TOPICS:
Understanding environmental problems; public education/grassroots organization; of general applicability to environmental problems; written for the first party participant.
ABSTRACT:
Reopening the Western Frontier is a collection of the work of multiple authors who are regular contributors to High Country News a newspaper published in western Colorado with its focus on the land use and environmental issues facing the Western United States.
Reopening the Western Frontier will be of interest to those who seek a regional perspective on the environmental problems unique to the Western United States. The book is divided into four parts each of which addresses both an era and its attendant ideology. The first of these sections addresses the boom era in the West. The editor discusses, in separate chapters: the West as being not the open spaces with which it is associated, but a set of fragmented, isolated natural habitats, and, the reality of the rural West's urban character. DeWitt John addresses the task of choosing a future for the rural West. Specific focus is given to the Colorado Plateau and Idaho in consideration of the boom era.
The second section addresses the post-boom, or bust, era in the West. The editor opens this section with two chapters. The first of these addresses the so-called ?global economy' and its effects on the West. This is followed by his assertion that the West lacks what he terms ?social glue'. Jim Robbins focuses on Montana and other authors focus on the Great Plains in general, while Tom Wolf discusses the changes in Wyoming as a result of the now defunct oil boom.
Part three discusses the impact of environmentalism. Consideration of Butte, Montana as arising out of the pit of mining but remaining an environmentally troubling area is discussed by separate authors. The push in Idaho for national parks is addressed by Pat Ford. The difficulties posed in southern Utah by shifting economies and ideologies is addressed by Raymond Wheeler. Wyoming's shift from logging to tourism as a source of revenue is discussed by Tom Bell.
The final section addresses the future. The editor asserts that it is time for the West to seek its own means of development, both conceptually and financially which necessitates ending the West's reliance on Eastern money and power. Wheeler and Ford lament the deterioration of the Colorado Plateau and Idaho respectively. The section closes with a collection of letters from readers of High Country News.
Reopening the Western Frontier is an excellent book which conveys the realities of the West as seen by those who have lived, and earned livings in, the West through boom and bust and who seek to preserve its character. It is insightful, well written and will be useful to the reader who seeks a grassroots understanding of the nature of the modern West and its population.
T. A. O'Lonergan