In 1980, McPhee traveled with his daughter on a canoe trip on the Atchafalaya River due to her fascination with the novelist Walker Percy. He had conversations with natives about the efforts made by the Army Corps of Engineers in monitoring riverflow in the area. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, a man recommended to McPhee that he research the efforts being undergone to control the debris sliding down from mountains into Los Angeles. When he visited California, a geologist informed him about lava in Iceland.
The books title is derived from a sign on the engineering building at the University of Wyoming. Though he believes nature will win, "my book is not an editorial," McPhee said. "It is a description of people defying nature. They may have no choice." Like all of McPhees books, The Control of Nature started out as an outline that he proceeded to fill in.