Title: That Wild Country Pdf An Epic Journey through the Past, Present, and Future of America's Public Lands
Author: Mark Kenyon
Published Date: 2019-12
“Kenyon’s writing and traveling style are equally companionable…he evokes in his prose an appealing sense of shared experience…a strong argument for why two often politically opposed factions, hunters and environmentalists, should come together under the #KeepItPublic banner…succeeds in making the political simultaneously personal and universal.” —Publishers Weekly“When friends complain to me about the ideological divisions ripping America in two, I cheer them up with stories about our public lands. Right now, groups and individuals as diverse as the nation itself are coalescing around the rallying cry of ‘Keep It Public’ as we fight to defend the environmental integrity and accessibility of our public lands. Let Mark Kenyon’s That Wild Country be our guiding text. Not only does Kenyon tell you why and how we have public lands, but he also tells you why and how we’ll keep them. Read this book and join the movement.” —Steven Rinella, bestselling author of The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook and American Buffalo“This is a must-read for all public-land owners. Mark weaves his own adventures and connections to public land into the history on how we were gifted this great legacy. Read this book, be inspired, and become engaged.” —Land Tawney, president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers “More than a century ago John Muir warned that ‘Wilderness is a necessity…They will see what I meant in time.’ For better or worse we have arrived in the cultural moment that the wandering Scotsman foresaw, when the landscapes that are most vital to the survival of America’s soul are also the most jeopardized. Thoroughly immersed in said moment, with pure heart and true aim, Mark Kenyon has written an engrossing walkabout of his own that pairs an impassioned, unquenchable desire for wild country with a rare, marksman-cool ability to articulate the complex issues and stakes in our fight for public lands. A wonderful debut.” —Chris Dombrowski, author of Body of Water“America’s public lands are under assault, from chronic underfunding, development interests, invasive species, and climate change, among other threats. Against this backdrop, Mark Kenyon eloquently explores how many of these public lands came to be, and why they are more important today than ever. That Wild Country is more than a lesson; it is a personal journey of discovery to which all public-lands users, from hikers and boaters to hunters and anglers, can relate.” —Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation PartnershipMark Kenyon is a lifelong outdoorsman, a nationally published outdoor writer, and one of the hunting and fishing community’s most prominent voices through his podcast, Wired to Hunt. His writing has appeared in Outdoor Life and Field & Stream, and he is a leading contributor to MeatEater, Inc., an outdoor lifestyle company founded on the belief that a deeper understanding of the natural world enriches all our lives. That Wild Country is his first book.
From prominent outdoorsman and nature writer Mark Kenyon comes an engrossing reflection on the past and future battles over our most revered landscapes—America’s public lands.
Every American is a public-land owner, inheritor to the largest public-land trust in the world. These vast expanses provide a home to wildlife populations, a vital source of clean air and water, and a haven for recreation.
Since its inception, however, America’s public land system has been embroiled in controversy—caught in the push and pull between the desire to develop the valuable resources the land holds or conserve them. Alarmed by rising tensions over the use of these lands, hunter, angler, and outdoor enthusiast Mark Kenyon set out to explore the spaces involved in this heated debate, and learn firsthand how they came to be and what their future might hold.
Part travelogue and part historical examination, That Wild Country invites readers on an intimate tour of the wondrous wild and public places that are a uniquely profound and endangered part of the American landscape.
