Chase W. Fleece

Hello! I’m currently a second-year master’s student in the Department of History at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. As an environmental historian, my research broadly explores the intersections between environmental degradation, more-than-human histories, and international relations in the twentieth-century United States and Canada; particularly in the Great Lakes region. More specifically, I’m interested in how anthropogenic pollution impacted the diverse flora and fauna populations inhabiting these countries’ vast transboundary ecosystems. In doing so, this work illustrates how for international agencies and policymakers animal bodies, from the smallest insects to the biggest mammals, embodied not only ecological importance but geopolitical significance as well. 

My thesis project “Mayhem in the Muck: An Environmental and Labor History of Ohio’s Scioto Marsh,” is a local history with national significance. Tracing the marsh’s history from formation to settlement to disappearance, this study explores how commercial agricultural production not only destroyed a once vibrant ecosystem but reshaped a community for generations. In many ways, the story of the Scioto Marsh begins and ends with the muck soils; a prodigiously fertile but non-renewable resource. 

If you’d like to contact me, I’ve attached a form and socials below. You can also learn more about my past research and professional experiences by using the navigation tool in the top left-hand corner.