Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra
by Jordan Fisher Smith
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jordan Fisher SmithEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-05-03
ISBN: 0618711953
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Mariner Books
Book Reviews of Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra
Book Review: Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra
Summary: 5 Stars
Shatter the California Environmental Myth! Kick it in, step on it and if there is still anything left, shoot if for good measure. In "Nature Noir," Jordan Fisher Smith tells it like it is. He's the ranger for a piece of state parkland in the high Sierras, a neglected piece of land slated to become a dam site and inundated as a reservoir to capture the floodwaters of the American River.
Smith elects to work in this park instead of trying to compete for a much more coveted, high-status ranger role in the National Park Service. While he would love to work in one of California's great national parks, he's settled for rangering in this off-the-path piece of public parkland. It's a tough time for a white guy to get one of those high-profile National Park ranger roles. Women and minorities have historically been under-represented among park rangers and there's a major push to diversify. As a white guy, Smith finds himself at the back of the line.
His piece of California state parkland is managed on a shoe-string budget with an skeletal staff. The expectation is for a dam and reservoir to be built and exceptional activities like dredging for gold are allowed. Intolerable and illegal elsewhere on public parkland, activities like this go on, spoiling the environment, making lots of noise, silting up streams, lowering water quality.
This is a rough place and rough things happen here. Smith is able to convey a strong sense of place. He knows his land. It's a rough land and rough people seem to be drawn to this place. A lot of people openly carry guns. Few Sierra Clubbers, Friends-of-the-Earth, Audubon Society birdwatchers and people with an ethic of environmental stewardship visit this place. The spirit of John Muir is a foggy ghost in the vision field of the patrons of this place. Smith is not a law-enforcement oriented type of ranger. However, this part of his ranger role is often the most consuming.
This is a tale told by a guy who knows well his piece of public land and the people who frequent it. His tale will strip down the high-minded environmental conscience of California ecology types and even ordinary folks, who want simply to go on a nature walk in the woods. This narrative will make you feel uncomfortable. You won't think about a piece of public land in quite the same way after reading this book. You won't think about the role of a ranger in the same way either.
Summary of Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra
A nature book unlike any other, Jordan Fisher Smith's startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions of life in the great outdoors. Instead of scout troops and placid birdwatchers, Smith's beat -- a stretch of land that has been officially condemned to be flooded -- brings him into contact with drug users tweaked out to the point of violence, obsessed miners, and other dangerous creatures. In unflinchingly honest prose, he reveals the unexpectedly dark underbelly of patrolling and protecting public lands.
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