|
|
|
Reviews
From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy
|
By Michael P. Dombeck, Christopher A. Wood, and Jack E. Williams
|
Island Press, Washington, D.C., 2003. Illustrations, maps, tables, notes, index. 224 pages. $40.00 cloth, $22.50 paper.
|
Reviewed by William G. Robbins
Oregon State University, Corvallis
|
|
|
|
If there is continuity to western American history, the ongoing
debates over the disposal and management of public lands would take
first rank. Conflicts over western rangelands, the 1872 mining law,
the establishment of the federal timber reserves, and the siting
of dams on the region's rivers have made the transition from the
nineteenth to the twenty-first century. From Conquest to Conservation:
Our Public Lands Legacy is yet another in a long series of studies
that have treated the historical tensions between those who advocated
uninhibited resource development and those who promoted the sustainability
and integrity of our grand federal estate. Written by former Forest
Service chief Michael Dombeck and two other natural resource managers
who served in the Clinton administration, the book is a reminder
of the timelessness of our public lands legacy.
|
1
|
|
In eight evenly balanced chapters
interspersed with brief focus essays by prominent scientists, essayists,
and public officials, the authors discuss the conflicted nature
of our federal lands, addressing issues such as clearcutting; road
building and roadless areas; spotted owls and other endangered species;
the tempest over forest fires; degraded rangelands; the invasion
of exotic flora, fauna, and diseases; and the quest for ecological
sustainability. Although Dombeck and his colleagues offer little
that is new, the book provides a nice summary of the views of progressive
policymakers in recent years. When the new administration of President
George W. Bush suspended the implementation of the Clinton administration's
"Roadless Rule" in 1991, Dombeck promptly resigned his position
as chief of the U.S. Forest Service.
|
2
|
|
The authors correctly point out that public lands should not stand alone in the effort to stabilize and restore damaged habitats and ecosystems. Private lands represent the greatest challenge in the effort to connect common geographies with larger spatial conservation strategies. Through their recently constituted watershed councils, Oregon, Washington, and northern California provide some of the best examples of coordinated management schemes for public and private lands. Even these efforts, however, are too recent to provide the kinds of striking successes that land managers are looking for. In the case of Oregon, there is also the probability that the councils may be little more than a public relations ploy to stave off substantive land-reform practices. It is a bit self-serving to claim that recent improvements in habitat conditions on federal lands are due to "addressing biodiversity concerns and subsequent changes in public land-management practices through implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan in western Oregon and western Washington" (p. 74). |
3
|
|
In a book that purports to tell the story of the nation's federal lands, it is striking that there is no reference to the fact that the nation's great public domain came at the expense of other people. In the absence of any reference to Native Americans, the authors resort to timeworn clichés about "landscapes from which our forebears carved a nation" (p. xi) and other such banalities. The words "Native American" are referenced in the text only in relation to fire. While the authors refer to the visionary Thomas Jefferson, Manifest Destiny, and "the dream of spanning the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific" (p. 11), they fail to acknowledge that the American empire was forged from lands already occupied by Native people. "Land was plentiful" (p. 11) only in the sense that it was forcibly seized from Indian tribes. Beyond these quibbles, however, the authors are correct to argue that collective overconsumption and material greed are at the root of many of the problems associated with our public and private lands. |
4
|
|
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|