High Country evenings are chilly, providing the perfect time to settle into your favorite armchair with a good book. For lovers of wilderness who want to understand more about the history, development and philosophy of the wilderness movement in America, there are some great books available.  Here are some of mine.

“A Sand County Almanac” (1949)

Written by Aldo Leopold, this book is a foundational classic of the modern environmental movement. An easy read, its recognition of the complex interdependence between and among humans and the other members of the natural world is profound. Beginning with a 12-month nature diary that poetically illustrates Leopold’s love of the natural world, it concludes with a simple and powerful case for the right of all living things to exist regardless of their economic value.  A real treasure, Leopold’s work laid the philosophical foundation for passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act some 15 years later.  

“Wilderness and the American Mind” (1967)

If you only have time to read one book about wilderness, this is the one. It follows the evolution of the idea of wilderness from the Old World, through the Renaissance, to America. The contributions of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold are presented, as well as the rationale for wilderness. Published only three years after the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act and written by Roderick Nash, it sets the act in a historical, cultural and intellectual context.  

“Driven Wild: How the Fight against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement” (2005)

This book by Paul Sutter traces the intellectual and cultural development of the modern wilderness movement between the World Wars, including brief biographies of four of the founders of the Wilderness Society: Aldo Leopold, Robert Sterling Yard, Benton MacKaye, and Bob Marshall. It convincingly argues that the wilderness movement was driven by a fear of what the ever-growing number of cars, roads, and tourists would do to the country’s last wild places. Since wilderness only starts where roads stop, it shows that the desire to preserve areas from roads and the automobile was the beginning of the modern wilderness movement. 

“The Great New Wilderness Debate” (1998)

This is a wide-ranging collection of wilderness writings edited by J. Baird Callicott and Michael Nelson. Essay writers range from Thoreau and Muir to more modern scholars critiquing the classical concept of wilderness. The difference between wildness and wilderness is explored, as is the need for the assemblage of larger areas of habitat for the preservation of larger mammals, even if such areas do not receive the full protection of the 1964 Wilderness Act.

“The Promise of Wilderness” (2012)

This book by James Morton Turner traces the complex political fights involved in expanding the National Wilderness Preservation System from the original 54 Wilderness Areas to the 757 that existed as of 2012. Today there are 806. The book demonstrates how the addition of Wilderness Areas ebbed and flowed as the overall national political scene changed. As the areas considered for Wilderness designation descended in elevation from craggy peaks (with little economic value) to forests (which held timber resources), then to high open country (used by ranchers for grazing), and finally to Southwest deserts (loved by off-road vehicle enthusiasts), the process became ever more controversial.  The focus of national environmental groups like the Wilderness Society also moved from Wilderness designations to better management of the rest of our public lands.

So, on one of these cool, dark evenings, curl up with a hot drink and immerse yourself in a great book!

“Get Wild” publishes weekly in the Summit Daily News. Mike Browning is a volunteer wilderness ranger for the U.S. Forest Service and the Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance.