From: sbrock@teal.csn.org (Steve Brock)
Subject: Reviews of three new books on water and natural resources policy
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 01:58:53 GMT

Here are reviews of three new books on water policy:

TO RECLAIM A DIVIDED WEST: WATER, LAW, AND PUBLIC POLICY 1848-1902
by Donald J. Pisani.  University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque,
NM  87131-1591.  Illustrated, maps, index, exhaustive bibliography,
notes.  487 pp., $19.95 paper.  0-8263-1381-7

                             REVIEW

     Pisani, a professor of American History at the University of
Oklahoma, says that as we formulate water policy in the present, we
are still tied to the laws of the past.  Most important is the
Reclamation Act of 1902, which "demonstrated that the western
states and territories had learned to cooperate in matters of
mutual concern (but) also reflected persistent suspicions and
irreconcilable differences."
     In the late 18th century, the aridity of the West shaped the
way it was inhabited, and water was utilized as a settlement tool. 
Pisani explores the development of irrigation policy in California,
Colorado, Wyoming, and Nevada, that led up to the Reclamation Act. 
     During this period, fragmented states and regions fiercely
competed for funds from a decentralized government structure.  The
struggle between upstream and downstream states, transitions from
mining to agriculture, competition between farming and grazing, the
development of a hydropower system, and conflicts over the
management of public lands, contributed to a national policy that
left local and state officials scrambling to be the first to put
water to use.  The scramble did not diminish with the passage of
the Reclamation Act.
     From the California gold country to the halls of Congress,
Pisani traces the development of three policy initiatives:
federalism (the settlement of the West should be choreographed by
the central government), private development (individuals putting
water to use without government intervention), and mixed enterprise
(government incentives to private enterprises).
     While he makes no judgements on the eventual results, Pisani
has conducted a readable and impressive analysis.  The book is an
important contribution to the history of Western water policy and
is readily utilized in classes on water law, western history, and
water policy.
     "To Reclaim a Divided West" is a title in the series "Histo-
ries of the American Frontier."





TURNING ON WATER WITH A SHOVEL: THE CAREER OF ELWOOD MEAD by James
R. Kluger.  University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM  87131-
1591.  Illustrated, index, selected bibliography, notes.  218 pp.,
$29.95 cloth.  0-8263-1382-5

                             REVIEW

     One of the pioneers of western water policy, Elwood Mead
(1858-1936) lived his life as a visionary who was forever concerned
about the welfare of the individual water user - especially the
farmer.  No history of the West is complete without a discussion of
Mead's contribution to its settlement.
     Beginning as a professor of math and physics at Colorado State
University at Fort Collins, he was fascinated by the city's
irrigation system.  This fascination with water distribution took
him to take an increasing role in water policy.  From an irrigation
engineer in Colorado, to Wyoming's first state engineer, to head of
the federal Office of Irrigation Inquiry (where he was a bitter
opponent of reclamation policy), to study in Australia and Israel,
and finally to become the Commissioner of Reclamation, Mead largest
project was the construction of Boulder Dam, which holds back Lake
Mead, named after him.
     Kluger's biography is a reverent look at one of the primary
shapers of reclamation policy, and its greatest critic.  Mead was
always fearful of government intervention into water development,
and his reign at the Bureau led to its decentralization, with an
emphasis on feasibility and careful planning.  His legacy lives on,
not only in the massive cement barricades he erected, but in the
family farm which held his ideals.
     Kluger is a graduate of the University of Arizona (this is an
extension of his dissertation) and now teaches at Pima Community
College, Tucson.





CROSSING THE NEXT MERIDIAN: LAND, WATER, AND THE FUTURE OF THE WEST
by Charles F. Wilkinson.  Island Press, Suite 300, 1718 Connecticut
Ave., Washington, D.C., 20009.  Illustrated, maps, index, notes. 
376 pp., $25.00 cloth.  1-55963-150-3

                             REVIEW

     Charles Wilkinson's office looks out on the flatirons of the
Rocky Mountains towering above Boulder, Colorado.  His high desk is
against the wall and he must perch on a stool to work there.  When
his frequent visitors stop by, though, he retires to a rocker,
where he gazes at them thoughtfully, chin in hand.  His inspiration
comes from two directions: from outside his window and from the
people he sees.  He pays special attention to those who speak of
their love for the American West.
     A well-known scholar of natural resources law and policy,
Wilkinson says that the natural resource laws of the past that were
enacted to spur economic development in the West are now "Lords of
Yesterday."  Specifically, they are the General Mining Law of 1872,
the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation, forest plans that encourage
overcutting (target = quota), and the "rancher's code" (turn 'em
out in the spring - round 'em up in the fall).  
     They resist being overhauled, he says, because of intense
lobbying by those who benefit from the laws and a lack of public
awareness of what is at stake if the policies continue.
     The book is broken up into chapters that address each broken-
down policy area: mining, ranching, forestry, fisheries, and
rivers.  Wilkinson bolsters each policy arena with a case study. 
In the chapter "Harvesting the April Rivers," he illustrates the
need for reform in western water policy with a discussion of the
San Juan-Chama project in the Four Corners area, where "better
paths" were "never explored."
     In addition to the case studies, Wilkinson's pieces are
populated with the people he met when studying the issues - those
who caused him to put his chin in his hand.
     The last chapter, given the same title as the book, contains
recommendations for the preservation of the West as we know it. 
Sustainability, controlled growth, regional planning, and individu-
als "accepting personal responsibility for the impacts on the
lands, waters, and communities in a way that has not occurred
before" - all are important factors.  But only with an increasing
public awareness of what is at stake will these ideas come to pass.
     I have two wishes for Charles Wilkinson: that his book is
widely read by the general populace and the new administration, and
that someday he gets to see Pea Soup Creek.

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