A VERY WELL-WRITTEN LABOR OF LOVE You think politics make strange bedfellows? Try anything having to do with animals and nature. In Florida, animal rights activists bedded down with the gambling establishment to squash greyhound racing tracks. Nature conservation organizations are typically heavily funded by people who want to keep nature pristine so they can go out and hunt and fish. So here I sit as a vegetarian, wanting to keep nature natural for nature's sake, not so hunters and anglers can go forth and kill. What’s a girl to do? Our goals are the same; our reasons are most assuredly not.Author Mark Kenyon is described as a “hunter, angler and outdoor enthusiast” in the book’s description. Endorsements are by, among others, the author of “The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook” and the president of “Backcountry Hunters & Anglers”. What’s a girl to do? I swallow hard and press forward.Approximately 28% of the United States consists of Public Lands; that’s equivalent to Germany 7 times over. “[T]his ‘public land’ … is available for all to use—to observe wildlife, camp, hunt, hike, fish, or bike on. “Public lands … are each managed with slightly different goals and priorities—some are primarily for recreation (ATV riding, climbing, biking, hunting, and hiking) and wildlife conservation, and some are for use by ranchers and miners. The key factor linking them together is that they are all available for public use now, while also being managed for the long term so they can be experienced by unborn generations.” There are more visits to national parks every year than there are people in this country. Of course, the same can likely be said of trips to McDonald’s, but those are less healthy.From businessmen to politicians to the radical fringe (think Clive Bundy), there are those who have felt public lands should be sold off and become private property. These land-transfer ideas have become sadly quite common. That said, in Utah over 60% of the state’s landmass is federal public lands; you could see how that might annoy the locals.It is from opposition to these ideas that this book was born: “I decided I needed to do something. I couldn’t single-handedly stop a politician from writing a bill, or convince a president to stand up for our parks and forests, but I could at least try to make sense of how we got here and share what I’d learned. … I wasn’t sure I was the most apt mouthpiece. … My fresh eyes and outsider perspective might help bring the issue to the larger world in a relatable way. … [M]y stance on public lands was clear. I was happy to stand side by side with anyone fighting on behalf of our public lands, no matter what other differences we might have.”And we definitely have differences! Democrats want to see public lands conserved for nature’s sake, for animals' sake, for humanity’s sake. The Republican Party is the party of hunters, who want to see nature preserved for the sake of their so-called sport.Part memoir, part history of public lands, at all times a cry to preserve the wilderness. Plenty of fun animal encounters. A consistently interesting intelligent read. For obvious reasons, Theodore Roosevelt features prominently. Well written and at times very funny, like when the author plans his outdoor winter excursion with his wife to UTAH instead of to KEY WEST. A few photos sprinkled throughout.Multiple scenes from the Star Trek ‘verse of the future take place in future public lands that were preserved in the past - our present. Let’s make it so!BOTTOM LINE: The author's love affair with the great outdoors is evident throughout. Not only well written, but an exceptionally good book to find in First Reads. Highly recommend.HOT TIP: If others on your Amazon account also get a First Reads book, you can “share” through your family library and get access to multiple free books!SECOND HOT TIP: If you have kids, I very strongly recommend you consider this month’s First Reads children’s book, This Book is Gray. It’s the best First Reads book I’ve ever come across.TRIGGER WARNINGS:- There is an unpleasant ode to hunting around page 287.- He goes on an unsuccessful bear hunt.- Overall, nothing that terribly offended my vegetarian (nearly vegan) sensibilities - until he murdered a caribou, also on page 287.- A photo near the back depicts the obligatory holding of the dead fish.Preserving the wild places has been a wild ride. And it's not over yet! In the "Friendly Persuasion", there's a touching scene where the ageing Quaker farmer looks around at his Indiana farm, his children and grandchildren, and asks his wife in bewilderment, "How did it all happen, Eliza? How did we all get here?" It's a question every thoughtful person asks sooner or later.For this author - a Michigan native, a Google-employee-turned-outdoor-writer, and an active hiker, fisherman, and hunter all his life - it came when he thought of the vast undeveloped lands owned by the U.S. government and enjoyed by millions of people every year. An amazing 640 MILLION acres of land in the U.S. is publicly owned. That's 28% of our country's land and Americans flock to those public parks and forests. Every year, 588 MILLION Americans visit national parks, national forests, BLM lands, and national wildlife refuges. Almost one TRILLION dollars is spent every year on outdoor recreation, which creates millions of jobs. But where did it all come from?This fascinating book traces the movement to preserve wild lands and wildlife from its beginnings in the 19th century to the present-day stormy political scene. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the only problem seemed to be disposing of all that land west of the Mississippi. The Homestead Act gave land to anyone who'd settle on it. Huge tracts were given to railroad, mining, and timber companies. Civil War soldiers were given land instead of paychecks. One billion acres quickly passed from public to private ownership.Even then, some voices were raised to protect the wild lands in the American West. In 1864, President Lincoln signed the bill creating the Yosemite Grant, the first land set aside by the federal government for preservation and public use. Surprisingly, the railroad companies promoted the bill and even donated land in the interests of creating tourist attractions along their lines, thus gaining paying customers. Conservationists and business interests pulled together on that one, but it was never as simple again.The American West found a energetic promoter in the person of Theodore Roosevelt. An Eastern Establishment type and a Republican, he