The Roadless Yaak: Reflections and Observations About One of Our Last Great Wilderness Areas [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Rick Bass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2002

An important book about the rich, yet fragile ecosystem in the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For anyone interested in protecting wild places."--Big Sky Journal

"One of the more important books of the year." --The Montana Standard

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

This collection of essays about the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana brings to life the wilderness and isolation, exhilaration and trepidation that visitors (and residents) encounter here. The million-acre Yaak Valley is home to only 150 people but untold numbers of elk, deer, grizzly bears, cougars, and other critters, big and small. An astonishing 175,000 acres remain roadless in this remote area near the Canadian border. Read about a mother who spends Thanksgiving weekend in the Yaak with her children. "...the Yaak is where my children and I together, have fallen headlong into the glory of the unfamiliar, into the last of the planet's wilderness, the unpredictability of the natural landscape, the authentic hush possible only away from the clamor" ("Traveling Close to Home," Debra Gwartney). You will learn about a teacher who is torn between the world beyond the Yaak and the life he has come to know: mountains, thick forests, snow, and bears. And you will learn why we as a people must protect wilderness like this for future generations.

Contributors include: Todd Tanner, William McKibben, Gregory McNamee, Jeff Ferderer, Amy Edmonds, Scott Daily, Laurie Lane-Zucker, Sue Halpern, Tim Linehan, Debra Gwartney, Bob Shacochis, Doug Peacock, Annick Smith, Bill Kittredge, Jim Fergus. (6 1/4 x 9 1/4, 256 pages)Rick Bass is the author of seventeen books of fiction and nonfiction, including a novel, Where The Sea Used To Be, and a short story collection, The Hermit's Story, as well as The Book of Yaak and Winter. He is a board member of the Yaak Valley Forest Council, Montana Wilderness Association, Round River Conservation Studies, and Cabinet Resource Group.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• ISBN-10: 1585745456
• ASIN: B0007XAWE4
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,468,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redefining Wilderness, September 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Roadless Yaak: Reflections and Observations About One of Our Last Great Wilderness Areas (Hardcover)

A valuable collection of diverse voices bearing witness to the last of the last: a small but ecologically rich valley in the far northwest corner of Montana. Those familiar with the prolific writings (and rantings) of Yaak resident Rick Bass know that he can come off as a monomaniac, but this anthology proves his passion is grounded and infectious. Great contributions from prominent writers, poets, conservationists, biologists, politicians, and local residents provide a mosaic of visions on the endangered magic that is the Yaak. The primary lesson: the Yaak is a biological, not a recreational wilderness. It is a place that must be saved, not for your next summer vacation, but for the itinerent wolves, the few remaining stands of ancient larch, the inland redband trout, the resident horse loggers, 15 modest-sized 'gardens' of unroaded national forest, and a tiny (perhaps single digit)population of super-survivor grizzly bears.
Once gone, they are gone forever.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forever Yaak?, January 19, 2003

By 

Mark A. York "Reporter" (Sunland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Roadless Yaak: Reflections and Observations About One of Our Last Great Wilderness Areas (Hardcover)

One of my experiences as a biologist for the U.S. Forest Service was a brief stint in Libby, Montana where I was a weekend visitor to the remote Yaak Valley championed by resident conservationist Rick Bass. My first pass through the valley was a shock. The sea of clearcuts from past timber sales were clearly alarming, and I vowed to return for further investigation. In 1994 I studied fish populations in the Libby area now, and then, a superfund site at the plywood mill where we installed a fish weir in an attempt locate the last remaining Bull trout, now an endangered species in the Pacific Northwest. The previous year there were two. In 1994 none returned to the Libby trap. Similar conditions exist on the Yaak River, a major tributary to the Kootenai. Though superficially "wild" in outward apearance this is devastated landscape due to economic activity that has ruined the landscape and the citizenry from asbestosis at the other superfund site, a vermiculite mine once operated by W.R. Grace Corporation of "A Civil Action" fame. They are gone now, but so is everything else the area once offered. "We don't mind looking at the clearcuts," my boss a dour wildlife biologist told me. It is a legacy that Mr. Bass will be hard pressed to reverse with the current forest management leadership. But we must try. I stand with him in that battle. The chapter in my book "Against a Strong Current," is called "Three Bull Trout."

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Roadless Yaak, August 27, 2009

By 

Bruce Thompson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Roadless Yaak: Reflections and Observations About One of Our Last Great Wilderness Areas (Hardcover)

the short stories made me feel as though I lived in the YAAK. Throught the writers eyes and words it became alive yet tempered with the flavor of humanity...excellent.