Urban Wilderness
Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed
Distributed for Center for American Places
239 pages
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145 color plates, 2 color maps
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8 x 10
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© 2008
A river can be the lifeblood of a city, standing as a symbol of economic prosperity, harmony with nature, and communal life, and the Menomonee River is such an anchor for the Milwaukee area. In Urban Wilderness, Eddee Daniel guides us down the waterways of the Menomonee watershed and reveals how preserving urban rivers is key to modern day city life.
In rich color photographs and engaging text, Daniel explores the natural and cultural history of the Menomonee River. The development and rapid growth of Milwaukee as one of the leading cities in the Midwest is deeply intertwined with the river, and Daniel reveals the river’s moods and ecological conditions and its ills and strengths. The book charts the exemplary preservation efforts to rescue the river from pollution and neglect, ultimately showing how parks and nature preserves are crucial to the quality of life and economic success of a thriving city such as Milwaukee. A compelling in-depth chronicle, Urban Wilderness is an invaluable read for environmental scholars, urbanists, and everyday citizens who are concerned about the environment.
“Every urban river in America, whether minor or major, deserves a book, and this is certainly true of the Menomonee River, which helped to create Milwaukee. The author is an effective communicator who has an obvious ability to write about nature and natural history. In addition, the illustrations are remarkable and do much to enhance the features that characterize so much of the Menomonee River valley today. The book should appeal to interested and informed members of the region and also prove of interest to people throughout the nation who are involved with rivers that have similar challenges and opportunities for revival.”—Arnold R. Alanen, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“Urban Wilderness is an excellent guided trip with an urban eco-explorer. Regardless of your city up-bringing, this book will lead you along the familiar and ‘wild’ urban river’s edge. An undercurrent is the need to protect such places for future generations to explore and develop an environmental ethic. Our national parks are the nation’s gems, to be sure, but equally important are protected community rivers and natural places in our cities and villages where all ages can explore, contemplate, and get refreshed. Urban Wilderness takes you to such places, and the experience is one true to many an urban river in America.”—Angie Tornes, Rivers and Trails Program, National Park Service
"Walk along the Menomonee River watershed as Eddee Daniel did, and you will find what he did—beauty for the taking, renewable, soul-sustaining, calming, a wilderness wonderland in our urban jungle. . . . The result is a superb book for nature lovers and others."—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Like Rousseau's Reveries and Thoreau's Walden Pond, Urban Wilderness exhibits a romantic faith in nature's power to yield higher truths."
"No matter where you live, you will never look at a swamp, weltands, riparian forest, or engineered, concrete-channelized river in the same way after you read this book with its sensitive writings and photographs. . . . Even the most anti-urban dweller will find the poetic intimacy of this book alluring."
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Menomonee River Watershed
Chapter 1 Headwaters
Chapter 2 Marshes and Swamps
Chapter 3 Suburban River
Chapter 4 Frontier
Chapter 5 Heart of the River
Chapter 6 Designing the River
Chapter 7 Enter at Your Own Risk
Chapter 8 Confluence
Chapter 9 Concrete Creeks
Chapter 10 Industrial Valley
Chapter 11 A Prairie in the City?
Epilogue
Notes
References and Suggested Readings
About The Author
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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