"At the heart of our land and wildlife problems lies the fact that…we are still protecting wild places much as we did in the years when Clagett, Langford, and Theodore Roosevelt were at work. Congress, the White House, the state and wildlife agencies, and even private conservation groups are continuing to draw boundaries around wildlands with the presumption that everything that lies within those boundaries will be safe and sound. Study after study has shown that this approach is not working, yet we rarely trifle with the idea that our initial premises might be wrong, that we started out at square one and blundered off in the wrong direction.…" —Roger DiSilvestro from Reclaiming the Last Wild Places
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Conservationist DiSilvestro ( The Endan gered Kingdom: The Struggle To Save America's Wildlife, LJ 5/15/89) builds a carefully argued case for shifting from a public-lands policy of protecting remnant wild fragments and endangered species in response to crisis situations to managing for biodiversity in the first place. The present system makes preserving biodiversity impossible because it ignores ecosystem integrity and gives privileges to commercial interests. DiSilvestro argues for a new approach employing a technique called gap analysis to identify "unprotected species or wild communities by indirect evidence of plant life." Species diversity can then be maintained by constructing ecological corridors connecting isolated wild places. DiSilvestro outlines the federal legislation required to carry out this program and the enhanced scientific curriculum necessary to ensure its long-term support. Essential for school and academic libraries and all but the smallest public libraries.
- Joan Elbers, Montgomery Coll., Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Joan Elbers, Montgomery Coll., Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
DiSilvestro (Living with the Reptiles, 1990, etc.) draws on a number of cutting-edge ecotheories to fashion this strong critique of our nation's pitiful handling of its wild areas. Everywhere DiSilvestro looks he sees problems with our public spaces: National forests manipulated by timber interests; public mineral deposits essentially given away to mining operators; public rangeland at the mercy of bovine hooves--even park concessionaires in on the action with outrageous fee structures. But to the author, one problem stands out as more insidious, less in the public spotlight, and graver by far than greed and corruption: the fragmentized nature of our wilderness holdings, which fails to provide corridors between wild places. Corridors are strips of wildland--bridges--between protected areas, fundamental to ensuring everything from biodiversity (of which DiSilvestro speaks with the lucidity of an E.O. Wilson) to shelter from the many storms that beset wildlife. These corridors can be as small as an underpass or as large as any Montana valley, but without them loss of species will continue at the appalling rate it does today, when animal and plant extinction within our park system is a nasty little secret. DiSilvestro not only addresses why we should be protecting all that remains of the wild--discussing preservation in its spiritual (ancientness of life), emotional (immersion in nature), and practical (pharmaceuticals) aspects--but he goes on to outline a modest proposal for biodiversity protection. A wealth of current ecological thinking that will prove a gold mine to those behind in their reading, with enough new material to keep the well-versed interested. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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