Book Description
A celebration in word and image of the birds who return each year to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to nest—and how they link every point on the globe • 200 color photos from award-winning nature photographers Subhankar Banerjee, Steven Kazlowski, and Arthur Morris • Essays/text contributions by noted writers, biologists, and conservationists including David Allen Sibley, Debbie Miller, Kenn Kaufmann, and President Jimmy Carter, CD Audio by birdsong recordist, Martyn Stewart • Life histories of individual bird species from every major group including shorebirds, songbirds, and raptors plus dramatic stories of migration and strategies for survival A Buff-breasted sandpiper running along a barrier beach in the Carolinas is only mid-way in an annual journey of incredible magnitude—one that takes it from its nesting ground in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to its winter quarters on the pampas of South America. The Yellow wagtail begins life in a willow thicket in the Arctic but winters in Indonesia, where its return each year signals rice farmers to begin their spring planting. The ecosystems of the world are linked by birds, and nowhere is that more apparent than the Arctic Refuge, where more than 180 species converge from six continents and all fifty states to nest and rear their young. The unique habitats of the Arctic Refuge and the intense Arctic summer produce a rich diet that makes the incredible migrations worthwhile.
Essays include DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY on the grand dance of avian migration and the sense of time and place on the earth that it provides; DEBBIE MILLER tells of how the incredible journey of songbirds from the Arctic Refuge and back connects the world's habitats—and its people—together; biologist MARK WILSON shares his story of discovery canoeing down the Refuge's Canning River; STANLEY E. SENNER, Vice President of Audubon Alaska, explains the ecological importance of the region and how oil development has impacted the North Slope; and ROBERT THOMPSON, an Inupiat wildlife guide, reveals the relationship between birds and native culture.
Three photographers contributed to this project: SUBHANKAR BANERJEE, author of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land, has had his images featured in major museums such as the Smithsonian Institute of Natural History and in magazines such as Vanity Fair; nature photographer STEVEN KAZLOWSKI was a finalist for Wildlife magazine's 2004 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. Among his previous books are Alaska Wildlife Impressions and Bears of the North; ARTHUR MORRIS specializes in bird photography and has had more than 11,000 of his photos published in magazine such as American Bird, Audobon, National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer and many more.
Arctic Wings is produced jointly by The Mountaineers Books and Manomet Center for Conservation Science. It is published in the tradition of Seasons of Life and Land—a book (photography by Subhankar Banerjee) that has won critical acclaim and has helped inform the debate over opening the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling.
Customer Reviews:
A Beautiful Book that Covers a Place that May Not be here long........2006-10-19
This beautifully illustrated book is written by a collection of authors who have a love affair going with the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Their writing, each on a different subject is filled with amazement, wonder and love for the area and its birdlife.
On the other side is a whole series of comments about protecting this environment and the thrust for development being urged by the oil companies and the Bush administration. Unfortunately, in the long run, I think that the environmentalists will lose. The 'God given rights' of the people to have inexpensive gasoline for their SUV's leads to power by the voting booth.
The book itself is of large format, printed on a very heavy paper with a printing quality that rivals photographs themselves. It is a beautiful book. There is also a CD included with the book that has recordings of 67 bird boices. This can be played as a single 60 minute recording, or you can select individual tracks of bird species.
Beautifully done, very interesting.......2006-08-31
Absolutely beautifully done with brilliant colors and well-composed pictures this is a great joy to just look through for all bird lovers or fans of the Arctic Refuge area. But it does not stop there. The writers share their experiences in an excellent educational yet highly readable treatise on their particular subject. Together they introduce the fascinating world of Arctic birds to the reader in a way that is both informative and fun. So, how to you finish off such an excellent book? They added a CD in the back with various bird calls, songs, and peeps. Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is highly recommended and a real joy to have around even just for the pleasure of picking it up once in a while and enjoying the pictures.
Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.......2006-08-15
If you love: a)nature photography, b)the Arctic, and c)birds - this book is for you. It is over-sized and filled with beautiful colored photographs of birds who come to breed in the Arctic. Plus, there are migration maps and essays telling you how the birds got to the Arctic. And there is a CD with sounds of the Arctic and many of the birds pictured in the book. It is a wonderful feast for the senses.
Arctic Wings.......2006-08-12
This gorgeous book on the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge combines writing by a variety of authors, from birding luminary David Sibley to local Native American residents, with many outstanding photographs. Overall, it provides a considerable amount of information on the bird species appearing in the ANWR and the effects that oil drilling might have on them. While some segments are more gracefully written than others, all are interesting.
