John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today - that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing, when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley, were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvellously detailed and beautifully written, "Tending the Wild" is an unparalled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures, and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts.
- ISBN10 0520238567
- ISBN13 9780520238565
- Publish Date 14 June 2005 (first published 1 January 2005)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 13 December 2007
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of California Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 555
- Language English