- Email: [email protected]
Visions of Paradise
Book reviews
from chapter to chapter. The editors provide an important theoretical framework that helps to develop a historic perspective of the evolution of forest landscape modeling. The authors of the case studies help to reinforce this idea by describing the historic development of their forest landscape modeling approach and the type of model that they are using. Many types of models are presented, including SORTIE, ZELIG version FACET, DELTA, FORMOSAIC, METAFOR, ZELSTAGE, VAFS/LANDSIM, LANDIS, FARSITE, SAFE FORESTS, LANDLOG, and HARVEST. In their conclusion, the editors help to place these models in context with different theoretical approaches to forest landscape modeling. This chapter is highly valuable because it provides critical unity to the book and helps the reader to understand the context of this subject area. Spatial Modeling of Forest Landscape Change: Approaches and Applications is an outstanding contribution to the science and practice of landscape ecology. The book is one of the best summaries of the forest landscape modeling that is currently available in one volume. It is an essential volume for any landscape ecologist, planner, or manager, who has an interest in the forest environment. In addition, any professional or student who is interested in landscape change would ®nd this a very valuable addition to her or his library. References Forman, R.T.T., 1995. Land Mosaics: the Ecology of Landscape and Regions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Klopatek, J.M., Gardner, R.H. (Eds.), 1999. Landscape Ecological Analysis: Issues and Applications. Springer, New York. Turner, M.G., Gardner, R.H. (Eds.), 1991. Quantitative Methods in Landscape Ecology. Springer, New York.
Laura R. Musacchio* School of Planning and Landscape Architecture and the Center for Environmental Studies Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-2005, USA *
Fax: 1-480-965-9656. E-mail address: [email protected] (L.R. Musacchio) PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 9 - 1
193
Visions of Paradise John War®eld Simpson, University of California Press, 1999, 387 pp Visions of Paradise: Glimpses of Our Landscape Legacy is a narrative landscape history and critique of environmental perceptions drawn from many classics of landscape literature, such as Roderick Nash's (Nash, 1982) Wilderness and the American Mind (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1982) and the writings of J.B. Jackson. To this John War®eld Simpson has added his own assessment of American landscape perceptions and values, as well as personal anecdotes drawn from his landscape experiences. In addition, he used an early Euro-American resident of his home region, central Ohio, as a sort of `every-man' in the landscape, through whose point-of-view Simpson compared landscape perceptions over two centuries. Simpson's real objective in this book, as he wrote in its last page, was to in¯uence American landscape attitudes, because ``Only with changed values will we be able to focus on enhancing landscape health rather than repairing landscape injury.'' The subtitle of Visions of Paradise is quite apt, since readers should not expect a traditional historical approach. Simpson was not interested in presenting a chronological or complete summary of the American experience of landscape. Rather, he chose glimpses of certain themes as the subject of each chapter. `Paradise Lost, Paradise Found', the leading chapter, contrasted the landscape attitudes of two historical individuals, one a Virginian, Jonathan Alder, raised from youth in Ohio by Indians, and the other James Kilboune (the `every-man' of the book), an eastern emigrant to the Ohio territory. In Alder's pre-settlement Ohio native peoples appreciated the bounty that could come to them from an undeveloped (although modi®ed) landscape, while in Kilbourne's domesticated Ohio farmers dreamed of abundance from a managed and controlled landscape. It is the irony of these competing landscape views that the chapter title expresses: Alder's loss of a natural paradise was Kilbourne's gain through creation of an agrarian paradise. This chapter set in place the two key elements that unify Visions of Paradise. The ®rst of these was the concept that America's landscape perceptions and values are a constant tug-of-war between con¯icting perspectives. The second element was use of participant stories
194
Book reviews
through which to convey those con¯icting views. Unfortunately, the truly absorbing quality of stories found in the ®rst chapter was not always duplicated throughout the book. An even more appropriate subtitle for Visions of Paradise might have been `Glimpses of the Lives of Those Who Have Helped Create Our Landscape's Legacy'. Much of the text, particularly after Chapter 4, contains well-written, brief biographies of key individuals, such as John Muir, to whom most of two chapters were devoted, and Frederick Law Olmsted, who merited an entire chapter entitled `America's Landscape Architect'. This biographical information, although interesting, was not always relevant to Simpson's basic story and, at times, detracted from the larger discourse. Since most of those whom Simpson discussed in detail were elite players in American environmental history, including Gifford Pinchot and Aldo Leopold, the general public's perceptions of landscape were presented either as generalizations or through imagined attitudes of every-man Kilbourne. This approach puts a disproportionate focus on the perspectives of a few. Given the large number of published historical diaries, memoirs, and newspaper articles that include discussions of landscape experiences and perceptions, Simpson had a powerful vernacular literature from which to draw a more balanced overview of public values. Having discussed the essential trends in American landscape history, Simpson concluded with a position essay entitled `A Last Look'. There he summarized the principal perceptions that contributed to the American landscape. He also presented a personal assessment of the generally negative impacts of those perceptions, in the context of their implications for the landscape of our future. Unfortunately, this essay was poorly conceived as a short discussion, ®lled with many platitudes. He often failed to address the very dichotomies of perceptions and values that he so clearly articulated in earlier chapters. In a sense, he reemphasized some of the very myths Ð such as the `egalitarian, democratic landscape' or the `rational' landscape Ð that he earlier criticized or questioned. The critical issues dealt with in this book deserved a more thorough and re¯ective ®nal analysis than given to them. In spite of these drawbacks, Visions of Paradise is a highly readable and engaging story of the development of the cultural landscape in the United States.
