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THE PROVISION OF DESIGNATED WILDERNESS
areas in the United States has never been without its opponents.
The sizable list ranges from companies and
special interest groups representing extractive industries
(primarily in forestry, mining, and grazing), to federal land
management agencies who are often concerned with what they
consider to be the erosion of their traditional land base and
philosophical foundations.
Over the last two or three decades, the battle over designation
and use of wilderness areas has gained focus in the
American West. In hindsight, this is hardly surprising. Outside
of Alaska, which contains approximately 60% of U.S. wilderness,
the majority of designated wilderness areas is found in
the West. Also, the sometimes self-imposed stereotype of the
West as a haven for rugged individualism has exacerbated the
battle for extractive activities in wilderness. Moreover, the western
economy and way of life continues to be reliant on the
extraction of natural resources. Finally, migration into the West
has recently increased, further fanning the flames of conflicts
over the “proper” use of these public lands.
Gundars Rudzitis brings together these and related strands
in his overview of wilderness management policies and practices
in the American West. Several basic themes are touched
upon repeatedly in this book. After setting the stage and providing
a brief history of the wilderness concept, Rudzitis touches
upon the “geography of place” in the West, its unique blend of
natural and social landscapes, the continued abuse of this rich
mosaic by the corporate world, its promoters in federal agencies,
and their use of flawed economic principles and practices.
It is evident, states Rudzitis, that “Much of what makes
the West unique and gives it a sense of place is the physical
environment and its elements of the wild. It is this sense of
place that is important to the social and economic well-being
of people and their places, not whether they continue to work
in extractive industries. Indeed, it is these very industries, in
their ‘using up’ of the landscape, that contribute to the destruction
of the Western sense of place.”
As intimated by the above quotation, this book provides
a pro-preservationist view of the complex issue of the preservation-versus-extraction
dilemma facing the West and many
other regions throughout the world. Rather, Rudzitis attempts
to provide a “call to arms” for all those who wish see the
failed policies and management practices ended. He rightly
BOOK REVIEW
BY JOHN SHULTIS, GUEST BOOK REVIEW EDITOR
Wilderness and the Changing American West by Gundars Rudzitis. 1996.
John Wiley and Sons, New York. 220 pp., $34.95 (paperback).
emphasizes the importance of
considering Native American
views, as well as addressing the
perspective of the Wise Use
movement and the Sagebrush
Rebellion that have recently
come to symbolize the American
West. However, if you are
looking for a detailed analysis
of these movements, Wilderness
and the Changing American West
is not the place to begin. William
Graf’s Wilderness Preservation
and the Sagebrush Rebellions
and R. McGreggor Cawley’s
Federal Land, Western Anger:
WILDERNESS DIGEST
Guest book review editor John Shultis.
The Sagebrush Rebellion and Environmental Politics remain the
best books on wilderness and the Sagebrush Rebellion and
Wise Use movement.
To be fair, Rudzitis’s expressed purpose was to write a book
“that reached out to the general public as well as to traditional
academic and public policy audiences,” which explains the
sometimes frustrating lack of detail on these and other issues.
Rudzitis has succeeded in his objective of providing a wellwritten
overview of westerners’ reactions to the designation of
large tracts of public land as wilderness. This book is an excellent
place to start for readers relatively unfamiliar with these
issues and would be well suited as a case study for a first- or
second-year college/university-level course.
One of the strengths of this book is the discussion of migration
patterns within the West, and the reasons behind many
immigrants’ decisions to relocate in the West. Rudzitis provides
evidence that, contrary to contemporary economic theory,
many people moved west not to increase their economic earning
power (incomes often decreased) but for the amenities and
quality of life that the region provided. Rudzitis further argues
that the presence of the wilderness and other protected areas is
a primary attraction for these new residents. Indeed, migration
into regions surrounding protected areas is higher than for those
areas that do not border protected areas.
Another strength of the book is Rudzitis’s use of public
surveys of western residents, which indicate that contrary
to popular sentiment, they overwhelmingly support
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WILDERNESS Volume 3, Number 4 47