Park Place: Out West

Publisher's description

A sometimes humorous and always perceptive look at how we experience national parks out West.

The National Park Service was established by an act of Congress in 1916 "to conserve the scenery and historic objects and wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." This directive to protect wilderness yet provide accessibility to it without somehow compromising the integrity of the natural resources can be a self-fulfilling contradiction and an arena for conflicting priorities.

In Park Place: Out West, photographer David Heberlein explores the tension between access to and enjoyment and preservation of America's national parks and public lands. For nearly three decades he traveled throughout the American West—from the Badlands to the Pacific Coast and Hawa'i—and explored 35 of its famous national parks, monuments, preserves, historic sites, and recreation areas. His stunning photographs, made in the course of his many journeys, document the human presence within the nation's natural wonders. In particular, they allude to the human influence through the marks we make on the land—whether temporary or permanent—and the way park visitors experience nature and perform a variety of sightseeing activities. These shifting scenarios provide a compelling photographic survey of the many roles that national parks, monuments, and landmarks play and the foundational need to balance the human impact on nature with the preservation of wild and historic places.

Park Place: Out West features sixty-three tritone photographs by Heberlein along with his introductory essay and an engaging afterword by Scott Herring, who has written extensively on national parks. The book is a welcome addition to the 150-year-long tradition of photographers, scientists, artists, and writers heading out West to see, explore, record, and interpret America's national treasures.