Park University Books

Even though my copy was 30 years old, the roads and trails are essentially the same. Besides the book was cheap and in very good shape. It contains just what I wanted, detailed maps showing the roads, trails, peaks, shelters, ranger stations, lakes, rivers, streams, beaches, campgrounds, glaciers, swamps, park boundaries, resorts, buildings, etc. Additionally, the mileages to significant points along all the major roads and trails are listed with brief descriptions. The pictures are black and white.

As its title suggests, this edited collection examines the role of science in U.S. national parks, and how scientific concerns do or do not affect policy. It provides a more balanced discussion of this topic than others, and it provides evidence from a much wider range of parks.

Many other authors who have addressed this topic complain about science being ignored by park management. This book has those stories, too, as when a non-scientist crew killed rare plants in Indiana Dunes to protect them from a boardwalk enlargement project. Against this background, however, it's really good to see case studies in which management actually values science. Isle Royale's support for the wolf-moose study is probably the best example but park responsiveness to recreation science's analysis of how people use parks provide a good social science example that differs from the natural science focus of most books on this topic. Other chapters show how long-standing studies of Death Valley hydrology or Grand Canyon air quality helped the National Park Service win legal and policy struggles over particular resources in the parks.

Especially welcome is a chapter (on Saguaro NP) in which we even see a case of park management relying on bad science, since shown to be incorrect. That is certainly a healthy reminder to all scientists that sometimes it's good to be ignored!

The editors struggle to find broad themes among this diverse material and end up with five commonplaces: ecosystems are dynamic, no park is an island, knowledge is better than ignorance, sustained research yields secrets that short studies do not, and research must be cooperative effort. While the editors might not have ended up with profound conclusions, they certainly did a good job choosing a diverse set of papers on a range of scientific issues and a collection of less-studied parks. If you're interested in science in the national parks, you'll certainly want to take a look at this book.

There seems to be a never-ending flow of books about the constant battle over the use of American public lands, especially in the West. This is one of the better efforts to explain the issues that precipitate such battles and the consequences for the public.
The author has chosen to tell the story of the changing users and shifting policies regarding the million-acre desert wonderland in southeastern Utah known as the San Rafael Swell and the actions of the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency responsible for its protection.
The book is timely given the current political and environmental battles between county commissioners and environmental activists, the never-ending conflicts over water rights, and the issue of recreation vs. preservation vs. grazing and mining rights that is currently being debated in the Swell. This is a must-read for those interested in the ultimate uses or misuses of public land in the West. The Swell is little known generally but for those few that know its beauty it is becoming a battle ground. Many fear it is already to late. You be the judge.

This book is really fascinating.
To me.
It almost certainly wouldn't be to everyone, but to those who are borderline-obsessed with the history of southern Utah, this book is a must read.
Each chapter contains the reminiscings of a particular cowboy or cowgirl who grew up near Cataract Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, and upper Glen Canyon.
One features a woman who was once a little girl on her father's ranch, and who slips casually into a comment on her ghostly spirit protector that accompanies her everywhere. Another talks candidly about the environmental problems of southern Utah being very real...even if he did spend his whole lif ehating environmentalists. Some talk about Butch Cassidy, and others talk about grazing and overgrazing.
The book is worth your money just for the account of Ned Chaffin--King of the Cowboy Storytellers--and all the other accounts are very entertaining as well, and offer good insights into the place names of southern Utah, and the Anglo history of the area.

In the 1990s, many people were horrified by TV pictures of hunters and Montana state officials shooting bison as they wandered out of Yellowstone National Park. Acting on behalf of its ranching industry, which fears that bison - - but, interestingly, not elk - - will transmit brucellosis to their cattle. Over a thousand bison have been killed this way in the last decade or so.

If you want to know how we ended up in this position, this is the book for you. Franke provides a history of Yellowstone's bison, park management of those bison, and the policies of other federal and state agencies that have led to the annual bison slaughter. She covers the topic well, and takes a critical stance toward all the players involved.

Though Franke makes her own views clear, there is enough information her for you to disagree with her - - the mark of a good book, to my mind.

A great book that gives a good insight in the geology, mythology, history flora and fauna of the National Park.

This autobiography, supported by extensive documentation, depicts the Wetherill brothers as men who became totally committed to the scientific study of the Anasazi culture of Mesa Verde.Unlike the portrayal of early 20th century histotians, who accused the brothers of plundering the dwellings and felt the Wetherills were mere pot hunters, Al sets the record straight, and supports it with factual materials. Another interesting volume (not in the Amazon inventory) is "Anasazi, the Biography of Richard Wetherill." As a distant relative of the men, I found both works to accurately depict life in the Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon areas in the 1890'

The title of Murie's book is far too restrictive to represent the full range of its contents. While the longest single chapter of the book is, indeed, devoted to the habits and ranges of wolves, including their interrelationships with other species inhabiting the huge national park surrounding Mt. McKinley (or Denali, as it is more popularly known in Alaska), other chapters deal with many other animals native to the region. Among those studied rather intensively are Dall sheep, caribou, moose and fox. Two rather brief chapters give sketches of grizzly bear and golden eagle as well. A more inclusive title for this study might have been "The Fauna of Mount McKinley."

