Cities in the Wilderness; A New Vision of Land Use in America

Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2005. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Good/Very good. Peter Di Gesu (Cover image). [14], 200, [2] pages. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Ink marks, underlining, and page corners creasing noted. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Inscription reads: To Steve--With best wishes, Bruce Babbitt. Includes Prologue, Epilogue, Suggested Readings, Acknowledgments, and Index. Also includes chapters on Everglades Forever, Cities in the Wilderness, What's the Matter with Iowa?; At Water's Edge; and Land of the Free. Bruce Edward Babbitt (born June 27, 1938) is an American attorney and politician from the state of Arizona. A member of the Democratic Party, Babbitt served as the 16th governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987, and as the United States Secretary of the Interior from 1993 through 2001. He won election as Arizona Attorney General after graduating from Harvard Law School. He became Governor of Arizona after the death of his predecessor, Wesley Bolin. Babbitt won election to a full term in 1978 and won re-election in 1982. He focused on tax reform, health care, and water management. He helped found the Democratic Leadership Council and sought the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race after the first set of primaries. After his presidential campaign, Babbitt served as head of the League of Conservation Voters. He served as the Secretary of the Interior for the duration of Bill Clinton's presidency. Clinton also strongly considered nominating Babbitt to the Supreme Court after vacancies arose in 1993 and 1994. After leaving public office in 2001, Babbitt became an attorney with Latham & Watkins. In this book, he makes the case for a new national land use policy--a federal leadership role in land use planning, a new way of thinking about open space that retains local control while acknowledging national interests. This book celebrates key accomplishments in the environmental field while planning for greater ones--and Bruce Babbitt is an inspirational guide along that path. A visionary strategy for the future, a call for land use planning as a national priority. In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought - and fresh air - to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in. We've all experienced America's changing natural landscape as the integrity of our forests, seacoasts, and river valleys succumbs to strip malls, new roads, and subdivisions. Too often, we assume that when land is developed it is forever lost to the natural world - or hope that a patch-work of local conservation strategies can somehow hold up against further large-scale development. In Cities in the Wilderness, Bruce Babbitt makes the case for why we need a national vision of land use. We may have a space program, he points out, but here at home we don't have an open-space policy that can balance the needs for human settlement and community with those for preservation of the natural world upon which life depends. Yet such a balance, the author demonstrates, is as remarkably achievable as it is necessary. instead how much can be - and has been - done by making thoughtful and beneficial use of laws and institutions already in place. A hallmark of the book is the author's ability to match imaginative vision with practical understanding. Babbitt draws on his extensive experience to take us behind the scenes negotiating the Florida Everglades restoration project, the largest ever authorized by Congress. In California, we discover how the Endangered Species Act, still one of the most effective laws governing land use, has been employed to restore regional habitat. In the Midwest, we see how new World Trade Organization regulations might be used to help restore Iowa's farmlands and rivers. As a key architect of many environmental success stories, Babbitt reveals how broad restoration projects have thrived through federal-state partnerships and how their principles can be extended to other parts of the country. Whether writing of land use as reflected in the Gettysburg battlefield, the movie Chinatown, or in presidential political strategy, Babbitt gives us fresh insight. and offers a vision of land use as grand as the country's natural heritage.