Park University Books

Road to the Rapids will prove of interest to Canadian historians and residents as well as those studying local spiritual history: it recounts the role of the Anglican Church in the social development of 19th century St. Andrews, examining the church's involvements in the community and its attitudes towards indigenous populations. An intriguing survey of church involvements in an emerging community.

Enos A. Mills was known as "the father of Rocky Mountain National Park." After spending years as a guide in the Estes Park area, making hundreds of ascents of Longs Peak, and then purchasing and operating the famous Longs Peak Inn, he became an advocate for various conservation and nature appreciation causes, most notably with the National Forest Service. Mills criss-crossed the country giving speeches (actually basically the same speech countless times), outlining the history of the Forest Service and relating his own personal experiences in the wild. A controversial figure (he seemed to have an uncanny ability to make enemies wherever he went), he eventually broke with Gifford Pinchot's Forest Service and began campaigning to make the Estes Park region a national park. Tireless in all things he put his mind to, Mills wrote hundreds of articles and a half-dozen books about (especially) the natural wonders of the Rocky Mountain region. In 1915 Rocky Mountain National Park became a reality.

This book collects a number of nature articles Mills wrote and had published in various magazines (The Saturday Evening Post was a favorite publication). Subjects include wild sheep, mountain lakes, the grizzly bear, beavers, reforestation, the Chinook wind, and some personal adventures (one involving a trip over the San Juans between Ouray and Silverton on a "mountain pony"). Mills makes his presence felt in all the articles, and he has the ability to make the reader feel privileged to be in his company. Unconcerned with bookish information, he would much rather relate what he's seen and learned with his own eyes. Some of the articles are a bit self-serving in their unwavering praise for the Rocky Mountain NP region, but he can be excused pushing his pet project so diligently. Mills's mountain adventures in all seasons and conditions are legendary, and anyone with a hankering for first-hand mountain experiences from a master naturalist will find this book a pleasure to read.

In this book, former National Park Service (NPS) scientist Karl Hess argues that the NPS has damaged the environment of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) by failing to deal with an overabundance of elk. Without natural predators such as wolves, these elk have eaten all the available forage, such as young willows and aspen. These trees have been unable to remain in their former range, where they have been replaced by stands of ponderosa pines (among other trees). Their loss also affects habitat for beavers, ptarmigans, black bears, and many other animals. The harm to beavers is particularly damaging, leading to the destruction of the park's meadows and wetlands.

It's quite an indictment, and Hess makes it forcefully. He explains the ecological consequences of having too many elk in accessible terms.

He's much weaker on what to do about the elk. He doesn't explicitly advocate shooting the elk, though that solution certainly comes to mind (and once was used). Hess recommends handing the park over to a conservation trust whose incentives would differ from those of the NPS. It's easy to pick that apart, and he hasn't thought it through in sufficient detail.

Despite the weak policy recommendations, this is rightfully a classic book among critics of the NPS and its management. Tourism and local economic development take precedence over the natural resources in the park.

Recommended for college-level students of ecology and anthropology alike is Christine J. Walley's Rough Waters: Nature And Development In An East African Marine Park. While Walley's topic may seem narrow initially, Rough Waters examines important struggles over access to and use of natural resources, using the Mafia Island Marine Park in Tanzania as a study reflective of world concerns and issues. Walley is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at MIT: her story of a park which became the center of political conflict during its creation in the mid-1990s holds wide-reaching implications for world ecology issues.

Charles Geilich has done it again with his new novel, Running for the Bench. Mr. Geilich's writing style is witty, articulate and intelligent. He has managed to make his protagonist, Norman Spiczek, likeable, in spite of the fact that he is a lawyer. The story flows effortlessly as it draws you into the professional and personal life of Mr. Spiczek. You will find yourself championing his cause from the very beginning. I couldn't put the book down until I had finished reading it. It truly captivated me. I loved this book and would highly recommend it!

