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Book Review
| Cumberland Island National Seashore: A History of Conservation Conflict. By Lary M. Dilsaver. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004. x + 323 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, index. $35.00
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| Cumberland Island National Seashore is located three miles off the coast of Southern Georgia and is part of the barrier island system that reaches from Florida to Virginia. Together the natural and cultural resources have attracted a diverse range of people to the island and have made its preservation both imperative and controversial. Lary M. Dilsaver has captured the complex history of this place in his book Cumberland Island National Seashore: A History of Conservation Conflict. |
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The book begins with the natural history of the island and then summarizes 130 centuries of Native American use. From the eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries, the island supported a mixed economy of lumbering, cotton, oranges, and olives. Following the Civil War, the island became a summer retreat, and it became part of the National Park Service during the early 1970s. |
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Dilsaver traces the island's historical geography and residents' perceptions of its natural and cultural resources, and offers a picture of the conflicts that occurred during the creation of the Cumberland Island National Seashore and the development of a natural and cultural resource management plan. Dilsaver argues that three issues were at the heart of the conflict over the designation of this land as a national seashore: recreation, cultural resource protection, and natural resource preservation. The proponents of each issue believed that the island's designation as a national seashore would ensure the promotion of their cause. Ironically, the National Park Service's attempt to create a management plan that would benefit all constituents drew park administrators into disputes between the supporters of the three different viewpoints. Consequently, the creation and management of the Cumberland National Seashore became more complex than that of any other park. Dilsaver expounds that "the histories of this fascinating place and of these different philosophies come together to shape, but also to embroil in conflict, one magical place" (p. 5). |
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Dilsaver's prose is enjoyable and concise while his story is captivating, positing that the battle between conservationists and preservationists continues. The book's main strength is its intertwining of the history of the island with the history of the National Park Service and the U.S. environmental policy. At times, keeping track of multiple ownership changes and the various Carnegie heirs becomes cumbersome, but Dilsaver includes family charts, maps, and other illustrations to make these issues less confusing. |
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Dilsaver should be applauded for his use of sources and his ability to make clear and straightforward a very complex story. He has identified the fundamental problems which landscape conservation and preservation entail and has outlined lessons that might be learned from the creation and management of the Cumberland Island National Seashore. This book is important for scholars studying the cultural perceptions of landscapes, historical preservation, the debate between conservationists and preservationists, and the history of the National Park Service and its policies. |
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Kimberly R. Sebold is an assistant professor of history at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Dr. Sebold's current scholarship focuses on the economic uses and cultural perceptions of the salt marshes along the Gulf of Maine. |
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