Review (PDF)

From Conquest To Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy

From Conquest to Conservation is a visionary new work from three of the nation’s most knowledgeable experts on public lands. As chief of the Forest Service, Mike Dombeck became a lightning rod for public debate over issues such as the management of old-growth forests and protecting roadless areas. Dombeck also directed the Bureau of Land Management from 1994 to 1997 and is the only person ever to have led the two largest land management agencies in the United States. Chris Wood and Jack Williams have similarly spent their careers working to steward public resources, and the authors bring unparalleled insight into the challenges facing public lands and how those challenges can be met.Here, they examine the history of public lands in the United States and consider the most pressing environmental and social problems facing public lands. Drawing heavily on fellow Forest Service employee Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, they offer specific suggestions for new directions in policy and management that can help maintain and restore the health, diversity, and productivity of public land and water resources, both now and into the future. Also featured are lyrical and heartfelt essays from leading writers, thinkers, and scientists— including Bruce Babbitt, Rick Bass, Patricia Nelson Limerick, and Gaylord Nelson—about the importance of public lands and the threats to them, along with original drawings by William Millonig.

Paperback: 232 pages

Publisher: Island Press; 2nd ed. edition (February 1, 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1559639563

ISBN-13: 978-1559639569

Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches

Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces

Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Best Sellers Rank: #1,617,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #116 in Books > Law > Administrative Law > Land Use #149 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Sports & Entertainment > Park & Recreation #545 in Books > Textbooks > Business & Finance > Real Estate

I am very disappointed with this book. The writing is fine. It is clear and accessible to a lay audience. Much of the material in important as well. All that said, the book is largely a failure because it is so repetitive and poorly organized that there is no linearity to the narrative whatsoever. Which, if this was an edited collection, might be expected. But it's written and organized like a monograph. So, largely for that reason, I find the book fairly worthless. Simply put, there is just a ton of much better and better organized material on this same subject. Much of it also on Island Press, even (try Knight and Bates' New Century for Natural Resources Management, for example. It's an edited collection, it's 8 years older than this book, yet it is much more useful and barely any more out of date). But this one? Not so good.

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