Nature's Restoration: People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation
Conservation is more than the protection of natural resources; it is an ongoing, evolving relationship between the people who oversee this work and their different visions of how to accomplish their shared goal. There are basically two mind-sets, a hands-off approach that advocates leaving nature to run its course, and a restoration edict involving efforts to actively improve the land. Friederici, author ofThe Suburban Wild(1999), profiles conservationists of both persuasions. David Wingate's work in Bermuda, and the rehabilitation of the Hawaiian island of Kaho'olawe, long used as a bombing range by the U.S. military, are just two of the examples Friederici considers. Looking to the past for guidance, he chronicles the blight of the American chestnut tree, a resource that once sustained the people of Appalachia. The scars left by this loss--one person described the demise of the chestnut tree as worse than either world war or the Depression--is a critical part of Friederici's important story, leaving the reader to wonder: the loss of which natural resources will future generations mourn?^BPamela CrosslandCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved