Reviews of 'Our Wilderness'
The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
Book Chat; "Four Picks from Northwest Authors"
By Judi Baxter
September 25, 2009
"Our Wilderness: America's Common Ground" (Fulcrum Publishing, $19.95) by Doug Scott (with forward by Robert Redford). I have always felt fortunate to live so close to our state's spectacular wilderness areas; nothing feeds my soul more than camping in the mountains.
So I was enamored with this book. The photographs stand on their own, but it is Scott's passionate and compelling writing that demonstrates why it is so important that we keep and maintain our untamed lands for future generations. A book not only to have but to share with many.
Headwaters News (website)
By Barbara Theroux
Fact & Fiction
June 17, 2009
"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature---the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world are not reserved for scientists but are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea, sky and their amazing life."
- Rachel Carson, "The Sense of Wonder"
As I write this review, I can look out my apartment window and see Mount Sentinel in spring coats of green.
Last week I was visiting my son in New Jersey and marveled at the lush greens of Jockey Hollow National Historical Park that surrounds his apartment.
We are fortunate to live in two different parts of the country with a sense of nature, places to hike, places to reflect upon and places to preserve.
More and more people want to be close to nature; to live with wilderness areas on their horizon. Americans choose to live in rural places, often near national forests or other federal lands, to enjoy the abundant recreational opportunities they offer.
OUR WILDERNESS is a visual reminder of our country's natural beauty and our place in it.
In addition it is a primer that examines what wilderness really means to individuals and why we should remain vigilant in our protection of these lands.
Readers will learn how and why The Wilderness Act was passed 45 years ago, and how people from all backgrounds and regions of the country are continuing to use this tool to protect more of the wild places they love.
This 64-page booklet is the perfect campaign piece; a political fact sheet; a brochure that addresses the reasons why wilderness is so important to us.
It comes as no surprise that Doug Scott has been a lobbyist for many wilderness preservation campaigns and is currently a policy director for the Campaign for America's Wilderness. He is passionate about his work and America's wilderness and after spending time with this book you will be too.
The environmental, educational, economical, spiritual and historical reasons why wilderness is so important are beautifully examined in these pages.
Visiting wilderness areas, we are reminded of the deep influence the wilderness frontier played in our history.
Here you may trace age-old Indian trading trails, the route of Lewis and Clark , the pathways of Spanish conquistadors or the ruts of pioneer wagons across the prairie grasslands.
The goal of civilization was to vanish wilderness, not cherish it. Indigenous hunting-and-gathering societies saw themselves as part of the natural world.
The earliest European settlers brought with them to North America all the age-old fears of wilderness. Through the use of art, scenic photography, quotes from environmental writers, and historic photographs we are reminded why we need to protect our lands for future generations.
Barbara Theroux manages and is a buyer for Fact & Fiction, part of the Bookstore at the University of Montana.
The Midwest Book Review (website)
The Environmental Studies Shelf
June 2009
John Muir Award winner Doug Scott presents Our Wilderness: America's Common Ground, a soft-cover photographic tribute to the beauty of pristine wilderness, what it means to individual Americans, and why conservation and preservation efforts are absolutely vital. The full-page color images of waterfalls, trees, flowers, canyons and more are utterly breathtaking to behold, and the individual testimonies reflect a deep and abiding love of the natural world among a diversity of individuals. Our Wilderness: America's Common Ground lives up to its title and is the perfect gift book for any nature lover.
