America's Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and Beyond

An amazing read! A good historical context on the creation of the US Public Lands!

One of the first textbooks I ve kept. Well written and easy to read

This book has given me a real appreciation of parks and the journey so many people have gone through to make them a reality today.

A good and informative read. Wilson presents the facts and history in a relatively unbiased fashion in readable fashion.

good!

thank you, this book is exactly what I was looking for, great read.

This is an excellent book, but be aware that it is a slow read, even though written well. The book details a great deal of policy, government department relations (and infighting such as between the Park and Forest services), public relations, opposition to federal landholding, activists of various kinds (there are a couple of dozen figures, some of them quite memorable, such as John Muir and David Brower, and the evolution of various groups (such as the Wilderness Society and various Sagebrush Rebellion outfits). In other words, a bit more than a century of debate over the public lands. I emphasize that this is all covered well, and clearly, but we're talking about dozens of groups, several conflicting ideas, a number of presidents, policy evolution and political controversy--it's complex and this is not a book one can skim much of, so be prepared for two or three times the usual time it takes for a book of this length.It's also a book that develops the author's view, which is that much of our history, we Americans have seen Nature in terms of using it, and that the more recent concept of inherent worth of nature conflicts with that in a basic way. Much of the public lands are used for economic purposes, particularly BLM lands--grazing cattle, cutting timber, mining, extracting oil and gas, hunting, boating, off the road vehicles, and so on. He sees a sort of grouping, with BLM seeing nature more in utilitarian terms, and the Wilderness system as seeing nature in terms of inherent worth, with other land managers falling somewhere in that range. It's an interesting point, but of course hiking, camping, bird watching and appreciating beauty are all using nature just as much, although with far less physical alteration, than a clear-cutting timber outfit. The issue of grazing on the public lands is explored at some length in several sections; the debate goes back a century and forms a major element in the long-standing Western opposition to many public land policies. Grazing involves a quite large area.The book has some interesting detail. As an environmentalist from college days, I have been little exposed to the ranchers' side of grazing on the public lands, but Wilson examines the arguments of both sides, and in some cases there are clear and substantial benefits to grazing, including why ranchers probably should not be forced to pay market-rate grazing fees. He also discusses the problems of defining what "wilderness" means, rather more complex than usually thought- if it's true wilderness, how can it be managed?The public lands are immense, six hundred million acres--a bit over a million square miles, with that total separated into lands administered by BLM, the Forest Service, the National Parks Service and others agencies (Indian reservations and military bases are not counted in the book). A million square miles is more than Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Italy and Poland together. The book first describes the public lands, and then chapters look at various categories of the public lands, how they came to exist and how they have been and are currently administered.Chapter 1 is titled "Building the National Commons," and 2 is "Disposing the Domain," discussing how we got all the land and how over time much of it was distributed to private hands, essentially building the nation. Chapter 3 looks at the emerging public lands system (roughly after the Civil War until around 1900, with a fast and huge change under Teddy Roosevelt). Chapter 4 examines the national parks, Chapter 5 at the National Forests, Chapter 6 discusses National Wildlife refuges, Chapter 7 discusses--at length--Bureau of Land Management lands. Chapter 8 examines the wilderness preservation system--trails, rivers, wilderness areas. All of these feature issues based on private versus public use of the lands.Chapter 9 discusses the overall theme and offers the suggestion that collaborative cooperation offer a tool that can overcome the current environment of political impasse. He defines that as ecosystem management that takes into account that the lands have communities in and around them, and these must be taken into account. It's a surprisingly optimistic ending to a book that often considers raw political power and use principals often at loggerheads. The book has a couple of appendices (tables) that will be of use to some readers.

The previous commenter must have read a different book, or perhaps read Mr. Wilson's book without taking the time to critically think about the management issues covered in "America's Public Lands." Considering the amount of economic revenue that our public lands generate annually, it would be foolish to limit public enjoyment. The vast majority of environmentalists know this, and also like to get outdoors and utilize our birthright as Americans in a variety of activities. However, surely anyone who has recently visited a national park would agree that the traffic and congestion is an issue that should be better managed. Discussing these nuanced issues certainly does not equate with "an elitist exclusion of people from the parks, an anti-human tendency," as is stated above.In conclusion, some John Muir quotes do not a book destroy. I found this book to be an encompassing, easy-to-follow guide to the history and management of our public lands, complete with excellent maps. Give it a read, you won't regret it.