Rewilding the Urban Frontier: River Conservation in the Anthropocene

More so than other ecosystems, urban rivers typify our evolving relationship with nature. Once a necessity for the development of civilization, by the twentieth century America’s rivers became neglected and abused, channelized, dammed, and filled with sewage and toxic waste. While acknowledging the profound impact our species has had on the natural world, and on rivers in particular, Rewilding the Urban Frontier argues that the Anthropocene presents opportunities for rethinking our relationship to the natural world and potentially healing the age-old rift between humans and nature.

Although the Clean Water Act of 1972 spurred a cleanup of the nation’s waterways, explosive urban growth has since fragmented the wildlife corridors and ecosystems along our rivers. The contributors to this volume contend that if done right, rewilding urban rivers can help avoid further loss of biodiversity and simultaneously address environmental and social inequities.

Greg Gordon is a professor of environmental studies at Gonzaga University. He is the author of When Money Grew on Trees: A. B. Hammond and the Age of the Timber Baron and The Landscape of Desire: Identity and Nature in Utah’s Canyon Country.