Rewilding the Urban Frontier

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.

"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

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction. OriginsGreg GordonPart 1. Headwaters: Reconciling Personal, Cultural, and Ecological Trauma1. HauntedHeidi Lasher2. We Buried Our People along the RiverMargo Hill3. Terms and Conditions ApplyGreg GordonPart 2. Tributaries: How City Rivers Make River Cities4. Wild, Managed, and Reclaimed: An Environmental History of the San Antonio River WatershedChar Miller5. From Floodplain to Kayak Park: Recreation, Restoration, and Economic Development along the Boise RiverJennifer Stevens6. Urban Ecology: Rewilding Rivers and Creating Outdoor Classrooms in MilwaukeeChristian C. Young7. The Lost River: The Revitalization of the Jordan River in the Salt Lake ValleyMarian L. RicePart 3. Convergence: Old Rivers, New Plumbing8. Engineering Nature: Denver and the South Platte RiverBrian M. Murphy9. Cyborg Salmon and Plumbed Basins: Ambivalence and Compromise on the DeschutesKirsten Rudestam10. Neon River: Rethinking Chicago Environmental History and Personhood in the Age of HumansShawn BaileyPart 4. Delta: Rewilding’s Perils11. A River Lament: New Creek and the People Who Loved It Near to DeathRobert Bartlett12. Restoration’s Dark Side: Gentrification and Daylighting the Saw Mill River in Yonkers, New YorkC. Ian Stevenson13. Angling in the Anthropocene: Carp and the Making of Race on the Los Angeles RiverBryan B. RasmussenContributorsIndex