Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park [Hardcover]

Alston Chase (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1986

Chase asserts that Yellowstone is being destroyed by the very people assigned to protect it: the National Park Service. Named as one of “ten books that mattered” in the 1980s by Outside magazine and a book of continuing crucial relevance. Index; map.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beavers have disappeared; their prime food, aspen and willow, have drastically declined. Cougars, bobcats and wolves are no longer here, victims of predator control from earlier times. Deer, moose and bighorn sheep are scarce; black bears are seldom seen by visitors, and the grizzly is threatened with extinction. Meanwhile, bison and elk flourish, to the detriment of rangeland. Wildlife management in Yellowstone has been under fire for decades. Chase reviews the park's history and examines vacillating policies and political pressures that affect the park's management. Attracting visitors is the overriding priority, he finds; their safety is the guiding philosophy, and rangers are mere policemen. Chase tells the story of Grant Village, a development sited in prime grizzly habitat; he discusses the friction between rangers and naturalists, the exclusion of university biologists (though geologists are welcome). Current wildlife policy stresses the "intact ecosystem" i.e., no interference with nature; consequently, bison infected with brucellosis, sheep with "pink-eye" go untreated and stranded animals are left ot die. This policy is supported by major environmental groups. Chase, who heads an education program at Yellowstone, has written an explosive study. First serial to the Atlantic and Outside magazine.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Chase argues convincingly that Yellowstone National Park is slowly being destroyed. He details how the Park Service's preservationist policies have driven most of the native wildlife from the park, while allowing some animals to propagate far beyond the land's capacity to sustain them. He meticulously documents his charges, showing how easily science can be subverted by politics and ideology. Surprisingly, environmentalists are implicated in the destruction. Chase critiques, with devastating effect, the multitude of organizations that have made a religion of protecting the environment, while ignoring the fundamental question of man's place in nature. A challenging, compellingly readable account. Highly recommended. Randy Dykhuis, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, Mich.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 446 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr; 1st edition (May 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871130254
• ISBN-13: 978-0871130259
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #553,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars God's Playground for Man to Feel in Control, February 19, 2000

By 

Trevor M. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park (with an Epilogue by the Author) (Paperback)

Chase presents an interesting history of Yellowstone National Park and its human destroyers/protectors. Chase shows the reader how good intentions sometimes do pave the way to bad experiences and worse results. Who could have imagined a national park having fences put up to keep wild animals in? Who would have thought that park rangers would decide that the beavers' dams were too destructive? From my own travels, there is still evidence of beavers and their dams, yet at one point this was nill. That's just one example. Wolves were destroyed because they were seen as a horrible threat, yet now wolves have been reintroduced with brand new controversy. When will we stop playing God? Did we ever not play God in this/and other parks? This is a great read for someone who has interest in national parks and the salvation of these "natural lands." Read it with questions forming, and then go find other sources to answer your questions. This is just one person's research/view point, but Chase gives us a lot to consider and look into. When is it right for humans to interfere? Or is it ever right?

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The uncomfortable truth, June 26, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park (with an Epilogue by the Author) (Paperback)

I first learned of this book when I was working as a volunteer fire fighter in Northern California back in 1989. The subject came up one evening and the dinner table polarized between the Park Service/Forestry workers and the "environmentalist" crowd. (I was just helping out because my house was at risk from the fire and didn't fit into either camp.) The environmentalists hated the book while the professional forestry managers tried to explain to them that Chase had a lot of good points. I was curious enough to seek out the book to read and learned a lot. Chase's main point is that you can't have it both ways - if you don't want to manage these areas actively you are going to end up with the destruction of habitat and species you were trying to avoid - and proves his case in detail using the Yellowstone disaster as an example. His more recent book, In a Dark Wood, provides more evidence (including a depressing acount of how the unmanged elk herds in Yellowstone are destroying entire ecosystems...

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a book that makes you really think....what did we do?, September 21, 2005

By 

Nikitaswlfspirit (NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park (with an Epilogue by the Author) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book if you are a wildlife biologist or avid wildlife observer. The author does bash the Park Service quite severely, but in all honesty - look into the overall history of the Park Service - he isn't off by far. I truly enjoyed his personal point of view. If you are looking for just a history type book, this really isn't it. This is more of a personal account, more than it is strictly history based about the park service/yellowstone. Highly recommended for those of you with an open mind and a deep concern for our wildlife and national parks.