Description
For four-hundred years, European settlers plundered the North American landscape of forests and wildlife in what we now call the “era of extermination.” Today however, due to conservationists’ efforts and rural sprawl, more Americans live in closer proximity to the wild than anywhere on the planet at any other time in history. Sounds like great news, until you hit a deer. Nature Wars tells the story of how this happened- how Americans lost touch with the natural landscape, and how our well-meaning efforts to protect animals have allowed wild populations to burgeon out of control, causing damage costing billions. Award-winning journalist and reporter Jim Sterba pulls back the curtain to reveal disputes that divide neighborhoods, polarize communities, and wreak havoc on both local and national politics. Forfour hundredyears, explorers, traders, and settlers plundered North American wildlife in an escalating rampage, but in thetwentieth century an incredible turnaround took place. Conservationists created wildlife sanctuaries, restored habitats, and imposed regulations on hunters and trappers. Over decades, they nursed many wild populations back to health. Then, after World War II, something happened that conservationists hadn’t foreseen- sprawl. People moved into suburbs, and then kept moving outward. All the while, well-meaning efforts to protect animals allowed wild populations to burgeon out of control, causing damage costing billions, degrading ecosystems, and touching off disputes that polarized communities. The result is a mix of people and wildlife that should be an animal-lover’s dream, butoften turnsinto a sprawl-dweller’s nightmare. Deeply researched, eloquently written, and perceptively humorous, Nature Wars expresses the need for organic reconnection with our natural ecosystem by offering a provocative look at how Americans created an inadvertent mess.
