Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra

Alas.......A good friend recommended this book for me. He really enjoyed the heck out of it, but I guess I didn't get the same thrill out of reading it. In fact, it was like a big sleeping pill for me to try and finish this book. Sorry 'bout that Steve......but like any book I've ever read, there are always some tidbits of information that makes a person smarter, so I'm not unhappy that I read it. If a person is really into environmental issues, then this just might be the kind of book some other reader is looking for. Basically the author tells of his 20+ years as a park forest ranger on the north-western coast of California, Sierra Nevada of California, Wyoming's Grand Tetons, and a couple of other locations. His primary focus was the government-owned land of the American River that is condemned to be covered by a dam some day. In his mind it is doomed land that will eventually be flooded over and never to be enjoyed by human kind again. It will be a home that will be taken from the existing animals that now preside there. The flora and fauna will eventually be covered by water too. Of course, whatever good might come from the dam such as a new water supply for the ever-expanding human population, new wildlife in the form of fish, water fowl, underwater plant life, etc. aren't considered as a positive tradeoff. Instead, a new dam is just more human exploitation of mother nature. Smith spends some time talking about the human element of being a park ranger and the kinds of people that spend time in the public park system, but mostly his focus was on the negative side of the human experience (the armed miners, wild druggies, alcohol-crazed losers, squatters, motorcyclists, gangs, bridge jumpers, etc.). Not much was mentioned about the vast majority of the public (families, campers, and nature lovers) who visit the national forests and treat it with respect. Smith gives his reader lots of history and geography lessons throughout the book. What it was like to be a park ranger really took the back seat to the author pressing his environmental and political agendas. Instead, we are given a big dose of environmental politics and conservationist history which I found to be mostly dry and uninteresting. In my mind, Smith made 'Man' the bad guy. I also felt that he was a rather bitter person as he looked back on his years as a ranger. Sooooooo........the bottom line is that this book didn't quite do it for me.

There is a common view that most and maybe all Californians are dedicated environmentalists. In "Nature Noir," Ranger Jordan Fisher Smith puts that view to the test. Smith is ranger for state-owned parkland in the high Sierras, a neglected piece of land that's slated to become a dam site and inundated as a reservoir to capture the floodwaters of the American River.Smith elects to work in this park instead of trying to compete for a coveted, high-status ranger role in the National Park Service. Ranger Smith, like so many others would love to work in one of the big-name national parks but has settled for rangering in this off-the-beaten-path piece of state parkland.His piece of California state parkland is managed on a shoe-string budget with a skeletal staff. The expectation is that a dam and reservoir is coming. Exception usages like dredging for gold is allowed here. Other forms of usage, intolerable or illegal elsewhere spoil the environment, create noise, silt up streams and lower water quality.This is a rough place and rough things happen here. In "Nature Noir," Smith is able to convey a strong sense of place. He really knows his patch of land. It's rough land and rough people seem to be drawn to this place. People openly carry guns. Relatively few Sierra Club, Friends-of-the-Earth and Audubon Society types visit this place. The spirit of John Muir, to "take only pictures and leave only footprints," is unknown to most patrons of this place.Ranger Smith is not a law-enforcement oriented type of ranger, however, this facet of his ranger role is the most consuming.This is a tale told well by a guy who knows his piece of public land along with the people who frequent it. This narrative will make you feel uncomfortable. After reading this book, you won't think about a piece of public land in the same way. You won't think about the role that a ranger must play in the same way either.

For anyone who loved Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, Nature Noir is a must read!Jordan Smith shares an insiders' perspective of our State Parks through a Rangers' eyes that starts out mostly as a nuts and bolts memoir then turns deeply personal and moving. The state park landscape serves as the stage for a surreal stew of characters ranging from naive "nature lovers" to criminals to crackpots. Anyone who waxes nostalgic about the good ol days when rangers didn't carry guns will be reminded that the most dangerous animals in our parks are not the wildlife.The underlying shadowy politics of preservation and exploitation of our open spaces get a rare critical light shown on them by the author whichexposes the "business end" of the state park system.This is a unique story that deserves a look from anyone who cares about the wilderness legacy we leave future generations and about the people who are tasked with protecting that legacy.

The author is an excellent writer. Drawing you into this place and time with him. A portrait of a canyon doomed. It’s guardians with no clear objective, underfunded, unnoticed and stuck in limbo while politicians, environmentalists and businessmen argue over their fate.If you are a fan of books about our parks and rangers this is a great read.

Jordan Fisher Smith is at his best telling tales of his experiences as a park ranger. Though he often strays into personal reflection, that did not affect my enjoyment of the book. Even the sections on geology, hydrology and politics were interesting.But I was surprised near the end to find Smith, clearly an intelligent man, parroting the now widely discredited theories of "global warming". Happily, that did not occur until the last few pages, though there were hints of it earlier."Nature Noir" was well worth the time spent reading it.

I read almost a hundred non-fiction books a year, and can honestly say this is one of the best written books that i have ever read!The subject matter is gripping, as you are kept in suspense during episodes of danger against man, beast, and nature.