Although written to be read from cover-to-cover, each chapter is suf®ciently independent that readers could select for those eras or topics of greatest interest to them. Simpson's re¯ections on his own landscape experiences, written in ®ve brief essays, are a highlight of the book, giving insight into the evolution of ideas that contributed to the book. Although much of the basic story presented in Visions of Paradise will be known to those familiar with the cited works, what most recommends this book to potential readers will be the engaging style and personal perspective with which Simpson has presented these glimpses of the American landscape. References Nash, Roderick, 1982. Wilderness and the American Mind. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Nancy Volkman* Department of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Texas A & M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, USA *
Fax: 1-979-862-1784. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Volkman) PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 6 0 - 8
Ecological Stewardship: A Common Reference for Ecosystem Management Nels C. Johnson, Andrew J. Malk, Robert C. Szaro, William T. Sexton (Eds.), Elsevier Science Ltd., Kidlington, Oxford, UK, 1999, 3 volumes, 1786 XXVIII pp., CD-ROM The introduction of a new concept always means that ink and paper must be sacri®ced (not to mention intellectual fatigue and real sweat). Ecological Stewardship, edited by a team of four of®cials from the US Forest Service and the World Resources Institute, devotes 1800 pages in this way (as well as a CDROM and several color and b/w illustrations) to delve into the concept of `ecosystem management' and its state-of-the-art.
from chapter to chapter. The editors provide an important theoretical framework that helps to develop a historic perspective of the evolution of forest landscape modeling. The authors of the case studies help to reinforce this idea by describing the historic development of their forest landscape modeling approach and the type of model that they are using. Many types of models are presented, including SORTIE, ZELIG version FACET, DELTA, FORMOSAIC, METAFOR, ZELSTAGE, VAFS/LANDSIM, LANDIS, FARSITE, SAFE FORESTS, LANDLOG, and HARVEST. In their conclusion, the editors help to place these models in context with different theoretical approaches to forest landscape modeling. This chapter is highly valuable because it provides critical unity to the book and helps the reader to understand the context of this subject area. Spatial Modeling of Forest Landscape Change: Approaches and Applications is an outstanding contribution to the science and practice of landscape ecology. The book is one of the best summaries of the forest landscape modeling that is currently available in one volume. It is an essential volume for any landscape ecologist, planner, or manager, who has an interest in the forest environment. In addition, any professional or student who is interested in landscape change would ®nd this a very valuable addition to her or his library. References Forman, R.T.T., 1995. Land Mosaics: the Ecology of Landscape and Regions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Klopatek, J.M., Gardner, R.H. (Eds.), 1999. Landscape Ecological Analysis: Issues and Applications. Springer, New York. Turner, M.G., Gardner, R.H. (Eds.), 1991. Quantitative Methods in Landscape Ecology. Springer, New York.
