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Loading... Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America's Public Landsby John Clayton
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. interesting overview of intersections between muir and pinchot. An exploration of the philosophies of preservation and conservation and whther they can co-exist or even complement each other ( ) In the world of public land management and history, it is common to read that the preservationist John Muir did not get along with the conservationist Gifford Pinchot. Clayton does a nice job of showing that, at least prior to the Hetch Hetchy controversy, these two pioneers of natural resource management on federal lands shared much in common and inspired each other. The somewhat stiff Pinchot was enthralled by Muir's stories of the spirituality of being out in nature; whilst the rebel Muir came to appreciate the science of sustainable forestry as described by Pinchot. A good read for those interested in how the setting aside of public lands (national parks, forests, monuments, etc) plays an important role in America's history. no reviews | add a review
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John Muir, the most famous naturalist in American history, protected Yosemite, co-founded the Sierra Club, and is sometimes called the Father of the National Parks. A poor immigrant, self-taught, individualistic, and skeptical of institutions, his idealistic belief in the spiritual benefits of holistic natural systems led him to a philosophy of preserving wilderness unimpaired. Gifford Pinchot founded the U.S. Forest Service and advised his friend Theodore Roosevelt on environmental policy. Raised in wealth, educated in privilege, and interested in how institutions and community can overcome failures in individual virtue, Pinchot's pragmatic belief in professional management led him to a philosophy of sustainably conserving natural resources. When these rivaling perspectives meet, what happens? For decades, the story of their relationship has been told as a split between the conservation and preservation philosophies, sparked by a proposal to dam a remote Yosemite valley called Hetch Hetchy. But a decade before that argument, Muir and Pinchot camped together alongside Montana's jewel-like Lake McDonald in, which was at the heart of a region not yet consecrated as Glacier National Park. At stake in 1896 was the new idea that some landscapes should be collectively, permanently owned by a democratic government. Although many people today think of public lands as an American birthright, their very existence was then in doubt, and dependent on a merger of the talents of these two men. Natural Rivals examines a time of environmental threat and political dysfunction not unlike our own, and reveals the complex dynamic that gave birth to America's rich public lands legacy. - No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)508.092Natural sciences and mathematics General Science Natural historyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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