fell in love with the West and fought to preserve the undeveloped land and its wildlife. Backed by his powerful friends in the Boone & Crockett Club, he fought for stricter game laws and laws slowing deforestation. They achieved the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, still considered one of the most important pieces of conservation legislation.As President, Roosevelt turned the U.S. Forest Service into a force for forest protection and used his executive power to create the Grand Canyon National Park over the shrill opposition of the governor of Arizona. Western business interests called him a "Judas" and accused him of socialism, launching a huge, expensive smear campaign against him. Teddy stood firm, but in the end, he was forced out of the Republican party.WWI, the lawlessness of the Roaring Twenties, and the start of the Great Depression meant environmental protections eroded during what the author calls "an era ruled by greed and fear." Then another Roosevelt (Franklin D.) combined his plans to combat the Depression by creating employment with a new wave of conservation. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park (the country's most visited park) was created and the Civilian Conservation Corps provided jobs for thousands of unemployed men and improved both new and existing parks. Like his cousin, he faced smear campaigns by business interests and charges of being a land-grabbing socialist. And like Teddy Roosevelt, he went right on doing what he believed was right.WWII and the post-war economic boom brought new challenges for conservationists. Public lands were given away to developers. Pollution increased as new chemicals became available and America's national symbol - the Golden Eagle - almost became extinct. Finally, there was a backlash and the 1960's and 1970's were a golden period for conservationism. What's interesting is how often the movement was bi-partisan. President Richard Nixon has received little credit (and none from this author!), but the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act were passed during his administration, along with a number of other important conservation bills.Not only was conservation a bi-partisan effort then, but conservationists, business interests, and land users cooperated. The Pittman-Robertson Act taxed guns and ammunition (and even bows and arrows) to fund wildlife preserves. In 1950, the similar Dingell-Johnson Act taxed sport fishing equipment and boats. Both bills were passed with the full cooperation of hunters and fishermen and have generated billions of dollars in revenue. Today, they provide 80% of the funding for state wildlife preserves.When did it change? When Ronald Reagan ran for president and declared himself a "Sagebrush Rebel." The Sagebrush Rebellion is a movement of Westerners who resent laws created by the federal government. It started with people like the Clive Bundy family who illegally grazed cattle on public land for decades. When the BLM tried to stop them, they called for an armed rebellion against the federal government.It's a complicated issue and I think the author tries to be fair to both sides. The then-governor of Colorado Richard Lamm, summed up the difficulty of characterizing the movement and its adherents, "Only one certainty exists - that the Sagebrush is a revolt against federal authority, and at the taproot grows deep in the country's history. Beyond that, it is incoherent. Part hypocrisy, part demagoguery, partly the honest anger of honest people, it is a movement of confusion and hysteria and terrifyingly destructive potential." When the Bundy family took over a federal facility and held it by armed force, resulting in one death, the nation learned just HOW destructive the movement could be.Now "conservation" (like "climate change") is a dirty word for the Republican Party and the party's platform states firmly that the party supports the "land-transfer movement" which sells public lands to developers, timber companies, and mining interests. Leaving conservative-leaning conservationists like the author of this book out in the cold. Every Republican administration since Reagan's has followed the "death by a thousand cuts" policy of selling lands and cutting funding for conservation programs. Then Democratic administrations do what they can to reverse the damage. Is this the best we can do?To some extent, this is an "Easterner against Westerner" conflict, since the great majority of public land lies west of the Mississippi River. But we Easterners are bleeding, too. FDR created the Tennessee Valley Authority to dam rivers, control flooding, produce electricity, and create recreational lakes. The land was taken from private owners and the promise was made that it would always be public land. Now politicians are finding loop-holes to sell that land to developers. "Let's get it back on the tax rolls" is their cry, politely ignoring the "sweetheart" tax breaks given to large developers.Working together for conservation requires compromise and that's something Americans aren't good at. Can tree-hugging vegans partner with tree-hugging hunters and fishermen? Can purists who want NO "improvements" in parks find common ground with those who want to build roads and pave paths so that the disabled or elderly can enjoy them, too? Can people in the rural West be brought into the process and made to feel that they have a voice? Or will we continue our current practice of see-sawing back-and-forth?Don't be discouraged from reading this book because it has a political message. That's less than 20% of the total narrative. The bulk of the book is wonderful descriptions of the author's experiences in wild places. Childhood trips to the Adirondack Mountains. Hikes in the Michigan woods with boyhood friends. Travels out west with college friends, exploring territory so wild and rugged it took their breath away in more ways than one! Camping trips with his wife, a VERY good sport. Buffalo are majestic creatures and we all want to preserve them, but a 2,000 lb behemoth scratching his back on your tent poles is another matter. Preserving habitat for grizzly bears is something most of us can agree on, but those suckers WILL kill and eat you under the right circumstances.Best of all was the wilderness hiking trip he and his sister took with their vision-impaired father. There are many ways that a family can enjoy each other, but a hike in the woods will teach you things about your loved ones that you never imagined. This is a great book.
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