Laura R. Musacchio* School of Planning and Landscape Architecture and the Center for Environmental Studies Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-2005, USA *
Fax: 1-480-965-9656. E-mail address: [email protected] (L.R. Musacchio) PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 9 - 1
193
Visions of Paradise John War®eld Simpson, University of California Press, 1999, 387 pp Visions of Paradise: Glimpses of Our Landscape Legacy is a narrative landscape history and critique of environmental perceptions drawn from many classics of landscape literature, such as Roderick Nash's (Nash, 1982) Wilderness and the American Mind (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1982) and the writings of J.B. Jackson. To this John War®eld Simpson has added his own assessment of American landscape perceptions and values, as well as personal anecdotes drawn from his landscape experiences. In addition, he used an early Euro-American resident of his home region, central Ohio, as a sort of `every-man' in the landscape, through whose point-of-view Simpson compared landscape perceptions over two centuries. Simpson's real objective in this book, as he wrote in its last page, was to in¯uence American landscape attitudes, because ``Only with changed values will we be able to focus on enhancing landscape health rather than repairing landscape injury.'' The subtitle of Visions of Paradise is quite apt, since readers should not expect a traditional historical approach. Simpson was not interested in presenting a chronological or complete summary of the American experience of landscape. Rather, he chose glimpses of certain themes as the subject of each chapter. `Paradise Lost, Paradise Found', the leading chapter, contrasted the landscape attitudes of two historical individuals, one a Virginian, Jonathan Alder, raised from youth in Ohio by Indians, and the other James Kilboune (the `every-man' of the book), an eastern emigrant to the Ohio territory. In Alder's pre-settlement Ohio native peoples appreciated the bounty that could come to them from an undeveloped (although modi®ed) landscape, while in Kilbourne's domesticated Ohio farmers dreamed of abundance from a managed and controlled landscape. It is the irony of these competing landscape views that the chapter title expresses: Alder's loss of a natural paradise was Kilbourne's gain through creation of an agrarian paradise. This chapter set in place the two key elements that unify Visions of Paradise. The ®rst of these was the concept that America's landscape perceptions and values are a constant tug-of-war between con¯icting perspectives. The second element was use of participant stories
194
Book reviews
through which to convey those con¯icting views. Unfortunately, the truly absorbing quality of stories found in the ®rst chapter was not always duplicated throughout the book. An even more appropriate subtitle for Visions of Paradise might have been `Glimpses of the Lives of Those Who Have Helped Create Our Landscape's Legacy'. Much of the text, particularly after Chapter 4, contains well-written, brief biographies of key individuals, such as John Muir, to whom most of two chapters were devoted, and Frederick Law Olmsted, who merited an entire chapter entitled `America's Landscape Architect'. This biographical information, although interesting, was not always relevant to Simpson's basic story and, at times, detracted from the larger discourse. Since most of those whom Simpson discussed in detail were elite players in American environmental history, including Gifford Pinchot and Aldo Leopold, the general public's perceptions of landscape were presented either as generalizations or through imagined attitudes of every-man Kilbourne. This approach puts a disproportionate focus on the perspectives of a few. Given the large number of published historical diaries, memoirs, and newspaper articles that include discussions of landscape experiences and perceptions, Simpson had a powerful vernacular literature from which to draw a more balanced overview of public values. Having discussed the essential trends in American landscape history, Simpson concluded with a position essay entitled `A Last Look'. There he summarized the principal perceptions that contributed to the American landscape. He also presented a personal assessment of the generally negative impacts of those perceptions, in the context of their implications for the landscape of our future. Unfortunately, this essay was poorly conceived as a short discussion, ®lled with many platitudes. He often failed to address the very dichotomies of perceptions and values that he so clearly articulated in earlier chapters. In a sense, he reemphasized some of the very myths Ð such as the `egalitarian, democratic landscape' or the `rational' landscape Ð that he earlier criticized or questioned. The critical issues dealt with in this book deserved a more thorough and re¯ective ®nal analysis than given to them. In spite of these drawbacks, Visions of Paradise is a highly readable and engaging story of the development of the cultural landscape in the United States.
Although written to be read from cover-to-cover, each chapter is suf®ciently independent that readers could select for those eras or topics of greatest interest to them. Simpson's re¯ections on his own landscape experiences, written in ®ve brief essays, are a highlight of the book, giving insight into the evolution of ideas that contributed to the book. Although much of the basic story presented in Visions of Paradise will be known to those familiar with the cited works, what most recommends this book to potential readers will be the engaging style and personal perspective with which Simpson has presented these glimpses of the American landscape. References Nash, Roderick, 1982. Wilderness and the American Mind. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Nancy Volkman* Department of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Texas A & M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, USA *
Fax: 1-979-862-1784. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Volkman) PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 6 0 - 8
Ecological Stewardship: A Common Reference for Ecosystem Management Nels C. Johnson, Andrew J. Malk, Robert C. Szaro, William T. Sexton (Eds.), Elsevier Science Ltd., Kidlington, Oxford, UK, 1999, 3 volumes, 1786 XXVIII pp., CD-ROM The introduction of a new concept always means that ink and paper must be sacri®ced (not to mention intellectual fatigue and real sweat). Ecological Stewardship, edited by a team of four of®cials from the US Forest Service and the World Resources Institute, devotes 1800 pages in this way (as well as a CDROM and several color and b/w illustrations) to delve into the concept of `ecosystem management' and its state-of-the-art.