Along with the book is a CD of birdsongs and ambient sounds of the region.
Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.......2006-08-07
Pacific, Central, Mississippi and Atlantic North American Flyways converge on the North Slope of Alaska and Yukon Territory. The area encompasses many ecosystems - river deltas and coastal wetlands, tundra, mountains, boreal forest; inshore waters, barrier islands, beaches and spits and coastal lagoons. Diverse and complex spread over 7.89 million square hectometers (19.5 million ac). The North Slope is a soundshed, viewshed, and the temporary annual residence for at least 194 birds - who visit, but not stay. Some fly almost 29,000 kilometers (18,000 mi), each year, for the round trip. The area is also home to moose, caribou, wolverines, arctic fox, bears and wolves.
US automobile companies and related industries have effectively been on welfare for most of the 20th and the 21st centuries - dependent on "cheap" oil. Perverse subsidies that function as disinvestments threaten to leave the arctic environment and US economy worse off. As pointed out by Hawken, Lovins and Lovins (1999) in Natural Capitalism and von Weizsacker, Lovins and Lovins (1997) in Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use, if you want to cut your costs by one-half or double your profit, then double your efficiency. The North Slope sustainably functions best as wilderness.
Rather than getting close to the Arctic tundra by "sitting behind an internal combustion engine pick up truck in midtown traffic," this is about minimizing human impact on the North Slope by becoming better informed about some of the wild visitors. A CD provides from a few seconds up to 14 minutes (60 minutes of continual play) of the sounds of 67 different birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The large 28 x 28 cm format helps bring the North Slope alive, everything but cool wind in your face and crisp smells wafting off the tundra.
After the introduction, the book is organized according to Loons and Waterfowl; Hawks, Eagles and Falcons; Shorebirds; Gulls, Terns and Jaegers; Owls; Land Birds and Winter Birds. President Jimmy Carter provides the Foreward. Multiple authors and photographers provide Cultural Reflections, Landscape of the Future, After an Arctic Season and Birders in the Scope.
Recognizing there is a direct connection between local birds throughout North America and the North Slope, this reinforces the need for efficiency and use of renewable energy, and brings you one giant step closer to an "aha" moment.
Book Description
It is a land of pristine wilderness, pulsing with life even in the depths of white subzero winter. Entirely unscarred by roads or signs, it is the place in all Alaska where the polar bear most often prefers to den. It is host to more than 180 resident and migratory bird species that journey from six continents and all fifty states to nest and rear their young. Because of the massive herds of Porcupine caribou who converge upon the coastal plain to calve each spring, it is known as "the American Serengeti." To the Gwich'in people, who call the refuge their home, it is "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins."
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a touchstone for all people, one of the few remaining ecosystems on our planet unaltered by human impact, where true wilderness can still be experienced. But now the refuge is showing signs of global warming: immense McCall Glacier, measured to have lost more than thirty feet in depth in the last forty years; the northward march of the dwarf willow, moving at a pace not seen in 8,000 years; the alarming decline of the muskox, forced to forage where their calves are vulnerable to predators. And the refuge is further threatened by oil development, which would forever unravel the delicate pattern of nature found here.
Award-winning photographer Subhankar Banerjee devoted two years of his life to documenting the land, its wild species, and its Native peoples. With Inupiat guide Robert Thompson, Banerjee traveled 4,000 miles through the refuge on foot and by raft, kayak, and snowmobile during all four seasons. With more than 200 breathtaking color images, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land makes this case: leaving the refuge intact in all its mysterious beauty is vital to the survival of this unique ecosystem. Banerjee's photos are paired with six essays and a foreword by former president Jimmy Carter.
Customer Reviews:
Environmentalists versus Big Oil interests.......2005-01-06
If you want to read a book about the environmentalists fighting big oil interests in NE Alaska, this book is for you...As was promised, it has very little to do with a computer scientist/photographer who supposedly quit his day job and barely avoided bankruptcy to write/photograph this book...The author is nothing more than a pawn of the Sierra Club to save the environment in NE Alaska who has thrown in some very nice pictures for effect...It's obvious that he has been heavily financed by outside interests with their own agenda...They are worried about drilling for oil and saving the pristine area...That doesn't stop them from driving their gas powered quad runners/snowmobiles through the previously pristine tundra...To top it off the Alaskan Eskimos show there appreciation for the animal kingdom by having their children dance on top of a dead whale while wearing a L.A. Lakers jersey...This book is hypocrisy at its finest...No thanks...
