Conserving Oregon's Environment traces the arc of successes in conserving Oregon's environment, beginning in the 1880s and continuing to 2013. It answers the questions: Where did this program or reserve come from? Who led the way, and who opposed it? What difference has it made? It deals with the breadth of modern environmentalism: protecting nature, habitat, purifying ambient media, eliminating unsafe operations, and promoting energy efficiency. It is organized around themes, such as public lands, state parks, rivers, wilderness, environmental laws and turning points on such issues, modern reserves, new refuges, breakthroughs on national forests; each chapter tells its story chronologically. Two appendices accompany the text: a timeline of accomplishments, and a list of organizations providing leadership. In addition, maps show the location of reserves. It concludes that Oregon occupies a special place in the history of conservation because of the degree of innovation here and the continuity of progress. For its size, no state has done more to make history in protecting its environment.

Landscapes of Promise is the first comprehensive environmental history of the early years of a state that has long been associated with environmental protection. Covering the period from early human habitation to the end of World War II, William Robbins shows that the reality of Oregon's environmental history involves far more than a discussion of timber cutting and land-use planning.

In homage to the actists and philanthropists whose individual visions helped to shape and preserve Oregon's natural treasures for future generations, A Generous Nature presents 21 biographical profiles of twentieth-century conservation leaders.

Post-World War II Oregon was a place of optimism and growth, a spectacular natural region from ocean to high desert that seemingly provided opportunity in abundance. With the passing of time, however, Oregon’s citizens — rural and urban — would find themselves entangled in issues that they had little experience in resolving. The same trees that provided income to timber corporations, small mill owners, loggers, and many small towns in Oregon, also provided a dramatic landscape and a home to creatures at risk. The rivers whose harnessing created power for industries that helped sustain Oregon’s growth — and were dumping grounds for municipal and industrial wastes — also provided passageways to spawning grounds for fish, domestic water sources, and recreational space for everyday Oregonians. The story of Oregon’s accommodation to these divergent interests is a divisive story between those interested in economic growth and perceived stability and citizens concerned with exercising good stewardship towards the state’s natural resources and preserving the state’s livability. In his second volume of Oregon’s environmental history, William Robbins addresses efforts by individuals and groups within and outside the state to resolve these conflicts. Among the people who have had roles in this process, journalists and politicians Richard Neuberger and Tom McCall left substantial legacies and demonstrated the ambiguities inherent in the issues they confronted.

Oregon Plans provides a rich, detailed, and nuanced analysis of the origins and early evolution of Oregon's nationally renowned land use planning program. Drawing primarily on archival sources, Sy Adler describes the passage of key state laws that set the program into motion by establishing the agency charged with implementing those laws, adopting the land-use planning goals that are the heart of the Oregon system, and monitoring and enforcing the implementation of those goals through a unique citizen organization. Oregon Plans documents the consequential choices and compromises that were made in the 1970s to control growth and preserve Oregon's quality of life. Environmental activists, farmers, industry groups, local governments, and state officials all played significant roles. Adler brings these actors--among them governors Tom McCall and Robert Straub, business leaders John Gray and Glenn Jackson, 1000 Friends of Oregon, and the Oregon Home Builders Association--to life. "Adler's story is about unusual conditions, purposeful action, dynamic personalities, and the messiness of democratic and bureaucratic processes. His conclusions reveal much about how Oregonians defined liveability in the late twentieth century." --William L. Lang, from the Preface A volume in the Culture and Environment in the West series. Series editor: William L. Lang

This in-depth examination of water law and management in Oregon provides a compelling perspective on a major environmental issues in the American West--the region's diminishing water supply. Bastasch offers thorough yet accessible explanations of a variety of water issues and controversies, bringing focus and clarity to a murky, complex subject. From Oregonians seeking interesting facts about their state's water riches to water specialists and users in need of a handy reference to Oregon's water law, the handbook offers a key to understanding how we use this precious and scarce resource.