Drawing Lines in the Forest: Creating Wilderness Areas in the Pacific Northwest

Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books

by Kevin R. Marsh, William Cronon (Foreword)

Excellent Book

Genres: Nonfiction, History

Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Arthur Simonds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another History book down. Interesting debates on what should be considered “wilderness” and how those lands would be used or not used. Both sides were debating on vastly different bases and it seems like through both sides winning battles, no one won the “war”. I also noticed how the author, through their attempt to be a vessel of historical fact, at times showed bias toward the side of conservationists, which is cool. It’s interesting how people try to shutdown lumber production in an area with trees that the nation needs for infrastructure, all for a few more acres of National Parks. But hey, I like going to those parks too.

[Roger Smitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first words of the book are “There are places in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon where one can become immersed in a depth of isolation and solitude that is rare in the modern world.” (p. 3)

The story is to change some things to change the wilderness place of the two states. On chapter we have “Wilderness is a modern form of land use, one that, like other forms, has its own set of laws and regulations and also has an impaction the landscape. Creating and managing wilderness areas has an impact of the local environment, thought one that is very different from alternative options, which unusually road building and other devaluations.” (6)

There is a list of the history to the land and how land has been changed. And there’s lots of material to say how to keep land as it has been.

I guess we will have to wait and find out.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone born in 1982, two years prior to the passage of the Washington State Wilderness Act of 1984, it's easy for me and many of my generation to take for granted our regions abundance of protected wilderness and old growth forests. Drawing Lines in the Forest provides a fascinating and important history of the regional conservation movement and numerous fights it took to protect our wilderness. If you've hiked or camped in any the regions wilderness ares, or had the opportunity to stand in awe of a 500 y/o Doug Fir or 1000 y/o Hemlock than this is an important book to read. Pristine wilderness and fragile ecosystems can't protect themselves.