Lonesome Landscapes

Andrew Gulliford is professor of history at Fort Lewis College. His books include Boomtown Blues: Colorado Oil Shale, Sacred Objects and Sacred Places: Preserving Tribal Traditions, The Woolly West: Colorado’s Hidden History of Sheepscapes, and Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance.

"For too many years, America's National Conservation Lands system—a patchwork of 37 million acres of canyons, mountains, and rangelands scattered across a dozen western states and Alaska—has wrongly been written off as so barren and unworthy that it was fit only for jackrabbits and snakes. To redress this injustice, Andrew Gulliford has produced a magnificent tribute to the parts of America that nobody else wanted: geography that is singular not only because it is filled with hidden wonders and breathtaking solitude, but also because it stands as common ground at the heart of our national commonwealth whose preservation upholds the common good. A timely and long overdue homage to the hidden gems presided over by the Bureau of Land Management, Lonesome Landscapes is a treatise as alluring, as monumental, and as richly layered as the places it so rightly honors."—Kevin Fedarko, author of A Walk in the Park“Gulliford does an outstanding job shining a light on the overlooked National Conservation Lands System by tying them into the broader story of the American West, public lands management, and those who have helped shaped all three.”—Michael Childers, Colorado State University "A valuable contribution to the literature of American public land conservation history and policy. Gulliford succeeds admirably in bringing this substantial but greatly overlooked portion of the American landscape into vivid focus."—Curt Meine, Aldo Leopold Foundation and Center for Humans & Nature"With Andrew Gulliford's Lonesome Landscapes in hand, you won't ever be truly lonely while traveling our national conservation lands. A vast cast of characters and stories accompanies you. With sweeping knowledge of the historical literature, extensive interviews, and anecdotes from his own wanderings on public lands, Gulliford traces the fascinating and fraught politics behind the Bureau of Land Management's fragile embrace of conservation. This book will educate, inspire, and empower all who believe in preserving public lands."—Stephen Trimble, author of The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin"A wonderful read. This is the best public lands book since Wallace Stegner wrote Beyond the Hundredth Meridian."—Bruce Babbitt, former United States secretary of the interior"For too many years, America's National Conservation Lands system—a patchwork of 37 million acres of canyons, mountains, and rangelands scattered across a dozen western states and Alaska—has wrongly been written off as so barren and unworthy that it was fit only for jackrabbits and snakes. To redress this injustice, Andrew Gulliford has produced a magnificent tribute to the parts of America that nobody else wanted: geography that is singular not only because it is filled with hidden wonders and breathtaking solitude, but also because it stands as common ground at the heart of our national commonwealth whose preservation upholds the common good. A timely and long overdue homage to the hidden gems presided over by the Bureau of Land Managements, Lonesome Landscapes is a treatise as alluring, as monumental, and as richly layered as the places it so rightly honors."—Kevin Fedarko, former senior editor, Outside

• Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Privatizing Public Lands 2. Saving the Land No One Wanted: Ranchers, Writers, and the Roots of Conservation 3. The BLM’s Coming of Age: From Girl Rangers to National Monuments 4. Creating a Landscape System for BLM’s Conservation Lands 5. Voices from the Land: Indigenous and Hispanic Advocacy 6. Monuments Lost and Found: The Battle Over Boundaries 7. Wilderness, Wild Rivers, Historic Trails, and the Public Lands Mosaic 8. The Character of Canyons and from Scenery to Science 9. From Las Cienegas in Arizona to Alaska’s Birch Creek 10. Lessons from the Lost Coast and a Bears Ears Kiva Endnotes Bibliography Appendices Index