logo
‘Enduring Wild' is an engaging travelogue about California public lands under attack

‘Enduring Wild' is an engaging travelogue about California public lands under attack

Josh Jackson's 'The Enduring Wild: A Journey Into California's Public Lands' is a story of adventures across 41 California landscapes, with photos of beautiful places you are unlikely to have seen, in locations ranging from the Mojave Desert to the Elkhorn Ridge Wilderness in Mendocino County. Early on, the author lays out mind-bending stats: more than 618 million acres in the United States are federally owned public land and 245 million of those belong to the Bureau of Land Management.
Public lands, he notes, 'are areas of land and water owned collectively by the citizens and managed by the Federal government.' These lands 'are our common ground, a gift of seismic proportions that belongs to all of us.'
Drive across the United States and consider that 28% of all of that is yours. Ours.
Jackson's assertion that we are all landowners is a clarion call amid a GOP-led push to sell off public land. The shadow of the current assault on public lands weighs heavy while reading this lovely book.
The book has endearing origins. When Jackson could not get a reservation for weekend camping with his kids, a buddy suggested that he try the BLM. Until that moment he had never even heard of the Bureau of Land Management. Yet, 15.3% of the total landmass in California is … BLM.
Jackson starts out with history: All these lands were taken from Native American peoples, and he does not overlook that BLM used to be jokingly referred to as the Bureau of Livestock and Mining. In 1976, a turnaround came via the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which built a multi-use mandate to emphasize hiking and conservation as much grazing and extraction (a.k.a. mining). This effort to soften the heavy use of public lands by for-profit individuals and companies led to the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion and the election of President Reagan. Arguably, we've been struggling with finding the multi-use balance ever after.
Jackson's first BLM foray was out to the Trona Pinnacles in the Mojave Desert, where he and his two older children camped, playing in a wonderland where 'hundreds of tufa spires protrude like drip-style sand castles out of the wide-open desert floor that extend for miles in every direction,' while his wife, Kari, an E.R. nurse, stayed home with their newborn. The pandemic shutdown in 2020 inspired Kari's suggestion, 'Why don't you start going to see all these BLM lands?'
Jackson's love affair with BLM lands was not immediate, as just a few miles into his next hike in the Rainbow Basin Natural Area near Barstow, he was underwhelmed, like he was missing something. A few miles later, he sat and considered a Terry Tempest Williams quote from 'Refuge': 'If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self.' Revisiting this quote on repeat, Jackson had an emotional shift, deciding to stop hiking and … start walking.
On his next trip to the Amargosa Canyon, Jackson began by reaching out to the Amargosa Conservancy, learning about the Timbisha Shoshone people whose ancestral land this is, about past mining and dozens of plant and animal species. Committed to going at the pace of discovery, he admired the enchanting, striated geology of Rainbow Mountain, cherished creosote, mesquite and the brave diversity of desert flora and was struck by the gaze of an arrogant coyote. On his return, he found that in three hours, he had only traveled … a mile.
Yet it was during this meander that his writing made a steep drop into seeing, feeling, connecting, plunging toward transcendence.
A highlight of the book is a repeat trip to Central California's Carrizo Plain, first during a drought, silenced by its sere magnificence. After the heavy rains of 2022, he joined Cal Poly San Luis Obispo botanist Emma Fryer and was overcome by the delirious beauty of a superbloom, feeling like 'I had wandered into the Land of Oz.' Fryer observed that the drought was so severe that only the hardy native seed survived within the soil, releasing their beauty the moment water allowed them to come to life. Seeing the same place twice was revelatory, both familiar and completely new.
It's hard to tell if the places he visits gets more beautiful over the course of the book or his capacity to appreciate them and share his joy has grown. Despite the frequent paucity of BLM cartographic resources, apparently Jackson never got lost or worried about dropping the thread of a trail. Describing his father, Jackson might as well be talking about himself: 'I have no memories of my dad being worried or fearful in unfamiliar situations.' Nevertheless, toward the end of the book, when he and his hardy father camped next to the rushing Eel River, Jackson did worry about bears breaking into their tent. Fortunately, the bears did not arrive but, inspired by William Cronon's 'The Trouble With Wilderness,' Jackson's heart opened as he realized that 'Nature' is not out there; nature is wherever we are.
Back in Los Angeles taking long walks with his daughter, past bodegas and car washes, he saw jacaranda, heard owls and coyotes and realized the wild had been here all along. An urban sycamore claimed its space regardless of enclosing cement and car exhaust, as spectacular and venerable as any sycamore in the state.
Can the places Jackson visited for his book endure public larceny? He is tracking the answer to this question, real time, on his Substack, where he's currently describing the shocking attempts to sell millions of acres of BLM land.
'It's been a wild few weeks for BLM lands. 540,385 acres in Nevada and Utah were on the chopping block to be sold off,' Jackson recently noted. 'Everyone was talking about the land totals — but no one was showing what the landscapes actually looked like. So, I decided to go see them.'
Great advice: Bring a friend, pack water and go.
Watts' writing has appeared in Earth Island Journal, New York Times motherlode blog, Sierra Magazine and local venues. Her first novel is 'Tree.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Inside the Republican revolt in the House over the Epstein files that led to the early summer recess for Congress
Inside the Republican revolt in the House over the Epstein files that led to the early summer recess for Congress

