Wilderness by Design: Landscape Architecture and the National Park Service / Building the National Parks: Historic Landscape Design and Construction

Environmental History, Oct 1998 by Pritchard, James A

Both authors essentially argue that during the twentieth century landscape architects successfully integrated facilities for perennially growing tourism with the preservation of landscape values. McClelland allows landscape architects themselves to voice the essential difficulty with park development. In 1932, Ernest A. Davidson pondered the result of development in Mt. Rainier's Yakima Park, noting it could be classed as a failure "since the area is far less attractive" than before construction, or it might be considered a great success "since the general appearance and result is far superior to those other developments with which comparison may be made, and `just grew' like topsy" (p. 322). When readers compare national parks with nearby resort developments, they may agree with the authors that NPS landscape architects of the early twentieth century successfully accomplished their goals.

Reviewed by James A. Pritchard. Mr. Pritchard is a collaborator with the Department of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University. He is the author of Preserving Natural Conditions: Science and the Perception of Nature in Yellowstone National Park (University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming).