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Book Review
| Northern Landscapes: The Struggle for Wilderness Alaska. By Daniel Nelson, Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, 2004. vii+312 pp. Map, notes, index. Cloth $36.95, Paper $22.95.
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| For many of us, any mention of Alaska steers the imagination toward wild unending landscapes and the possibility of grand adventures. Boasting an unimaginably expansive frontier dotted with ingenious native peoples, hardy frontiersmen, and homesteaders as well as widely roving herds of charismatic megafauna, the very name of the state is spoken in reverential tones. America's love affair with Alaska began with the lyrical poetry of bard Robert Service and was further fueled by Bob Marshall's book Arctic Village. |
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Northern Landscapes provides its readers with two compelling and valuable lessons. First, author Daniel Nelson serves up a detailed history of the involvement of Alaskan citizens and politicians in the various wildland issues that have contributed to the state's storied landscape. The second lesson involves the emergence of powerful and effective partnerships between local Alaskan conservation groups and larger national environmental organizations. This new style of collaborative effort resulted in focused and broad-ranging citizen support and action on behalf of the preservation of the Alaskan landscape, its resources and its lifestyles. |
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The principal story illustrated by these lessons is the emergence of a philosophically deepening and effective local and national environmental movement. Growth of this movement can be characterized by a broadening of publicly accepted wildland values beyond merely economic and recreational to now include aesthetic, ecological, and spiritual values. Nelson articulately explores the history and local flavor of such key Alaskan resource issues as oil, forestry, wilderness, the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, and The Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). |
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ANILCA is likely "the most important congressional measure of the century" (p. 237) and while it was hailed as a landmark achievement at the time it remained short of the mark for many. Nelson systematically details three years of legislative jockeying that produced ANILCA and regards it as "the single greatest contribution to the era's impressive increase in park, refuge and wilderness lands (p. 247). ANILCA "reflected the strength of environmental sentiment and the ability of environmentalists to organize at the state and national levels and to translate that strength into tangible political achievements" (p. 247). It is worthwhile to note that women provided much of the leadership in Alaskan environmental groups at this time. |
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Overall, Northern Landscapes provides an in-depth examination of the people and the issues that energized Alaska and the continent during the last century. Anyone preparing to engage in the continuing controversies of America's last frontier would be well advised to study Nelson's work. |
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Publication of Northern Landscapes serves students and scholars interested in the history and effectiveness of Alaskan wilderness and environmental efforts. Nelson's work helps to complete the picture of a still unfolding wilderness movement. It nicely complements Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash (Yale, 2001) and The Enduring Wilderness by Doug Scott (Fulcrum, 2004). The contributions and on-the-ground work of conservationists such as Sigurd Olson, Olaus and Mardy Murie are also highlighted by Nelson. The Alaskan efforts of these individuals are spelled out further in David Backes's A Wilderness Within: The Life of Sigurd F. Olson (Minnesota, 1977), Two in the Far North by Margaret Murie (Alaskan Northwest Books, 1977), a video "Arctic Dance: the Mardy Murie Story" (Craighead Environmental Research Institute, 2001), and Margaret Murie: A Wilderness Life by Jennifer Bryant (21st Century Books, 1993). |
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Nelson's work makes it clear how young environmentalists throughout North America in the 1970s and 1980s became actively and passionately engaged in support of Alaska and its many resource issues. The unfolding story in Northern Landscapes provides insights for those wishing to continue to serve the greater needs of the nation. |
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Clayton T. Russell is an associate professor of outdoor education and environmental education at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. His scholarly pursuits include Native American Oral Tradition, canoeing the Voyageur's Highway, effective outdoor teaching strategies, and wilderness conservation and education. |
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