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Inside the Republican revolt in the House over the Epstein files that led to the early summer recess for Congress

House Republicans revolted against GOP leadership over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files in the days before Speaker Mike Johnson ushered in the chamber's early summer recess to avoid dealing with the crisis, according to a report. As controversy over the administration's refusal to release all government files related to the sex offender continues, Johnson faced a 'growing crisis' of his own among key GOP allies as leadership refused to bring any action on Epstein to the House floor, Politico reports. Behind the scenes, GOP leaders faced a 'standoff' with rank-and-file members who were 'incensed' when they were forced to vote against a Democratic-led effort to release the Epstein files a week before, according to the outlet. Some lawmakers reportedly 'begged' for action on Epstein in closed-door meetings as they warned Republican leadership that the problem wasn't going away. The new reported details illustrate the chaos of what was happening behind the scenes as President Donald Trump continues to be plagued by the case of the convicted pedophile. GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx of Virginia, chair of the House Rules Committee that serves as a final gatekeeper to legislation where a simple majority vote is required, threatened to bring activity on the House floor to a halt unless a better solution to the Epstein issue was put forward, two people with knowledge of the conversation told Politico. The rebellion prompted Trump to meet with GOP members of the House Rules Committee in the Oval Office Tuesday, according to the outlet. Johnson moved to shut down the committee, which meant that the House will not be able to tee up votes to pass many of the spending bills that Congress hoped to pass before the August recess, when members break to go back to their districts. But Johnson likely faces further rebellion in September. 'I think the administration will put more stuff out in August … if they don't, then I promise you, there's going to be some more looking at this in the first week of September,' warned Rep. Chip Roy of Texas. Republican lawmakers have expressed anger over the Epstein fallout, and said they are under intense pressure from constituents on the issue. The rebellion of House Republicans who favored releasing more documents in the Epstein case came as a 'surprise' to White House officials, according to Politico. One anonymous GOP member told CNN that members wanted a chance to vote on the issue. 'To be accused of trying to cover up for a pedophile, it's detestable,' they told the network. Word had got out that Democrats were planning to force an Epstein-related vote Monday. At a meeting with GOP Rules Committee members that evening, Johnson reportedly presented three options on how to proceed. Ultimately, leadership opted to halt the action of the House Rules Committee. 'The rule was going down anyway,' a source with knowledge of the meeting told Politico. 'So the choice was clear.' Johnson defended effectively shutting down the House while speaking with reporters Wednesday. 'No one in Congress is blocking Epstein documents,' he said. The rebellion follows recent revelations that the Department of Justice told Trump that his name appears multiple times in the Epstein files, according to multiple senior administration sources. The sources told The Wall Street Journal that Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, informed the president during a May meeting at the White House that the president's name emerged after they sifted through a 'truckload' of documents related to Epstein. Following the Journal's report, sources familiar with the exchange confirmed the account to both The New York Times and CNN. Appearing in the files does not indicate that an individual has committed any wrongdoing, nor has Trump ever been accused of misconduct in connection with the Epstein case. 'This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by The Wall Street Journal,' White House communications director Steven Cheung said about the claims Trump was named.