Beautiful book, sad exhibition.......2004-05-05
I bought this book because there was no other way to understand the photos that were on display at the Museum of Natural History. I was not alone; several people walked around Banerjee's exhibition with their books in hand. The curator had removed all descriptive labels, and the introductory plaque emphasized how small the Arctic refuge is compared to other such reserves throughout the country. The photos were mounted in a corridor leading to an elevator. It was poorly lit, and crowded with people passing through. It was in the back of the building, and hard to find. It was a startling contrast to the Eliot Porter exhibition in one of the main exhibition halls above the ground floor. That exhibition was well designed, well described, and included copies of books like "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson, hardly a neutral text. The only message I could take away was that environmentalism is "safe" to the Smithsonian curators only when it's at least 30 or 40 years old.
The treatment of Banerjee's photos was so troublesome that Congress held hearings on the matter. But no news report could compare to the feeling of being there, near the elevator.
I took the book home with me, trying to understand whether or not the poor installation was due to poor material or to poor museum administration. Banerjee's photos, and the stories and writings around the photos, are greatly compelling. The story of how hard he worked to get those photos, and of how in the process, he became a better photographer, stood out to me. I highly recommend the book, but I hope I have helped some enthusiasts know just how controversial the notion of natural beauty can be, and how the Smithsonian does play politics. Apparently, reading Banerjee's book can be considered an act of protest.
Entire US Congress Should read this Book.......2004-03-31
The entire US Congress should read this book before voting to allow oil drilling in ANWAR. The pictures alone make this book worth owning. I am ordering another copy for my daughter in Boston and will share my copy at a family reunion in April. It will be an important part of my extensive library.
captures the essence and grandeur.......2003-09-30
I am struck not only by the photographs but also the essays that convey just a sprinkling of what the ANWR is really like. But, what a sprinkling. I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the ANWR and many photographs are ones from places I haved hiked and people I have met. Many of the rivers shown are rivers I have been on. What I have not done is been there in the truly cold times and his photographs and words do great justice to those times. The drawbacks are few and perhaps it is nitpicking but there is a concentration of pictures taken on the Hula Hula. While the Hula Hula is a wonderful river to do, the Jago covers the heart of the calving grounds and the pictures there were in short supply. However, the pictures are inspiring and the only thing not captured is the sense of vastness that one gets setting foot in the ANWR. But, I have never seen a photograph that can capture that. For those who may never set foot in the ANWR, or even for those who have been there, this book is a must add to anyone's collection. The book does make me want to seek out the hot spring on the Okpilak River, however.
Kongakut, Icy Reef, Bernard Spit, Jago, Hula Hula, Kaktovik, Arctic Village, the bird life and animal life --all places I have been and things I have seen, and a wonderful book with which to revisit those places.
why I want to see this book.......2003-09-17
The is not a true review: indeed, I have not yet recived the book for Amazon.
I just came home from a dinner with Peter Mattiessen at the University of Tulsa, at which he spoke passionately of the phyiscal and finacinal effort Mr. Banerjee undertook to create this work, the reaction in Congress to the book, the pressure upon the Smithsonian and the American Muesum of American History to quash display of Mr. Banerjee's photographs, and his personal fears of deportation or worse by the Justice Department under the Patriot Act. A most frightening portral of the reach real or reasonably feared of this Adminstration when an individual, spcially an alien, dares question its motive. As Senator Stevens(R)Alaska, chair of the Senate Appropriate committee was reported to say to his colleages after Banerjee's testimony, and the Senate voted 52-48 against drilling in ANWR, "I know who you are and you will pay".
To cause such a reaction--it must be worth having.
Book Description
In one of the earth’s most amazing migrations, more than 100,000 caribou trek thousands of miles each year over high mountain ranges, through snowy passes, and across icy rivers. But they have to battle more than just the brutal elements. Hungry wolves, huge grizzly bears, human hunters, and hordes of bloodthirsty insects besiege the herd as it travels to its one safe haven—Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. There, those that survive the trip have a few peaceful weeks to give birth and prepare their calves for the harsh year ahead.
