Since the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, Congress has designated 41 wilderness areas in Colorado, totaling some 3.4 million acres ranging from desert sagebrush to alpine crags. In addition, other undeveloped areas and national parklands have been proposed for wilderness status. In its newly revised second edition, The Complete Guide to Colorado's Wilderness Areas continues to serve as the foremost guide to these magnificent wild places.
Arizona is known for its exceptional variety of topography and ecosystems. From stands of saguaro cacti and plunging canyons to high alpine forests, many are fragile areas in need of protection. All told, Arizona has some 92 wilderness areas, and author Tom Dollar provides informative descriptions for backcountry travelers wishing to explore those 65 areas accessible to the public. (Many areas are so remote they are virtually inaccessible.) This guidebook includes suggestions for hikers, along with insights into the unique natural history of such areas as Paria Canyon, Mazatzal, Organ Pipe, and Kachina Peaks wildernesses. Outdoor photographer Jerry Sieve's dramatic photographs illustrate each of the areas described.
This comprehensive guide to New Mexico's wild lands includes not only such well-known areas as the Gila and Pecos wildernesses, but also lesser-known regions such as Latir Peaks, Apache Kid, and Bisti De-na-zin wildernesses. It also provides an inventory of the state's more than 50 "wilderness study areas" -- the wilderness areas of the future. With text by New Mexico author Bob Julyan and illustrated with pictures by Tom Till, one of the Southwest's finest outdoor photographers, the book provides a richly colored portrait of New Mexico's wilderness heritage, including suggestions for hikers and insights into each area's unique natural and human history.
Continuing the work it began in Hotspots, Conservation International identifies thirty-seven vital wilderness areas around the world, including tropical rainforests, arctic tundra, deserts, and wetlands, using more than five hundred stunning color photographs to illuminate the rich diversity of each region.
From Denali's majestic slopes to the Great Swamp of central New Jersey, protected wilderness areas make up nearly twenty percent of the parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other public lands that cover a full fourth of the nation's territory. But wilderness is not only a place. It is also one of the most powerful and troublesome ideas in American environmental thought, representing everything from sublime beauty and patriotic inspiration to a countercultural ideal and an overextension of government authority. The Promise of Wilderness examines how the idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Wilderness preservation has engaged diverse groups of citizens, from hunters and ranchers to wildlife enthusiasts and hikers, as political advocates who have leveraged the resources of local and national groups toward a common goal. Turner demonstrates how these efforts have contributed to major shifts in modern American environmental politics, which have emerged not just in reaction to a new generation of environmental concerns, such as environmental justice and climate change, but also in response to changed debates over old conservation issues, such as public lands management. He also shows how battles over wilderness protection have influenced American politics more broadly, fueling disputes over the proper role of government, individual rights, and the interests of rural communities; giving rise to radical environmentalism; and playing an important role in the resurgence of the conservative movement, especially in the American West. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsq-6LAeYKk
The central concept guiding the management of parks and wilderness over the past century has been “naturalness”—to a large extent the explicit purpose in establishing these special areas was to keep them in their “natural” state. But what does that mean, particularly as the effects of stressors such as habitat fragmentation, altered disturbance regimes, pollution, invasive species, and climate change become both more pronounced and more pervasive? Beyond Naturalness brings together leading scientists and policymakers to explore the concept of naturalness, its varied meanings, and the extent to which it provides adequate guidance regarding where, when, and how managers should intervene in ecosystem processes to protect park and wilderness values. The main conclusion is the idea that naturalness will continue to provide an important touchstone for protected area conservation, but that more specific goals and objectives are needed to guide stewardship. The issues considered in Beyond Naturalness are central not just to conservation of parks, but to many areas of ecological thinking—including the fields of conservation biology and ecological restoration—and represent the cutting edge of discussions of both values and practice in the twenty-first century. This bookoffers excellent writing and focus, along with remarkable clarity of thought on some of the difficult questions being raised in light of new and changing stressors such as global environmental climate change.