Trump and the GOP working on an ‘agenda 2027' to tell voters what to expect if they retain Congressional control
Trump and the GOP working on an ‘agenda 2027' to tell voters what to expect if they retain Congressional control

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Trump and the GOP working on an ‘agenda 2027' to tell voters what to expect if they retain Congressional control

President Donald Trump and his White House are influencing GOP congressional candidates and advising who to run and who to stand down as Republicans try to keep control of both chambers of Congress in midterm elections next year. The White House is strategizing to make sure Republicans win enough seats and is putting together 'a 2027 policy agenda' so Trump, who plans to join candidates on the campaign trail, can explain what continued GOP control of the House, Senate and the White House could look like, a White House official told Politico. This strategy includes telling which Republican candidates to run for office and which to 'stay put,' the official said. For example, Iowa Republican Rep. Zach Nunn was weighing a gubernatorial run when the president told him to 'stay put,' the outlet reported. Nunn this month announced he was running for re-election. 'After prayerful consideration with his family and the strong support from President Trump, Zach is more committed than ever to maintaining the Republican majority and advancing the America First Agenda,' the congressman's campaign spokesperson said. The president has also publicly endorsed Nunn. The president also advised Michigan GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga to avoid running for Senate. Trump instead publicly backed Senator Mike Rogers this week, saying he 'has my Complete and Total Endorsement — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!' Earlier this month, Trump met with Iowa Senator Joni Ernst to encourage her to run for re-election, Politico previously reported. Questions about Ernst's political future swirled after her viral remark about proposed Medicaid cuts: 'We all are going to die.' 'President Trump is the unequivocal leader of the Republican Party — just look at those who have bet against him in the past because they are no longer around,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico. 'The President will help his Republican friends on Capitol Hill get reelected, and work to pick up new seats across the country.' Democrats are likely hoping for a repeat of the 2018 midterms, when they destroyed Republicans' trifecta by taking control of the House during Trump's first term. ​​'I'm sure there's some memories from 2018, but it's all about these last two years of his presidency and his legacy, and he doesn't want the Democrats nipping at his heels all the time for the last two years,' Tony Fabrizio, the pollster for Trump's 2016 and 2024 campaigns, told Politico. Trump has acknowledged the power he has to influence voters. He recently suggested holding rallies for candidates, two White House officials told the outlet. The president reportedly told one of the officials last week: 'We're going to have to campaign in the states and really get out there a lot, huh? Because really, it's just me that can pull them out in a lot of places.' Republican strategists have said they plan to use the threat of Trump's third impeachment, should Democrats take the House, to compel voters. 'We know what the stakes are in the midterm elections,' John McLaughlin, a Trump pollster, told NBC News this week. 'If we don't succeed, Democrats will begin persecuting President Trump again. They would go for impeachment.' The White House also plans to use its 2024 campaign strategy as a guide, targeting young and working-class voters that came out to support Trump in droves. 'One of the main strategies is to put Trump on the ballot in the midterms,' one of the White House officials told Politico. 'We'll have a midterm agenda that we're running on. Not only here's what we've done, but here's what we're going to do next.' Democrats are eating up that idea. Democratic National Committee spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin told the outlet: 'The White House has the DNC's full support in their plans to put Trump on the campaign trail with frontline Republicans to tell the American people that they took money out of their pockets, took food off their table, and took away their health care in order to give massive handouts to billionaires.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store