Seeing Wilderness At Home- A Review of "The Enduring Wild" by Josh Jackson

“This sense of belonging and interconnectedness challenges common perceptions of wildness. So much of the language of wildness and getting back to nature is about searching for a sense of freedom, a release from the burdens of routine daily life… Yet in seeking this liberation, there can be a loosening of ties and a loss of obligation. House’s reflections prompt us to think beyond the individual and to recognize our collective role in the responsibility of care that accompanies the right of access to public lands. Perhaps true freedom is found not in the absence of ties but in our attachment with place and the stewardship we chare wit the land and each other.”

Josh Jackson is reflecting on this quote by Freeman House, a writer and fisherman who co-founded Mattole Salmon Group to restore rivers in Northern California’s King Range, House writes, “We are bound to each other through our tentative and cautious engagement with the very processes of creation… Most importantly, we have begun our engagement with a place, a place defined by the waters of the river we work in, a place where we may yet come to be at home.” (House)

One of the most moving parts of Jackson’s writing is this return to public lands as belonging. This isn’t a guidebook like you’ve read before that just rates hikes and peaks in our public lands as things you can cross off a wish list and move on to the next adventure. It is a call for reflection on why some lands have been protected more than others, why these lands deemed “lesser” are some of the most crucial to protect, and what it means to intertwine ourselves within these lands.

Of course public lands have a dark side of their history and this book makes space to share not just the difficult stories of indigenous peoples, the first caretakers of these lands, but makes sure to include living stories of how indigenous people are driving conservation today.  

The book is compiled of essays (and gorgeous photos/ illustrations)  that share Jackson’s personal story of learning about traveling to land operated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and then expand to include moving stories of conservation and eventually reflections on what all this wilderness means for our urban homes too.

Since this blg is also concerned with seeing our urban spaces as wild places worth protecting I especially loved the final conclusions of this book. After these stories take you through sweeping vistas, camping mishaps, conservation against all odds, the final scene is simply of a humble urban tree, a Sycamore along busy main street, that asks, “Can we see the wilderness in our everyday lives and how are we going to care for it?”