Author: John D. Leshy
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2022-02-08
Total Pages: 736
ISBN-13: 0300262841
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The little-known story of how the U.S. government came to hold nearly one-third of the nation’s land and manage it primarily for recreation, education and conservation. “A much-needed chronicle of how the American people decided––wisely and democratically––that nearly a third of the nation’s land surface should remain in our collective ownership and be managed for our common good.”—Dayton Duncan, author of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea America’s public lands include more than 600 million acres of forests, plains, mountains, wetlands, deserts, and shorelines. In this book, John Leshy, a leading expert in public lands policy, discusses the key political decisions that led to this, beginning at the very founding of the nation. He traces the emergence of a bipartisan political consensus in favor of the national government holding these vast land areas primarily for recreation, education, and conservation of biodiversity and cultural resources. That consensus remains strong and continues to shape American identity. Such a success story of the political system is a bright spot in an era of cynicism about government. This book is essential reading for anyone who cares about public lands, and it is particularly timely as the world grapples with the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Author: Harold K. Steen
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Published: 2013-12-01
Total Pages: 413
ISBN-13: 0295803487
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The U.S. History Service: The Retirement Association at the University of Washington
Author: Michael Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1992-06-26
Total Pages: 630
ISBN-13: 9780521428378
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Dr Williams begins by exploring the role of the forest in American culture: the symbols, themes, and concepts - for example, pioneer woodsman, lumberjack, wilderness - generated by contact with the vast land of trees. He considers the Indian use of the forest, describing the ways in which native tribes altered it, primarily through fire, to promote a subsistence economy.
Author: Barbara Rasmussen
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-10-21
Total Pages: 262
ISBN-13: 0813184398
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Absentee landowning has long been tied to economic distress in Appalachia. In this important revisionist study, Barbara Rasmussen examines the nature of landownership in five counties of West Virginia and its effects upon the counties' economic and social development. Rasmussen untangles a web of outside domination of the region that commenced before the American Revolution, creating a legacy of hardship that continues to plague Appalachia today. The owners and exploiters of the region have included Lord Fairfax, George Washington, and, most recently, the U.S. Forest Service. The overarching concern of these absentee landowners has been to control the land, the politics, the government, and the resources of the fabulously rich Appalachian Mountains. Their early and relentless domination of politics assured a land tax system that still favors absentee landholders and simultaneously impoverishes the state. Class differences, a capitalistic outlook, and an ethic of growth and development pervaded western Virginia from earliest settlement. Residents, however, were quickly outspent by wealthier, more powerful outsiders. Insecurity in landownership, Rasmussen demonstrates, is the most significant difference between early mountain farmers and early American farmers everywhere.
Author: Larry Anderson
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM
Published: 2002-12-30
Total Pages: 477
ISBN-13: 0801877911
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The life of the visionary conservationist who created the Appalachian Trail is chronicled in this “first-rate biography of a unique American thinker” (Mark Harvey, Journal of American History). Born in 1879, Wilderness Society cofounder Benton MacKaye was a pioneer in linking the concepts of preservation and recreation. Spanning three-quarters of a century, his career had a major impact on emerging movements in conservation, environmentalism, and regional planning. MacKaye's seminal ideas on outdoor recreation, wilderness protection, land-use planning, community development, and transportation have inspired generations of activists, professionals, and adventurers seeking to strike a harmonious balance between human need and the natural environment. This pathbreaking biography provides the first complete portrait of this significant figure in American environmental, intellectual, and cultural history. Drawing on extensive research, Larry Anderson traces MacKaye's extensive career, examines his many published works, and describes the importance of MacKaye's relationships with such influential figures as Lewis Mumford, Aldo Leopold, and Walter Lippmann.
Author: Gordon B. Dodds
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2014-07-15
Total Pages: 236
ISBN-13: 0813162750
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The life of Hiram Martin Chittenden illustrates the work of one of the most influential federal agencies that has shaped the American West -- the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As a member of the Corps Chittenden was assigned to Yellowstone Park, where he completed the plan for tourist roads. His work there convinced powerful congressmen to increase greatly the appropriations for the park.In this well-researched biography, Mr. Dodds shows that Chittenden was, in addition to his Corps duties, one of the first advocates of multiple-purpose resource use, a champion of scientific accuracy in forming conservation policies, the first president of the Seattle Port Commission, and the author of several books, including his monumental History of the American Fur Trade and a guidebook to Yellowstone Park that is still in print.