( 12 reviews )
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Posted: Apr 11 2009
How to do your job without support of your purpose. A life in appreciation of nature and in spite of the politics that wants to drown your world. Some very touching stories, contrasted with horror. A well done little book with passages that stay with you.
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Posted: Mar 11 2008
Shatter the California Environmental Myth! Then kick it in, step on it and if there is still anything left, shoot if for good measure. In "Nature Noir," Jordan Fisher Smith tells it like it is. He's the ranger for a piece of state parkland in the high Sierras, a neglected piece of land slated to become a dam site and inundated reservoir capturing the floodwaters of the American River; this to prevent downstream flooding in Sacramento. Smith elects to work in this park instead of trying to compete for a much more coveted, high-status ranger role in the National Park Service. While he would love to work in one of California's great national parks, he's settled for rangering in this off-the-path piece of public parkland. For those not aware, it's a tough time for a white guy to get one of those high-profile National Park ranger roles. Since women and minorities have historically been under-represented among park rangers, there's a major push to diversify. As a white guy, Smith finds himself at the back of the line. His piece of California state parkland is on a shoe-string budget with an skeletal staff. Because the expectation is still for a dam and reservoir to be built, activities like dredging for gold are allowed. Intolerable and illegal elsewhere on public parkland, activities like this go on, spoiling the environment, making lots of noise, silting up streams, lowering water quality. This is a rough place and rough things happen here. Smith is able to convey a strong sense of place. He knows his land. Rough people seem to be drawn to this place. A lot of people openly carry guns. Few Sierra Clubbers, Friends-of-the-Earth, Audubon Society birdwatchers and people with a sense of environmental stewardship frequent this place. The spirit of John Muir is at best a foggy ghost in the vision field of most of the patrons of this place. Smith is not a law-enforcement oriented type of ranger. However, this part of his ranger role is often all-consuming. This is a tale told by a guy who knows well his piece of public land and the people who frequent it. His tale will strip down the high-minded environmental conscience of California ecology types and even ordinary folks, who want simply to go on a nature walk in the woods. This narrative will make you feel uncomfortable. You won't think about a piece of public land in the same way after reading this book. You won't think about the role of a ranger in the same way after reading this book.
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Posted: Nov 25 2007
This is the memoir of a ranger assigned to a dying state park whose lands were due to be flooded by a downstream dam. The park's fate helped make its visitors a relatively pathetic bunch, since California's park department clearly reduced spending on infrastructure and staff in anticipation of the park's coming demise. People who didn't need infrastructure, and who liked the low enforcement level, found it a congenial place to hang out - - mostly to drink, of course, but also to engage in other antisocial and/or illegal activities. The experience gave Smith a lot of good stories, and he tells them pretty well. As a storyteller in the ranger-warden-cop genre, I'd put him about in the middle of the pack. The underlying quality of the stories is better than average. The book stands out in its perspective, conveyed by the title. Some comparable memoirs present park rangers and game wardens as semi-heroic servants of the people, but this one has a more gritty feel of an urban cop assigned to a rural beat. If you're looking for Bambi stories about wildlife or wilderness, this is the wrong book for you - - the star animal eats a visitor, and a much more humble creature puts an end to our author's career. But if you're a true-crime fan looking for an unusual setting, this book might be just the ticket for you.