Many Americans think a visit to a National Park might allow them to escape the world of capitalism. However Selling Yellowstone: Capitalism and the Construction of Nature explains that it is not possible. Mark Barringer, an assistant professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, details how the forces of capitalism have been shaping the national parks since Yellowstone's designation in 1872. The book chronicles the history of concessions and park policy in from the park's beginning, focusing on a concessionaire monopoly built by Harry W. Child near the turn of the 20th century and carried on by his family after his death. Early on, Child built lavish hotels that catered to wealthy Easterners arriving by rail. His stagecoaches transported guests to each major point of interest with a hotel nearby, including Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. These stately edifices became just as much an attraction as the park's natural phenomena.
The advent of automobiles ushered in a more egalitarian era of National Park tourism. The middle class took advantage of its new found mobility and started visiting the national parks, symbols of national pride and a way to get "back to nature." This group of tourists largely shunned the park hotels, viewing them as snobbish, and instead camped. With the coming of motorization, National Parks became places of expected recreation instead of just scenery (58).
Selling Yellowstone illustrates that during its first 40 years the NPS and concessionaires were partners in park management and that public opinion largely determined park policies. However, in the 1950s and 1960s attitudes about what national parks should be began to change. During that period, wilderness advocates became more influential, arguing that parks were "pristine wilderness whose inherent value was threatened by alteration" (147). By the early 1960s public opinion was divided between what national park policy was better - accommodation or preservation. At this time, Barringer explains, the NPS and its concessionaires were faced with "molding a landscape with expectations impossible to fulfill" (162).
Barringer's thesis is clearly that the NPS and its concessionaires presented their product to fit the perceptions of the natural setting prominent at the time. Early Yellowstone concessionaires created an idyllic form of nature that would appeal to tourists. Throughout the volume Barringer illustrates the key role advertisements and presentations, either by the concessionaires or the NPS, had in shaping public opinion.
The volume, however, suffers from poor word choice throughout. For instance, Barringer overuses the word mythology. The word means anything to him. He definitely stretches too far when stating that campfire programs give a "mythological connection to nature." Campfire programs actually can give the audience a connection with nature. Such presentations educate on key environmental and policy issues, which inspire their listeners to take better care of national parks. Alternate word choices instead of mythology could have been "imagined," "perceived," "idealistic" or "preconceived." Adding to the word choice problem, Barringer redundantly emphasizes his thesis, even using some of the same words. Reading such statements over again becomes tiresome.
Despite its weaknesses, the volume presents an excellent history of National Park policy with Yellowstone's concessionaires as the focal point. Readers get an idea of what was happening in other major national parks like Yosemite, Mount Ranier and Glacier during the same time period. The book demonstrates thoroughly that no policy or idea in history is static. Each generation reinterprets what is ideal and seeks to obtain gratification through that ideal.

Thankfully, the days are long gone when anyone could seriously propose to build huge dams in a national park or a wilderness area, but as recently as 40 years ago this actually happened -- twice! In this book Professor Mark Harvey tells the story of the US Bureau of Reclamation's proposal in 1949 to build Echo Park Dam in the magnificent canyons of Dinosaur National Monument (Utah), and how concerned citizens got organized and persuaded the US Congress to say No. (There was a repeat ten years later with proposed dams in the Grand Canyon.)

Professor Harvey analyzes the diverse political forces that clashed in this first big campaign of the wilderness movement. He traces how citizens' groups unaccustomed to controversy got their act together and seized the attention of the national public, at a time when few people had even heard of the wilderness idea. He shows how eloquent citizen leaders such as Howard Zahniser and David Brower collaborated, and how a few courageous legislators took up the cause on Capitol Hill.

There were many legislative battles like this one in the years that followed, but this was the first big one, and Mark Harvey tells the story well.

Takhoma: Ethnography Of Mount Rainier National Park is a scholarly compilation and record of the archaeological past and ethnographic study of Mount Rainier, also known as "Takhoma". Drawing upon both pre-existing data and literature concerning Mount Rainier and extensive interviews with elderly Native Americans, Takhoma covers native toponymy, tribal identities and boundaries, camp sites and structures, native trails, and trade. Black-and-white maps and extensive notes round out this scholarly, in-depth reference written with an eye toward completeness and accuracy.

Robinson clearly gives an excellent description of the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous. He describes the development of this program through the years, provides stories of alocholics, as well as the benefits of 12-Step programs. This book really helped me to understand the basics of Alcoholics Anonymous without technical jargon and confusing words. Robinson kept the book simple yet extremely detailed in every sense

This is a good recap of the dream season the Terps went through. The pictures are clear and the articles are pretty interesting.. but the best part is page 120 where front and center with red-painted face and mouth wide open is.... ME! I'm famous now. You should buy this so I can get some royalty checks or something.