudy Abramson. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Buckley, G. L. 2005. Black and Bountiful: The Gritty Heritage of Coal. In: Geotourism MapGuide to Appalachia (www.nationalgeographic.com/appalachia/).

Buckley, G. L. 2006. Review of Landscape and Images by John R. Stilgoe. Southeastern Geographer 46(2):336-338.

Buckley, G. L. 2005. Review of Changing Mines in America by Peter Goin and C. Elizabeth Raymond. The Geographical Review 95(4):614-615.

Buckley, G. L. 2005. Review of Cumberland Island National Seashore: A History of Conservation Conflict by Lary M. Dilsaver. Journal of Cultural Geography 22(2):153-154.

Buckley, G. L. 2004. Review of To Save the Land & People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia by Chad Montrie. Environmental History 9(2):329-330.

Buckley, G. L. 2003. Review of The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History by Carolyn Merchant. Environmental Conservation 30(3):313.

Buckley, G. L. 2003. Review of Cultural Encounters with the Environment: Enduring and Evolving Geographic Themes edited by Alexander B. Murphy and Douglas L. Johnson. Material Culture 35(1):71-72.

Buckley, G. L. and T. G. Anderson. 2002. Review of annual Eastern Historical Geographers Association meeting, September 27-30, 2001 in Breckenridge, CO. Historical Geography 30:177-79.

Buckley, G. L. 2000. Review of Where There Are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians by Donald Edward Davis. The Geographical Review 90(July):457-59.

Buckley, G. L. and C. E. Colten. 2000. Review of annual American Society for Environmental History meeting, April 14-18, 1999 in Tucson, AZ. Historical Geography 28:255-56.

Buckley, G. L. 1998. Review of Landscapes of Promise: The Oregon Story 1800 - 1940 by William G. Robbins. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88(December):743-45.

______. 1997. Review of Common Ground: The Struggle for Ownership of the Black Hills National Forest by Martha E. Geores. American Studies International XXXV (October):90.

______. 1996. Review of In Quest of Mineral Wealth: Aboriginal and Colonial Mining and Metallurgy in Spanish America edited by Alan K. Craig and Robert C. West. Journal of Historical Geography 22 (July):354-5.

______. 1996. Review of Dividing the Land: Early American Beginnings of Our Private Property Mosaic by Edward T. Price. American Studies International XXXIV (April):85-6.

Buckley, G. L. and K. T. Swears. 1996. Review of Appalachia's Path to Dependency: Rethinking a Region's Economic History, 1730-1940 by Paul Salstrom. Journal of Historical Geography 22 (April):234-36.

Buckley, G. L. and M. J. Rubin. 1998. "Northwestern Virginia in Late Colonial Era." In: George Washington and the Virginia Backcountry, ed. Warren R. Hofstra. Madison: Madison House Publishers, Inc.

Rubin, M. J. and G. L. Buckley. 1998. "George Washington's World." In: George Washington and the Virginia Backcountry, ed. Warren R. Hofstra. Madison: Madison House Publishers, Inc.

"A Social and Environmental Analysis of the Origins and Effects of Asphalt Removal Programs in Baltimore, Maryland," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $10,000 (6/1/07 - 9/1/08), G.L. Buckley (P.I.)

"A Longitudinal Analysis of the Social Dynamics of Environmental Equity in Baltimore," National Science Foundation, $749,487 (9/1/06 - 8/30/09), C.G. Boone (P.I.), G.L. Buckley (co-P.I.), J.M. Grove (co-P.I.), C.P. Lord (co-P.I.), and A.R. Troy (co-P.I.)

"Policies, Planning, and Investments in Open Space Preservation and Conservation in Urban Areas: A Cross-site Comparison of Baltimore, Maryland and Edinburgh, Scotland," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $11,000 (6/1/06 - 9/1/07), G.L. Buckley, (P.I.)

"Cradle of Conservation: State Forestry in Maryland, 1906 - 1960," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $5,000 (9/1/05 - 12/31/06), G.L. Buckley (P.I.)

"State Forestry in Maryland: A Historical Examination," Maryland Forestry Association, $6,000 (9/1/05 - 12/31/06), G.L. Buckley (P.I.)

"Environmental Justice and Open Space Amenities in Baltimore," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $10,970 (1/1/05 - 12/31/05), C.G. Boone (P.I.) and G.L. Buckley (co-P.I.)

"Examining Baltimore's Urban Greenspaces," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $4,410 (3/3/05 - 12/31/05), G.L. Buckley (P.I.) and C.G. Boone (co-P.I.)

"Historical Geography of Urban Forestry and Roadside Tree Planting in Baltimore," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $14,378 (7/1/04 - 12/31/05), G.L. Buckley (P.I.) and C.G. Boone (co-P.I.)

"Human Settlements as Ecosystems: Metropolitan Baltimore from 1797 - 2100: PHASE II," National Science Foundation, $4,920,000 (2004 - 2010), S.T.A.Pickett (P.I.) and others (co-P.I.).

"Expanding Active Learning in Geography 201," Trustees of the Ohio University Foundation, Undergraduate Learning Pool of the 1804 Endowment, $19,924 (7/22/02 - 6/30/04), C.G. Boone (P.I.) and G.L. Buckley (co-P.I.)

"Forest Conservation in Maryland: A Proposal to Examine the Fred W. Besley Archive," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $9,000 (6/15/02 - 6/15/03), G.L. Buckley, (P.I.)

"NSF Proposal 'Seed' Money," Institute for Ecosystem Studies, $5,000 (1/15/01 - 6/15/01), C.G. Boone (P.I.) and G.L. Buckley (co-P.I.)

"Historical Analysis of Forest Cover in the Baltimore Region," U.S.D.A. Forest Service, $4,000 (7/15/99 - 12/15/00), G.L. Buckley, (P.I.)

Received the College of Arts and Science’s Jeanette Grasselli Brown Faculty Teaching Award for the 2002-03 academic year.

Inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta (Honors Society for First Year Students) in Spring 2002 for outstanding teaching and guidance.

Courses Taught
Geography 201 (Environmental Geography)
Geography 241 (Global Issues in Environmental Geography)
Geography 333/533 (Appalachia: Land and People)
Geography 447/547 (Natural Resource Conservation)
Geography 688 (Seminar: Managing Urban Green Spaces)

Lecture - Intro
Lecture - Physical
Lecture - Population
Study Guide I
Lecture - Agriculture
Lecture - Energy

Professional Affiliations

American Geographical Society
Association of American Geographers
Eastern Historical Geographers Association
Historical Geography Specialty Group
Maryland Historical Society