The Hour of Land Has Come Again

The Time Has Come Again

Photo by Sauvage on Unsplash

A recent news headline regarding the Ambler Road Project caused me to reread a portion of The Hour of Land. Donald Trump announced plans to complete the 211-mile Ambler Road project through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and adjacent lands, to open the area for mining. The project has long been debated and was not approved by the Biden administration.

I have never visited the park, but I have read the chapter devoted to it in The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks. I read the book when it was first released, and recently reread the “Gates of the Arctic” chapter.

Among Williams’ comments on this National Park was this gem, “I return to the wilderness to remember what I have forgotten, that the world can be wholesome and beautiful, that the harmony and integrity of ecosystems at peace is a mirror to what we have lost.”

The chapter was previously published as an article by Orion Magazine, and a link to the online edition is available in the notes below. This is also true of the chapter on the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which she wrote shortly after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The articles are well worth a read, but better yet, order and read the book. It is filled with lovely stories about our National Parks.

The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
Terry Tempest Willima 
Sarah Crichton Books 2016
and imprint of Farrar Straus and Giroux
ISBN 97803742800093

Portions of this book were originally published as articles in Orion Magazine. Links are provided to the online edition. A list of chapters follows.

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota.

Acadia National Park, Maine.

Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania.

Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa.

Big Bend National Park, Texas.

“The Glorious Indifference of Wilderness” in Orion Magazine is an earlier version of the Chapter, “Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska.”

“The Gulf Between Us,” in Orion Magazine, is an earlier version of the Chapter, “Gulf Islands National Seashore: Florida and Mississippi.”

Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California.

Glacier National Park, Montana.

Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, California, and the Future.

Reviews

Reviews of The Hour of Land appear on Goodreads.

Commentary on the Ambler Road Project

Comments from the National Parks Conservation Association regarding the road through the Gates of the Arctic National Park: https://www.npca.org/articles/11036-gates-of-the-arctic-scenes-from-a-park-at-a-crossroads.

Comments from The Wilderness Society: https://www.wilderness.org/wild-places/alaska/road-building-gates-arctic-national-park