Rewilding the Urban Frontier

More so than other ecosystems, America's urban rivers typify our evolving relationship with nature. Once a necessity for the development of civilization, by the twentieth century, America's rivers became neglected and abused, channelized, dammed, and filled with sewage and toxic waste. While acknowledging the profound impact our species has had on the natural world, and on rivers in particular, Rewilding the Urban Frontier argues that the Anthropocene presents opportunities for rethinking our relationship to the natural world and potentially healing the age-old rift between humans and nature.

Although the Clean Water Act of 1972 spurred a cleanup of the nation's waterways, explosive urban growth has since fragmented the wildlife corridors and ecosystems along our rivers. The contributors to this volume contend that if done right, rewilding urban rivers can help avoid further loss of biodiversity and simultaneously address environmental and social inequities.

List of Illustrations

Introduction. Origins / Greg Gordon

Part 1. Headwaters: Reconciling Personal, Cultural, and Ecological Trauma
1. Haunted / Heidi Lasher
2. We Buried Our People along the River / Margo Hill
3. Terms and Conditions Apply / Greg Gordon

Part 2. Tributaries: How City Rivers Make River Cities
4. Wild, Managed, and Reclaimed: An Environmental History of the San Antonio River Watershed / Char Miller
5. From Floodplain to Kayak Park: Recreation, Restoration, and Economic Development along the Boise River / Jennifer Stevens
6. Urban Ecology: Rewilding Rivers and Creating Outdoor Classrooms in Milwaukee / Christian C. Young
7. The Lost River: The Revitalization of the Jordan River in the Salt Lake Valley / Marian L. Rice

Part 3. Convergence: Old Rivers, New Plumbing
8. Engineering Nature: Denver and the South Platte River / Brian M. Murphy
9. Cyborg Salmon and Plumbed Basins: Ambivalence and Compromise on the Deschutes / Kirsten Rudestam
10. Neon River: Rethinking Chicago Environmental History and Personhood in the Age of Humans / Shawn Bailey

Part 4. Delta: Rewilding’s Perils
11. A River Lament: New Creek and the People Who Loved It Near to Death / Robert Bartlett
12. Restoration’s Dark Side: Gentrification and Daylighting the Saw Mill River in Yonkers, New York / C. Ian Stevenson
13. Angling in the Anthropocene: Carp and the Making of Race on the Los Angeles River / Bryan B. Rasmussen

Contributors
Index