Preserving Washington Wildlands: A Guide to the Nature Conservancy's Preserves in Washington

by David George Gordon

Book by Gordon, David G., Nature Conservancy of Washington

89 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

The Bug Chef

Reviews

[h · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stilted, a bit condescending and repetitive. I agree that our lands are in need of conservation, but this guide does little in the way of convincing me of that.

[David Czuba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still quite poignant after 24 years, this publication of the Washington Chapter of the Nature Conservancy never gets old. The pre-digital photography is eloquent and immediate. The case for preservation is made with such imperative that it names its partners with addresses and phone numbers (again, pre-Internet) even though some of those partnerships are contentious. The Nature Conservancy recognizes that, and that is why I love that organization, whose eyes are on a decades if not hundred-year scale. I got in touch with the former manager of Mima Mounds, and she is now heading up management of the much-in-the-spotlight Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve, 22 years into her career. The board of the Nature Conservancy are what you'd call lifers. That is no less what we all should be in keeping the planet habitable through biodiversity, another element this book pounds softly on the podium to make point of. Let me get on the pedestal for a moment. If we all keep America the Beautiful beautiful by picking up trash, some of which, naturally, gets blown about by the winds, then we wouldn't be far from keeping to the scripture of the conservation movement. Back to our focus. What makes this book matter now as then is an emphasis on civic participation, of not keeping people out for nature's sake, but making allowances (no pets, no camping, etc.) that limit the foot traffic and keep unstoppable invasiveness at bay. This book made me want to go see every single one of the properties being protected. That is a good result for a reader, even a serendipitous one.