A nature book unlike any other, Jordan Fisher Smith's startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions...
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Oct 10, 2010
Jacqueline
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I received Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra by Jordan Fisher Smith as an unexpected loan at work. It just showed up in my mailbox one day with a post-it note from a coworker, a bio tech in the natural resources division. The note said that it had been interesting to read what law enforcement rangers do and that he thought I might enjoy the book (and, if I wasn't interested, to pass it on to one of the other rangers).
I borrowed the book I hadn't asked to borrow, expecti More...
I borrowed the book I hadn't asked to borrow, expecti More...
Jul 15, 2010
Monty
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I had a great time reading this book. The author, a former park ranger (I found out why he is no longer a ranger in the last chapter), writes about the 14 years he spent working in and around California's Auburn State Recreation Area. He illustrates with many examples how park rangers must function as law enforcement officers because of all the crimes committed on park land (poaching, destroying the environment, domestic violence, substance abuse issues of all kinds, fighting, killing, suicide
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Sep 27, 2009
Lars
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The title and cover may be good marketing, but are misleading. Although crime (and murder) investigation enter into Smith's story, the book is not really about police and thieves. Although the cover picture is the high Sierra, the book does not really take place in remote wilderness.
Smith worked as a California park ranger for a decade plus in the foothills of the Sierras, at the Auburn State Recreation Area. During that time, from 1986 to 1998, this was a no man's land in the st More...
Smith worked as a California park ranger for a decade plus in the foothills of the Sierras, at the Auburn State Recreation Area. During that time, from 1986 to 1998, this was a no man's land in the st More...
Aug 17, 2009
Gabe
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I honestly can not recommend this book more. Non-fiction from hobby writers can be dry at times, but this was vivid and amazingly complex. The author does not give himself enough credit for the quality of his work! It is especially interesting for anyone who lives in or has lived in central eastern California, where the author spent the majority of his career.
Not only is "Nature Noir" full of interesting information and creative story telling, but I found the style particul More...
Not only is "Nature Noir" full of interesting information and creative story telling, but I found the style particul More...
Mar 01, 2010
Stephanie
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Nature Noir – Jordan Fisher Smith
This is not what you’d expect from a book by a former park ranger about his years protecting our park land in Northern California. Smith’s beat was the region around the Sierra Nevada river canyons – the Auburn Damn area. A passionate nature lover and committed ranger, he finds himself in a land filled with squatters, drug users and seedy gun totting characters.
The book is both funny and dark and at times heart breaking. Smith is a beautiful writer an More...
This is not what you’d expect from a book by a former park ranger about his years protecting our park land in Northern California. Smith’s beat was the region around the Sierra Nevada river canyons – the Auburn Damn area. A passionate nature lover and committed ranger, he finds himself in a land filled with squatters, drug users and seedy gun totting characters.
The book is both funny and dark and at times heart breaking. Smith is a beautiful writer an More...
Jan 15, 2012
Laura
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Part Thoreau and part LeCarre, this tale of land in the Sierra Foothills, hard-used by the 49er's to the present day scavenger-miners is difficult to put down. Fisher paints a vivid picture of the peculiar life of rangers who guard the spectacular Auburn State Recreational Area as they live under constant threat from their own employer: if the Auburn Dam is built, the canyons they cherish will be flooded. Meanwhile, the author also weaves in the political history of dam-building in the US, and A
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Mar 10, 2008
Jen
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Finally--the dark underbelly of state parks exposed!! Actually I did find this book quite fascinating. Although I hadn't really considered it before, it makes sense that there is a certain "lawlessness" that goes on inside state/national parks. Once in the interior, you can get the feeling that you're cut off from society-at-large and seemingly live by your own rules. I learned a lot about human nature from the incidents recorded by Ranger Smith (yes, for real) from his true-life exper
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Apr 22, 2010
judith
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His focus is on both nature and political issues. Details evoke people and place in the Sierra foothills. From Publishers Weekly:
"Slated to be drowned by a dam, the California state park patrolled by the author of this haunting memoir is a "condemned landscape" of gorgeous river canyons hemmed in by exurban sprawl and peopled by eccentric gold miners, squatting families, drug dealers and miscellaneous drunken, gun-waving rowdies, a place where "turkey vultures floated. More...
"Slated to be drowned by a dam, the California state park patrolled by the author of this haunting memoir is a "condemned landscape" of gorgeous river canyons hemmed in by exurban sprawl and peopled by eccentric gold miners, squatting families, drug dealers and miscellaneous drunken, gun-waving rowdies, a place where "turkey vultures floated. More...
Apr 04, 2010
Kevin
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Fascinating narrative for a number of reasons. A local (for me) park ranger describes the dark, threatening and apocalyptic aspects of an important watershed I know very well - the author creates a new genre of hardboiled nature crime non-fiction that made me wonder at times about the sanity of Mr. Smith. The last couple of pages addresses the curious style of madness that makes this book such an interesting read.
