Endangered Rivers and the Conservation Movement

Palmer, Tim

ISBN 10: 0520057147 / ISBN 13: 9780520057142

Published by University of California Press, Berkeley, 1986

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 009260

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Endangered Rivers and the Conservation Movement
• Publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley
• Publication Date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520057147
• ISBN 13: 9780520057142
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Ex-library with Usual Faults
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science/Natural History

About this title

Synopsis

A dam proposal sparked the first great conservation battle in the United States when John Muir fought to safeguard Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. Since then, people have worked to preserve free-flowing rivers from Florida to Alaska, and in doing so, they have changed the way natural resources are managed in America.

In Endangered Rivers , Tim Palmer traces the growth of this movement and he chronicles the development of a national consciousness that values our rivers as lifelines for wildlife, fisheries, parks, wilderness, recreation, and communities.

Based on careful research and hundreds of interviews, Palmer's information-packed narrative is regarded as a classic in the field of conservation. The first edition of this book is now updated and includes two new chapters that chart the course of conservation during the past twenty years and explore how the movement to protect rivers will likely change in the twenty-first century. This book will fascinate all who care about rivers and it will engage those who seek to understand environmental history, resources management, and the evolution of government programs in response to people's changing needs.

Reviews

Palmer traces water usage in the United States from the early 17th-century log dams to our present extensively dammed and controlled rivers. For decades, Americans treated water as a resource to be used for flood control, hydroelectric power, irrigation, etc. The value of a scenic, free-flowing river was not generally recognized until the 1950s, when landmark efforts by conservationists halted proposed dams in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere. Writing for the River Conservation Fund, Palmer makes a convincing case for river protection, with emphasis on unprofitable and unnecessary "pork barrel" projects versus preservation of ecology, wildlife, water quality, and recreation. Extensive footnotes, sources, and lists make this a valuable reference source. Helen J. Stiles-Wainwright, Colorado Mountain Club Lib., Denver
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.