First published in 1944, this book is a record of observations made by an astute naturalist bent upon discovering how the animals live, what they eat, where they range, when they give birth, and, most importantly, how they feed upon one another to maintain a healthy and natural population balance. Not a few myths about prey and predator are dispelled by Murie's objective observations, which include examining the contents of scats and stomachs.

Murie does not preach environmentalism, but a careful reading of this book should leave the reader with new insights into the natural world and may make him or her just a little more hesitant to intrude destructively into what is actually a highly complex interrelationship among many species inhabiting the few wild spaces left to them. Murie's approach to his study is highly objective and non-judgmental, however, and another reader could probably come away with insights different from mine. Still, I can scarcely conceive of any reader's coming away from this book with no new insight of some sort!

If one is particularly intrigued by the great grizzly bear, I recommend that he also read Murie's work entitled "The Grizzlies of Mount McKinley," for it goes into far more detail than does the single chapter on grizzlies in this book. Before investing the purchase price and the reading time in either book, do understand that these are not "story books" and that they are in no way sentimental or emotive approaches to their subjects. They are highly descriptive, scantily illustrated with old black and white photos from the early 1940's, and, at times, recite fairly dry statistical observations. Overall, however, they are well worth the investment by anyone who has an interest in the wild creatures that still inhabit the less-traveled areas of North America.

I read this book years ago and just re-read it now. I found it as wonderful the second time as the first. As an adopted child, the underlying "who is family" question throughout the book really hit home and was handled beautifully. I think it would be an excellent book for anyone in a book club - definitely a book great for discussion.

This is the best book I have read for a while. So many are carbon copies of others with just different characters. This was a story with real people and a real premise. I enjoyed it from the first page through the end and highly recommend it.

The characters in this book were well developed- but there were so MANY of them!

I wanted to make a Family Tree just to keep them all straight!

If you've never tried listening to Aduio Books, you should give them a try- they're WONDERFUL entertainment while doing housework, traveling, gardening, and you don't have to turn on the light when you want to "read" at night!

I was really looking forward to reading this because a friend highly recommended it. I'm pretty open minded (especially after having read "Running with Scissors") so I'm surprised it didn't enjoy it.

The characters were well developed but the writing was hard to follow. Hence, I too, caught myself re-reading portions to clear up the confusion. A lot of tangents...kind of like conversations with girlfriends over a few glasses of wine.

Being from Madison, it's always nice to read references to places you know but even that didn't excite me that much. I wonder if I had been involved in an adoption issue that I might not have found this a better book? Hmmmm.

The best part was the last chapter and Keefer's voice of a child having gone through a tough life experience. A good reminder of how resillient children really are.

I will try another couple of Mitchard's books to see if this was indeed an "editor" related issue.

What an unsatisfactory read.

There are several pieces of information that just aren't threaded together. Some of the behaviors of the characters have no motivation.

Sad. It couldn've been a great book.

This book is a nice BASIC introduction for those who know nothing about what interpretation is in relation to a museum. I found it very dry and outdated. The author tries to spice it up a bit with humor and examples of national parks but all in all, i would not recommend it.

When one need to study and learn the basics, this is the original guidebook on guiding! The text is almost quaint (written in the 50's) as are the pictures, but there are still nuggets worth mining.

I found myself highlighting the "do"s and "don't"s that are now features in other fields such as marketing and customer service. There aren't many reference books on the subject of interpretation, so this is a good place to start.

Ok, so in parts you can definitely tell this book was written in the 50's. However most of it is still extremely valid, and extremely useful. I would not hesitate to reccomend it, a very good read for interpreters or interpreters in training.

It's a decent, reasonable somewhat giddy book on interpreting the natural world. It is also practically required that National Park Service ranger's follow Tilden's principles for interpretation. So if you ever want to be a National Park Service Ranger, it'd be great to have this under your belt!

Interpretation is the art of making what is presented meaningful to the audience. This book is useful for anyone who wants to get others interested in a subject, whether it is for a presentation, an art exhibit, or the local park's visitor center. If an exhibit, lecture, presentation, or tour does or does not get you interested in the topic, this book will explain most of the reasons why. This is all sound wisdom, offered in the context of museums and national parks. It's easy to read and engaging, employing the principles within.

I. Talk about what is being desplayed/described to the personality or experience of the visitor.
II. Interpretation is revelation based on information.
III. Interpretation is an art.
IV. The goal is provocation, not instruction.
V. Try to present the whole instead of the part.
VI. Don't just dumb it down for kids.
Tilden elaborates on these beautifully, with nice examples.

After reading this book not only do I know how to improve upon my own interpretation, but I can critique other interpretation and at least know when to appreciate a good display when I see one. Just remember that there are more than 6 principles. Use this book to start thinking about interpretation as a skill and an art, instead of the bible of interpretation.

Interpretation for the 21st Century: Fifteen Guiding Principles for Interpreting Nature and Culture is an updated version recommended to me but I haven't read it yet.