Our Threatened Inheritance

Fülszöveg

te "Rising around us was the most sublime, most astonishing scenery I had ever seen. A waterfali tumbled from a gránité cliff, turning to mist as it feli," writes author Ron Fisher of the splendors of Yosemite National Park. America's national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management holdings, and other federally owned areas encompass more than 700 millión acres -nearly one-third of the country. These lands are our natural treasures, rich in resources as well as wildlife and scenic beauty. Eloquent and thought-provoking, Our Threatened Inheritance chronicles the history of our federal lands, their many uses, and the laws and policies that affect them. It illuminates the problems these areas face and explores possible solutions. For a close look at complex issues, Ron Fisher and photographer James P. Blair spent a year visiting federal holdings throughout the nation, somé of them familiar, somé little known. In Everglades National Park they saw how disruptions... Tovább

Fülszöveg

te "Rising around us was the most sublime, most astonishing scenery I had ever seen. A waterfali tumbled from a gránité cliff, turning to mist as it feli," writes author Ron Fisher of the splendors of Yosemite National Park. America's national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management holdings, and other federally owned areas encompass more than 700 millión acres -nearly one-third of the country. These lands are our natural treasures, rich in resources as well as wildlife and scenic beauty. Eloquent and thought-provoking, Our Threatened Inheritance chronicles the history of our federal lands, their many uses, and the laws and policies that affect them. It illuminates the problems these areas face and explores possible solutions. For a close look at complex issues, Ron Fisher and photographer James P. Blair spent a year visiting federal holdings throughout the nation, somé of them familiar, somé little known. In Everglades National Park they saw how disruptions of the water supply may destroy a subtropical wilderness. In the Dakotas they learned that prairie wetlands are rapidly disappearing. At a wildlife refuge in Texas, barges carrying toxic chemicals pass within 50 yards of feeding whooping cranes, one of the world's most endangered species. In the Southwest, strip-mining on BLM lands imperils ancient Indián sites. And in the West, heavily visited parks are in danger of being "loved to death." Everywhere, Fisher and Blair met government employees, environmentalists, and others who are concemed about our priceless heritage and are striving to preserve it. And to the question "How do we make the best and wisest use of the remaining federal lands?" they found no easy answers. The Society's benchmark book about the federal lands in the final quarter of the 20th century, Our Threatened Inheritance celebrates our natural treasures in more than 300 evocative color photographs. Frothing waters of Yosemite Falls plunge 2,425 feet in Califomia s Yosemite National Park. ^íkf w m JfÁ W f > Á Jm r% te* JU Vissza