More so than other ecosystems, urban rivers typify our evolving relationship with nature. Once a necessity for the development of civilization, by the twentieth century America's rivers became neglected and abused, channelized, dammed, and filled with sewage and toxic waste. While acknowledging the profound impact our species has had on the natural world, and rivers in particular, Rewilding the Urban Frontier argues that the Anthropocene presents opportunities for rethinking our relationship to the natural world and potentially healing the age-old rift between humans and nature.
Although the Clean Water Act of 1972 spurred a cleanup of the nation's waterways, explosive urban growth has since fragmented the wildlife corridors and ecosystems along our rivers. The contributors to this volume contend that if done right, rewilding urban rivers can help avoid further loss of biodiversity and simultaneously address environmental and social inequities.
Edited by:
Greg Gordon
Imprint: University of Nebraska Press
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781496230614
ISBN 10: 1496230612
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 01 August 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Introduction. Origins Greg Gordon Part 1. Headwaters: Reconciling Personal, Cultural, and Ecological Trauma 1. Haunted Heidi Lasher 2. We Buried Our People along the River Margo Hill 3. Terms and Conditions Apply Greg Gordon Part 2. Tributaries: How City Rivers Make River Cities 4. Wild, Managed, and Reclaimed: An Environmental History of the San Antonio River Watershed Char Miller 5. From Floodplain to Kayak Park: Recreation, Restoration, and Economic Development along the Boise River Jennifer Stevens 6. Urban Ecology: Rewilding Rivers and Creating Outdoor Classrooms in Milwaukee Christian C. Young 7. The Lost River: The Revitalization of the Jordan River in the Salt Lake Valley Marian L. Rice Part 3. Convergence: Old Rivers, New Plumbing 8. Engineering Nature: Denver and the South Platte River Brian M. Murphy 9. Cyborg Salmon and Plumbed Basins: Ambivalence and Compromise on the Deschutes Kirsten Rudestam 10. Neon River: Rethinking Chicago Environmental History and Personhood in the Age of Humans Shawn Bailey Part 4. Delta: Rewilding’s Perils 11. A River Lament: New Creek and the People Who Loved It Near to Death Robert Bartlett 12. Restoration’s Dark Side: Gentrification and Daylighting the Saw Mill River in Yonkers, New York C. Ian Stevenson 13. Angling in the Anthropocene: Carp and the Making of Race on the Los Angeles River Bryan B. Rasmussen Contributors Index
Greg Gordon is a professor of environmental studies at Gonzaga University. He is the author of When Money Grew on Trees: A. B. Hammond and the Age of the Timber Baron and The Landscape of Desire: Identity and Nature in Utah’s Canyon Country.
Reviews for Rewilding the Urban Frontier: River Conservation in the Anthropocene
""This book makes a valuable contribution to the scholarship and thinking on rewilding rivers that can be appreciated by specialist and general readers.""-Margaret Cook, H-Environment “Because most of us reside in cities, and cities invariably grew up along rivers, the river restoration themes the authors of Rewilding the Urban Frontier lay out in this fine book will seem smart and practical, maybe even obvious, to every American who still senses the evolutionary pull of nature on the human animal. This prophetic book is about a future we’re building, and there’s nothing dystopian about it in the least.”-Dan Flores, New York Times best-selling author of Coyote America and Wild New World “Abused for generations, America’s rivers are making a comeback in a city near you! A thought-provoking confluence of observations, ideas, and reflections on the riparian renaissance now underway across the nation.”-Laurence C. Smith, author of Rivers of Power and The World in 2050 “Rewilding the Urban Frontier is an unflinching yet ultimately hopeful revelation that the human connection to nature is most essential in the places we call home. These are powerful stories of environmental recognition, restoration, and renewal-and a river runs through them.”-Sara Dant, author of Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West
