This Land Was Saved for You and Me: How Gifford Pinchot, Frederick Law Olmsted, and a Band of Foresters Rescued America's Public Lands

by Jeffrey H. Ryan

The story of how America's public lands--our city parks, national forests, and wilderness areas--can be traced to a few conservation pioneers and protegees who shaped policy and advocated for open spaces. Some, like Frederick Law Olmsted and Gifford Pinchot, are well known, while others have never been given their due. Jeffrey Ryan covers the nearly one hundred-year period between 1865 (when Olmsted contributed to the creation of Yosemite as a park and created its management plan) to the signing of the Wilderness Act of 1964. Olmsted influenced Pinchot, who became the first head of the National Forest Service, and in turn, Pinchot hired the foresters who became the founders of The Wilderness Society and creators of the Wilderness Act itself. This history emphasizes the cast of characters--among them Theodore Roosevelt, Bob Marshall, Benton MacKaye, Aldo Leopold, and Howard Zahniser--and provides context for their decisions and the political and economic factors that contributed to the triumphs and pitfalls in the quest to protect public lands. In researching the book, Ryan traveled to the places where these crusaders lived, worked, and were inspired to take up the cause to make public lands accessible to all.

Genres: History, Travel, Nonfiction

232 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2022

About the author

Jeffrey H Ryan is an author, adventurer, photographer and historian. He has written several books about his outdoor exploits, his fascination with hiking trails and the people and places found just off the beaten path. His debut book, Appalachian Odyssey: A 28-year hike on America’s trail was hailed by the former Executive Editor of National Geographic as “a classic of nature and travel writing” and set off a national tour (in a 1985 VW camper, no less).

His books are known for weaving a deep appreciation for history into walks across contemporary landscapes that give readers the feeling they are hiking right alongside. When Jeff isn’t trekking, chasing down a great story or spinning yarns from his keyboard, he enjoys sharing his adventures with audiences who love the outdoors. He spends much of his time in his beloved native state of Maine.

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides the history of how land in the United States became preserved for future generations. Nothing in the book addressed deserts, it was very tree oriented.

U.S. Forest Service, National Parks, Wilderness Preserves, and other public lands have a history, and part of that history is told in this book. Its focus is on some of the men that fought the land and forests.

The book begins with Frederick Law Olmsted, managing a mining operation in the California Sierra Nevada. Needing a break, he wanders to the Yosemite area and is astonished by its beauty. Olmsted realizes this land needs to be protected before it is destroyed by commerce, either mining, clear-cutting timber or some other extraction method that destroys beautiful landscapes.

There are more biographical details of Olmsted for the page length of this book than he deserves. I didn’t mind too much since I’ve been interested in learning more about the guy. Yet it did detract from the premise of this book.

From Olmsted the book discusses Gifford Pinchot. I found it interesting that Pinchot was groomed by his father to become a forester, and good thing he liked it. Pinchot saw opportunity to make his mark with forestry. Like all early foresters he got his forestry education in Europe, then back to the United States, first working with Olmsted then quickly becoming the lead man on forestry management.

At this point there was a lengthy discussion about the development of schools for forestry and development of an agency within the federal government. Pinchot was quite influential with both aspects, even being underhanded towards people he previously worked with.

Pinchot’s view towards forestry was that forests were to be used, not preserved, and this viewpoint became very influential in managing forest service lands. He not only headed the new agency he also trained many foresters for many years.

Further in the book discusses other men who saw that needed to be preserved as wilderness, untouched by humans for the future. They believed that wilderness helped humans reconnect with nature and was good antidote for city life.

The book had many interesting points and yet it also was too large of a topic to be adequately cover everything for a book of under 250 pages. It also seemed to miss quite a bit as well, such as neglecting to mention any women who also helped in the fight to protect lands.


Book rating: 3.75 stars

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardcover | interesting book. I learned a lot. Much thanks to the author for gathering the data in an easy to read collection.

Thoughts about the content and not necessarily the book itself:
The whole thing just makes me wonder why it was so obvious to so many privileged white men that we need to preserve our wild places, and yet that same thought didn’t always extend to the inclusion of women, native peoples and people of color. The stories of these men in power fighting with other men in power over their egos is obnoxious, but I suppose it’s good to see what we’re up against.

[William Saums · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had things gone differently over 100 years ago, we would have no national parks, no publicly owned wild lands preserved for eternity, and maybe worse. I had no idea there was so much opposition and at the same time, apathy toward preserving our beautiful mountains, streams, and forests. Today we take these lands for granted, but without the public activism and relentless pursuit of preservationists like Pinchot, Olmstead, MacKaye and others, our nation would look very different. Thank you author Jeffrey Ryan for this excellent read about the work these heroes did for us all! You make it all come to life as if it were yesterday. So many parallels to today's politics, too; we can all take a lesson.

[Sarah Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm one of those folks who like to read a few chapters before bed. This Land Was Saved for You and Me was a delicious treat to be savored. The story is complex and fascinating. The characters are often famous, but you see the difficulties they faced and the winding path that lead to our national parks. What sets it apart from other history books though is Jeffrey Ryan's writing. It's like having a friend who is a world class story teller let you in on the behind the scenes stuff, the good stuff. I loved it.

[Mo Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most succinct and clear of any of the books I’ve read about the creation of public lands in the U.S. Ryan’s writing style takes complicated historical moments and translates them in easy-to-understand language.

In this book, I was able to learn how personalities I was familiar with (Olmstead, Pinchot) inspired future leaders (MacKaye, Zahniser). Definitely a breezy overview of the movement to preserve wilderness, but provides a clear trajectory of major moments that inspires deeper understanding.

[David Govatski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Champions of Public Lands

The author has weaved a story about the champions of public lands and how they worked to protect our national parks and national forests. Prepare to be inspired by Olmsted, MacKaye, Pinchot, Zahniser and others who had the talent and skills to lead the way. None of them were perfect, they each had flaws, but they each made a contribution to the nature of our country.