Feb 11, 2008
Jennifer
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I enjoyed this book, but also found it a little all over the place. On one hand, the author provides a great portrait of a gritty area. On the other hand, he discusses the Auburn Dam, and how one interacts with a place whose fait is uncertain. I was unconvinced as to how the two were connected. It seems like he had a bunch of good ideas, but tried to smush too many ways of telling one story into a single book. That said, the prose was wonderful, and it evoked the canyons in the ways I remembered
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Aug 01, 2011
A State Park ranger patrolling an area along the American River that is proposed to be flooded by a Bureau of Reclamation dam has seen it all: wild animals attacking humans, murders, suicides, drownings, gold prospecting, drugs, drunks, Lyme disease, white water rafting and more. Always in the background is a description of the opposing forces for and against the dam.
May 07, 2010
Meredith
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An unexpectedly well-written account of the author's experiences as a ranger on the American River in California. Lots of interesting asides on the geology of the region and on the history of national parks, as well as on the decades-long attempt to dam the American at Auburn. A good read.
Nov 23, 2010
Michelle
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A unique writing style and lots of nature details (like how the Sacramento River Valley area flooded in history) made me really enjoy this book. Interesting stories that occurred while this author was a park ranger in the canyons above Sacramento.
May 03, 2009
Alex
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There were a few minutes in my younger days when I considered living the life of a ranger. Then I looked at the qualification exam for becoming one and noticed that it was full of questions about law enforcement. Not for me. So, I enjoyed these essays which allowed me to vicariously experience the road not taken, and was pleasantly reminded of the Sierra scenery.
Jul 20, 2011
Jaime
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A fine and fair memoir in which a ranger covers history, politics, civil engineering, law enforcement, nature, and personalities in the California Sierra. Intelligent. Recommended.
Nov 10, 2011
Reenie
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Blahh... this was okay, but I pretty much only found it interesting when it was talking about the geology, meteorology and hydrology of the Auburn canyons and proposed dam. (My grandfather the civil engineer who specialised in river management would be proud of me.) The waxing poetical about the special life of a ranger, and pretty much any part of this to do with stories about people - which were often split and integrated into flashbacks mixed up with the geological stuff - I could have done
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Nov 18, 2010
Kate
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Smith is an insightful writer, and offers a full view of what it's like policing America's national parks. Unfortunately a lot of these stories bypass the mystery and intrigue of noir, ending up more or less tragedies.
Jan 02, 2009
Aaron
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An interesting perspective on being a park ranger. The writing style was kind of...underdeveloped.
Sep 22, 2010
Kyle
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Great read for fans of the Sierra. Not a valentine to the range, though.
Apr 30, 2008
Tara
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This was written by a guy who worked as a park ranger at Auburn State Park just east of Sacramento. At the time that the guy was working, there was a big dam project and the part of the park that he was to “police” was supposed to be flooded when the dam was completed. The dam project was later shut down because of seismic activity at another site. If a dam broke, it would flood Sacramento. The ranger tells his stories about the park and who and what he finds there
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Dec 04, 2011
Juanita
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Having lived and worked on the Feather River in Northern California I know the land that Smith writes about. He writes well and his descriptions are vivid. His story about his life on the American River is riveting, utterly fascinating, but then, I'm prejudiced, liking honest revelations about one's unusual lifestyles such as his.
Mar 27, 2008
Matt
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I generally don't like reading memoirs because they too often ramble without purpose through a tangled life we can't possibly know. This one time, the format works for me. To steal a quote from the Seattle Times, it certainly is "...By turns funny, poignant, and surprising...an intimate memoir of the career of a park ranger."
Jan 09, 2008
Jay
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This was a cool book. Being a park ranger seems like such a fun job. This gave a whole new perspective of what it is like. Away from Yellowstone or the other big parks, being a ranger means almost being like a city cop. Yet at the same time, showed off the rewards of being in nature for a job.
Oct 30, 2008
Natalie
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Just when you thought you'd seen every side of human nature displayed by californians in their native environment Smith describes some people, circumstances, and politics that prove we can always get a little crazier than we thought was possible.
Aug 22, 2008
Dayna
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I decided to re-read this as I am now intimately familiar with the area that the author patrolled. I remembered liking it before, but now had a clearer picture of the people and places, and I think I enjoyed it even more.
Jun 01, 2008
Lottie
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Very interesting book if you like local history. Written by an ex-forest ranger about his days on duty in the Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills (particularly Auburn). Talk about the wild west.
Nov 11, 2007
Janie
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The title of this book is misleading - it's really about the American River Canyon near Auburn, CA. This is a great little book about an abused but resilient tract of wilderness.
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Feb 09, 2009
Craig
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Not what I had hoped; the experiences were more depressing and caustic than I was expecting. And the language was foul. I actually only read half the book before quitting.