Karsten Heuer and his wife, Leanne Allison, are the only humans ever to become part of a caribou herd and join it on its arduous journey. They shared the same mind-numbing cold, the endless miles of physical hardship, and all the dangers along the route to chronicle the epic battle for survival these animals face. To keep up, they had to move, act, and even think like caribou. Karsten and Leanne’s incredible adventure gives us a window into a world that we have never seen before.
Book Description
Originally presented to Congress on March 28, 2001, this book brings together the latest word from key conservation leaders as well as firsthand accounts by Alaska residents on how they and neighboring wildlife would be affected should oil drilling proceed according to current plans. The book includes original pieces by Jimmy Carter, Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, Bill McKibben, Scott Russell Sanders, Rick Bass, and Terry Tempest Williams. All royalties from sales of Arctic Refuge — and an additional contribution from Milkweed Editions — will go to the Alaska Conservation Foundation.
Customer Reviews:
Send this book to everyone!.......2001-12-03
For those of us who are passionate about saving the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this book presents our best arguements -the stories are from the heart and the mind, and address so eloquently the importance of the fight we are waging. For those who are unsure about the current fight over oil exploration and oil drilling this is a must read - the words here explain why there is no such thing as safe oil drilling because it is the human imprinting that will destroy this sanctuary. Buy the book for friends and use it to encourage support for the continued protection of "America's Serengeti."
Praise for Arctic Refuge.......2001-08-07
Discover Magazine, August 2001: "In short (and sometimes quite moving) essays and poems, scientists, native Alaskans, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter warn against drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
San Francisco Chronicle, March 28, 2001: "...half a dozen of America's finest nature writers, our most distinguished ex-president and several members of the Gwich'in tribe are expected to gather on Capitol Hill and deliver "Arctic Refuge: A Circle of Testimony." If it succeeds, it may prove the most important book published all year."
Drilling in the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge.......2001-08-05
The president and vice-president along with the House of Representatives and a host of unindicted co-conspirators in the oil industry have proposed to explore and drill in a pristine 1.5 million-acre coastal plain in northeast Alaska. It is the calving grounds for the Porcupine River caribou head; a critical onshore polar bear denning area; one of the last available ranges for wolves, numerous fish and other wildlife and, as importantly, home to the Gwich'in Indian tribe which depends on the caribou for food, clothing and spiritual needs. This area has been described as the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge. The book is a collection of essays dealing with the dangers of drilling in ANWR written by some of the best and brightest individuals addressing the issue. There are radicals and prgmatists, advocates and experts, wildlife biologists, Native Americans, environmentalists, and former workers in the Alaskan oil industry. Contributors include Jimmy Carter, Barry Lopez, Rick Bass, WEndell Berry, Bill McKibben, Art Davidson and 25 other thinkers and doers that will make you wonder about not only this proposal but our so-called energy policy in the U.S. Jimmy Carter gives a presidentail perspective on the importance of preserving the Refuge which was created under republican president Eisenhower in 1960. R. Glendon Brunk writes of his experiences working on the north slope and tells of the effects of such oil exploration and drilling on the environment which is chilling and perhaps prophetic for ANWR. Faith Gemmill has a moving essay on the religious importance of the caribou to the Gwich'in Tribe and culture. I will not soon forget Sarah James recounting of British Petroleum's sensitivity to the Gwich'in tribes concerns: "It is inevitable that these Gwich'in people will have to change." Kim Heacox writes of Stephen Ambrose's visit to Alaska and his position that restoration of nature must be the theme of the 21st century. Not exactly a tree-hugging, radical this Ambrose guy. The book is important not only for its defense of ANWR but for the proposition that it is truly time to begin moving toward a sustainable energy policy in the U.S. Issues such as global warming, the need to preserve this tryly magnificent place, and the possibilities for a sustainable energy policy are all included. It is a perfect example of environmental issues being more that political issues. There are cultural, artistic and historic issues and this book will provide the reader with a wide range of ideas and proposals from many who view the world through other than political, or profiteering, lenses. There are no scare tactics or doomsday predictions here. Just an attempt to give a voice to a place that relatively few Americans know or have visited but is worth saving for future generations looking for one of the last best places. This is one of the most important books of the year. Highly recommended. Milkweed Editions is to be commended for making it available at such a reasonable cost and in a most timely manner.
Book Description
In the bestselling tradition of Into the Wild and The Last American Man, an intimate portrait of how one man and his family thrive in the most remote of American landscapes: Alaska's Arctic wilderness.
