Northern landscapes : the struggle for wilderness Alaska

Book

Northern landscapes : the struggle for wilderness Alaska / Daniel Nelson.

Nelson, Daniel, 1941- (Author).

Summary:

Laska in the early l950s was one of the world's last great, undeveloped areas. Yet sweeping changes were underway. In l958, Congress awarded the new state over l00 million acres to promote economic development. In l971, it gave Native groups more than 40 million acres to settle land claims and facilitate the building of an 800 mile oil pipeline. Spurred by the newly militant environmental movement, it also began to consider the preservation of Alaska's magnificent scenery and wildlife. Northern Landscapes is the first comprehensive examination of the campaign to preserve wild Alaska through the creation of a vast system of parks and wildlife refuges. Drawing on archival sources and interviews, Daniel Nelson traces disputes over resources alongside the politics of the Alaska statehood movement. He provides in depth coverage of the growth of Alaskan environmental organizations, their partnerships with national groups, and their participation in political campaigns into the l970s. Engagingly written, Northern Landscapes focuses on the activism that led to the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, ANILCA, of 1980, which set aside more than l00 million acres, doubling the size of the national park and wildlife refuge systems, and tripling the size of the wilderness preservation system. Arguably the single greatest triumph of environmentalism, ANILCA also set the stage for continuing battles over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Alaska's national forests.

Record details

ISBN: 1891853848
ISBN: 9781891853845
ISBN: 1891853856
ISBN: 9781891853852
Physical Description: vii, 312 pages : map ; 24 cm
Publisher: Washington, DC : Resources for the Future, �2004.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Seedtime: Alaska to the 1960's -- Emergence of Alaska -- Conservation in transition -- Wilderness politics: Alaska, 1960's-1976 -- Alaska upheavals -- Congressional responses -- Southeast Alaska and the Wilderness Movement -- Oil age discontents -- ANILCA campaign: Alaska and Washington, 1977-1980, Congress deliberates -- Birth of ANILCA -- Postscript: Alaska in the 1980's and beyond.