Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover

Kevin R. Marsh.
Drawing Lines in the Forest: Creating Wilderness Areas in the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007.
Cloth, 230 pp., ISBN 0–295–98702–6, $35.00.

Stewardship of public land is the theme of this series of heavily documented case studies, presented by historian Kevin Marsh. Focusing on the wilderness areas in the Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon, the author examines the different forces — governmental, economic, recreational, and environmental — that played a part in drawing boundaries on forest territory. Although the incidents he cites are specific to these public lands, they raise such general questions as what is wilderness and what right does government have to give away public lands. He also provides examples of the effectiveness of the preservationist movement in conserving nature.

— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.