BRECKENRIDGE — With his gruff, mountain man demeanor and his highly idiosyncratic, often satiric way of presenting ecological facts, nature writer Edward Abbey might be regarded by the general public as more of an industrial iconoclast, rather than a pioneer of modern environmentalism. But to his fans, Abbey was a true prophet in the wilderness, a forward-thinking environmentalist whose inspired message of ecological and environmental preservation rings more true today than ever before.

As a celebration of Abbey’s life — and a culmination of its first “Common Reader” project — the Colorado Mountain College Breckenridge Campus will present the documentary film “Edward Abbey: A Voice in the Wilderness” this Monday evening.

The film was written and produced in 1992 by documentary filmmaker Eric Temple, who gathered interviews with Abbey before his death in 1989, and coupled them with subsequent interviews with Abbey’s family, friends and colleagues.

The presentation is largely thanks to Joyce Mosher, an associate professor in English communications at CMC. Just last year, Mosher graduated from Abbey’s alma mater, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she had the good fortune to study literature with Abbey’s biographer, Professor James Cahalan, whose book, “Edward Abbey: A Life” was published in 2001.

“Most people don’t know that Abbey is an Allegheny Mountain hillbilly, from just outside of Pittsburgh,” Mosher said. “Yes, he was curmudgeonly and a radical thinker, and in his hometown they prefer a more clean cut hero — the statue on the courthouse lawn is of the actor Jimmy Stewart. It’s a case of ‘Hollywood versus the grassroots outspoken cowboy philosopher’.

“But he really was the grandfather of ecology,” she added. “I think it goes back to his being a Depression baby in the hills of Pennsylvania, where strip mining took place right before his eyes. He was so saddened by what was happening in his own hometown, he didn’t want it to happen anywhere else. He hated to see commercialism take over the culture of places.”

Mosher said that, while the “Earth First!” movement claimed Abbey as its logical leader in the 1970s, Abbey himself was never comfortable in that role, and didn’t want to be viewed as a “stereotypical environmentalist” of his times.

One aspect of the film is that it debunks the image of Abbey as a curmudgeonly, lone prophet in the wilderness — a persona largely created by Abbey himself, Mosher said.

“He always said, ‘The Edward Abbey of my books is largely a fictional creation,” Mosher said. “He created that persona — so his books can really be viewed as the true adventures of an imaginary person. In reality, he was sensitive and lovable — he had five wives, so someone must have loved him.”

While Abbey is perhaps best known for his biting, satirical novel “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” which centers around an anti-development group of eco-warriors whose methods include industrial sabotage, his other best-known work is “Desert Solitaire,” a self-termed “elegy” to the national park system inspired by his work as a seasonal ranger at Arches National Park in Moab.

Because of Mosher’s enthusiasm for the works of Edward Abbey, the CMC faculty committee voted to take a chapter from Abbey for its first “Common Reader” project.

Last month, every student and faculty member at the CMC Breckenridge campus read one chapter, “Polemic Industrial Tourism in the National Parks,” from Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire.” Throughout this month, every CMC class has held discussions over this chapter, tying its relevance into the subject being taught.

“In math class, the professor asked the students to calculate how much asphalt would be needed to construct 30 more miles of road in Arches National Park, which was discussed in the book,” Mosher said. “And in business class, we looked at the economic impact of development in a national park and its surrounding area.”

The theater class, Mosher said, did readings of Abbey and created original dialogue among the book’s characters, while the biology class discussed how many acres of native plants would be sacrificed to roads in selected areas of the country.

“We’re all reading this one thing and talking about it in every class, and it establishes a real sense of community,” Mosher said. “It underscores the fact that it’s the learner, not the academic discipline, that’s the organizing principle at CMC. These connections are what a college education is all about,” she added.

Mosher said that, because Abbey taught writing at the University of Arizona, he was in some way responsible for grooming a new generation of nature writers, helping them to find and focus their creative voices.

“He had that talent that every writer wants, to say unforgettable things,” she said. “It’s such beautiful writing, and there’s such a range of tone in his style — from anger to humor, from irony to poetry.”

Mosher said that the CMC Breckenridge campus plans to present one new Common Reader project every year. Future projects could include exploring the works of a local writer, or inviting a nationally-known writer to the area to do a reading.

“This could include libraries and book clubs and the town arts district — and we could even start a writer’s club,” Mosher said. “We want to build that sense of community, with the college as a center for it.

“We have people here who want to participate in the arts and the cultural life of the community. Thanks to the Poetry Slam being a runaway success, it showed us that we can have something on campus and invite the community, and they will come.”

The public is encouraged to not only attend the event, but take an active part as well.

Mosher said that any input is welcome, whether it be personal stories and reflections about Abbey’s life and works, or suggestions about what the next project should be.

And, Mosher added, there will definitely be a new project in the works for next year.
“Once you say the words ‘first annual,’ it implies that there will be a ‘second annual’,” she said