Hundreds of hardy people have tried to carve a living in the Alaskan bush, but few have succeeded as consistently as Heimo Korth. Originally from Wisconsin, Korth came to Alaska in his twenties, and he never left. Across the years, he's carved out a subsistence life like no other--a life bounded by the migrating caribou herds, by the dangers of suddenly swollen rivers, and by the very exigencies of daily survival.
Journalist James Campbell has spent two years documenting the lives of Heimo, his wife, Edna, and their teenage daughters, Rhonda and Krin, and he paints their portraits in vivid detail: evenings listening to the distant voices from the radio's Trapline Chatter show; months spent waiting for the odd small plane to bring supplies; years relying on hard-learned hunting and survival skills that are all that stand between the family and a terrible fate. But it's a complicated existence, too, of encroaching environmental pressures and the fear that this life might be disappearing forever--and how will his two teenage daughters react when one of them goes back to "civilization" for her high school years?
But always at the center there's Heimo Korth, a man who escaped a tough father and a circumscribed life, then reinvented himself in the Alaskan wilderness, only to witness the most unbearable of tragedies, a tragedy that keeps him and his family tied to this inhospitable and beautiful land forever.
By turns inspiring and downright jolting, James Campbell's extraordinary book reads like a rustic version of the American Dream--and reveals for the very first time a life undreamed of by most of us, outside of the mainstream, alone in a stunning wilderness that for now, at least, remains the final frontier.
Customer Reviews:
A must read.......2007-06-09
If you love adventure. If you love Alaska. Then you will love this book. A story that has it all. What an amazing family. I feel like I know them. A great story of sacrifice and adventure.
Much more than a story . . ........2007-02-28
Campbell's style of intermixing different time frames is most enjoyable, and kept reminding me that this wasn't just a tale, but about real people. It holds interest like the tales of the other frontiers people that we all know and love, but with much more reality - perhaps because it contains so very many of the human attributes - frustration, love, beauty, solace, tragedy, hardship, all interspersed with some extreme 'highs' that tend to remind us (me) how much our choices bring those same things, in greater or lesser degrees.
An Amazing Story!.......2006-05-16
The Final Frontiersman is a fascinating story of one man's personal journey from a difficult background in Wisconsin to the freedom and challenges of life in the most remote region in the U.S. The man, Heimo Korth, unexpectedly finds romance and a life partner - and establishes a close knit family while living outside the margins of what some call "civil society." A clear and wonderfully told story which unapologetically describes how Heimo and his native spouse, Edna, live a subsistence lifestyle - primarily on freshly killed, free-ranging caribou and moose. It also describes how swiftly tragedy can strike.
Beyond the surface, Frontiersman raises an interesting question about whether living a subsistence lifestyle - normally associated with destruction of wildife - is "bad" in the overall context of the ecological health of wildlife on the planet. This book caused me to reflect on the impact we urbanites have on wildlife as compared to the Korths: from bushmeat trade, to feed lots, to marine destruction caused by the use of fossil fuels. And yes - packaged meat is dead too.
It is an excellent read for anyone who wishes to understand how difficult, rewarding, and tragic frontier life can be - and how it can forge human relationships.
To the Korths.......2006-04-17
I just finished reading "The Final Frontiersman" and would recommend it to anyone. It's well-written, entertaining, and truly educational, not only about the hardships and joys of life in the Arctic bush but about the politics of Alaskan wilderness "preservation."
To the Korths: I admire your courage, sheer physical stamina, know-how, and determination to live life on your own terms. Would you be willing to provide an eiplogue to the book -- let your fans know how you're doing in town (Fairbanks or Center?), how the girls are doing in school and their path to adulthood, what Heimo is doing instead of trapping, how's Firth, etc. I am really rooting for your successful transition to town life and wish you the very best.
To Krin [assuming that the real Krin Korth wrote the last review about the bleeding hearts who are bothered by the concept of animal trapping]: Please don't take people's comments as a personal attack on you and your family, although I'm sure it's hard not to. People can be embarrassingly quick to rush in and judge things they know nothing about. You have lived more in your 17 or so years on this earth than people like that manage to live in 80. Be proud of all you learned in the bush from your amazing parents, because you'll carry that knowledge with you always.
Final Frontiersman.......2006-04-05
Most people do not understand what it is like to live in the bush, they are city people who just stay indoors most of their lives, they believe that people should not hunt or kill animals for their fur or for their meat, they read a book but dont like it becuase someone killed an animal in it, boo hoo.They are simpleminded people who dont know any better, natives and residents in Alaska do this everyday, and it most likely will no be changed for a long time, since they grew up around such things and live to do it every day. This book shows what it is really like in the Alaskan bush and if you dont like it, does it look like we care?
Book Description
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is at the center of the conflict between America’s demand for oil and nature at its most pristine. Three decades before the battle over oil development began, a group of visionary conservationists launched a controversial campaign to preserve a remote corner of Alaska. Their goal was unprecedented—to protect an entire ecosystem for future generations. Among these conservationists were Olaus and Margaret Murie, who became icons of the wilderness movement.
Last Great Wilderness chronicles their fight and that of their compatriots, tracing the transformation of this little-known expanse of mountains, forest, and tundra into a symbolic landscape embodying the ideals and aspirations that led to passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964.
Customer Reviews:
This is a truly wonderful book.......2007-03-09
While focused on the ANWR, this eloquent work has broad application. Kaye's careful analysis of what it took to mobilize disparate interests to reach a common goal, and of the constant attention that must be paid even after "success" is reached to avoid the same pro-development forces rewinding the clock, is instructive to every grassroots effort to protect our precious wild places. Well done at every level, and urgently needed as an organizing guide.
It's a top, recommended pick.......2006-09-24
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has for decades been at the center of the conflict between American needs for oil and nature's preservation, yet until now little has been provided in the way of a comprehensive history of how the Refuge came to be. LAST GREAT WILDERNESS: THE CAMPAIGN TO ESTABLISH THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE covers this history, from the early visionaries who set forth to save an entire ecosystem to the battles which led to the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. It's a top, recommended pick for any interested in wilderness preservation in general and Arctic or oil issues in particular.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Fine Account of People and Place.......2006-08-02
Establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was an epic struggle in conservation and remains a touchstone for many of us that prefer a hearty dose of wildness. In this book by Roger Kaye, the reader gains an appreciation of the place rightfully called the Last Great Wilderness, but perhaps more importantly we learn about the coalition of scientists, sportsmen, and wilderness lovers who were profoundly touched by this wild corner of Alaska and how they struggled to protect it.
The people involved in the campaign to protect what would become the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge read like a who's who of the early conservation movement. Among those described are the likes of Bob Marshall, Aldo Leopold, Olaus Murie, Mardy Murie, George Collins, and A. Starker Leopold. In those early days, no one knew what special designation was fitting for such land or which agency should manage it, let alone how to convince Congress or the President to act on its behalf.
One of the great lessons of this book is that despite long odds, persistence and dedication eventually pay off. Virginia Wood and Celia Hunter, two early Alaska advocates for protection, captured what I am certain was broad sentiment among conservationists at that time and even today, they wrote: "conservation gets so many setbacks...it is easy to get discouraged and feel that individuals or small groups are impotent in the machinations of `bigness' that plague the modern world."
Today, we are the beneficiaries of their unselfish vision and dedication. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is indeed the last great wilderness, stretching for more than 19 million acres - about 9 times the size of Yellowstone National Park - plus adjoining parks on the Canadian side. Roger Kaye's fine book reminds us not only why such an area was protected but why it is vital that we not lose this vision of a place where nature still plays out her natural rhythms in tune to forces yet only partially understood by scientists and philosophers.
The Definitive History of the Establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.......2006-07-31
As conservationists continue the prolonged struggle to protect the Arctic Refuge from oil development and other encroachments, the epic story of the campaign to establish the original Arctic National Wildlife Range, documented in Last Great Wilderness, now provides new inspiration and deeper understanding of why the Refuge should remain protected. This is an invaluable resource for all who will face the battles that lie ahead because in revealing the idealism and values upon which the Arctic Refuge was founded, it provides the most persuasive arguments for keeping it wild. While Last Great Wilderness is a thoroughly researched and authoritative history of the conflict, it is at the same time an absorbing, hard-to-put-down story. Color and black and white historical photos lend interest.
Last Great Wilderness shows how conservation pioneers George Collins, Lowell Sumner, Olaus and Mardy Murie, Starker Leopold, Justice William O. Douglas, and Sigrud Olson united with Ginny Wood, Celia Hunter and other Alaskans to forge a highly effective strategy of grass roots action on a national scale. Their successful struggle set a number of milestones in conservation history: establishment of the nation's first vast ecosystem-scale conservation unit and the first administered as an adventuring ground--a place for the kind of challenging, self-reliant, and exploratory journeys that Bob Marshall had extolled. The Arctic Range exemplified the wild values and recreational opportunities its advocates soon succeeded in enshrining in the wilderness Act of 1964. The victory laid the groundwork for the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
While Last Great Wilderness is about what happened in the past, like any history, it was written to serve the future. For those who believe the vision, values, and ideals that led to the Arctic Refuge's establishment should guide its future stewardship, Last Great Wilderness will be an invaluable guide. And for those interested in the evolution of the wilderness movement, and especially its influence upon Alaskan conservation efforts, this book is a must-read.
A PhD in wilderness studies, Roger Kaye has been the Arctic Refuge's wilderness specialist and pilot since 1985.
Last Great Wilderness is a Great Read.......2006-07-30
"Last Great Wilderness is the story of the beliefs and values, the ideas and idealism, and the hopes and concerns for the future that inspired the leaders of the campaign and many of their followers. (LGW, review copy, p. xv) Because the national campaign for establishment covered the period from 1950-1960, Arctic NWR serves also as tracer for the evolution of the Wilderness concept and the 1964 legislation establishing America's National Wilderness Preservation System. The Arctic NWR campaign, in its broadest context, involved many famous names in environmental conservation annals--Olaus and Margaret "Mardie" Murie, George Collins, Lowell Sumner, A. Starker Leopold, F. Fraser Darling, Howard Zahnizer, and others. The foundational vision came from Collins and Sumner, but the Muries helped steer the campaign at critical periods and obtained broad support for the proposal in Alaska, a feat worthy of Hercules.
Make no mistake; Last Great Wilderness will help readers understand the significance of this largest and most threatened refuge in our U.S. Refuge System. The book presents the hopes and dreams of the visionaries who worked so hard and so well for its creation. It presents the compromises that had to be made, and it gives context to the International, scientific, wilderness, fish and wildlife, cultural, and landscape-level ecological values for which the refuge stands, thereby creating a preeminent symbol of freedom, "...freedom from the crowding and pollution of our cities, freedom to continue, unhindered and forever if we are willing, the particular story of Planet Earth unfolding here--freedom for us as well who need to come to the few out-of-the-way places still remaining where we can breathe freely, be inspired, and understand a little of the majestic story of evolution... ."
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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska Geographic,)
Manufacturer: Alaska Geographic Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Northslope (Alaska Geographic)
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Moose, Caribou and Musk Ox (Alaska Geographic, V.23 No. 4)
ASIN: 1566610125 |
Book Description
Alaska Geographic is an award-winning series that presents the people, places, and wonders of Alaska to the world. Over the past 30 years, Alaska Geographic has earned its reputation as the publication for those who love Alaska. The series boasts more than 100 books to date, featuring communities from Barrow to Ketchikan, animals from bears to dinosaurs, history from the Russian explorers to today, and natural phenomena from the aurora to glaciers. Written by leading experts in their fields, these books are illustrated throughout with world-class photography and include colorful maps for reference.
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Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges: Alaska & the Pacific Northwest: Alaska, Oregon, Washington (Audubon Guides to the National Wildlife Refuges)
Loren Mac Arthur , and
Debbie Miller
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges: California&HI: California, Hawaii, and Midway Island (Audubon Guides to the National Wildlife Refuges)
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Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges: New England: Connecticut, Mane, Massachussetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont (Audubon Guides to the National Wildlife Refuges)
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Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges: South Central (Audubon Guides to the National Wildlife Refuges)
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Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges: Southwest: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas (Audubon Guides to the National Wildlife Refuges)
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Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges: Rocky Mountains: Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming (Audubon Guides to the National Wildlife Refuges)
ASIN: 0312253729 |
Amazon.com
Alaska, that place of superlatives, harbors only 16 of the United States' more than 500 national wildlife refuges--but those Alaskan refuges, all but two of them roadless, add up to an area half the size of Texas, with one refuge alone taking in more land than the state of West Virginia. The states of the Pacific Northwest comprise another 38 refuges, all but 10 of them open to public visitation. The refuges protect an astonishing range of plant and animal species, from the marine mammals and shorebirds of Washington's San Juan Islands to the spotted owls, jumping mice, and bobcats of Oregon's Willamette Valley. Naturalists Loren MacArthur and Debbie Miller point the way to these essential places, offering notes on when and where to travel and what to do and see when you arrive. --Gregory McNamee
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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land
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