Sch-Wild by Law

Clifton's ( California: Magnificent Wilderness ) panoramic color photographs reveal what is at stake in the effort to preserve U.S. natural resources, while Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund staffer Turner carefully defines the terms of the struggle: industry's stated need to use nature for economic gain, versus the conservationists' restraining order. In its 20-year history the Fund has played a role in 314 conflicts; this book focuses on landmark cases. The story's heroes are the lawyers of the Fund; villains include the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forestry Service--even Walt Disney. (The successful struggle in the late '60s and early '70s to halt Disney's plan to sacrifice a spectacular natural springs in California for a ski resort established the courtroom as a battleground of the environment.) Photos and text provide a worthy tribute to environmentalists waging the good fight. First serial to Sierra Magazine and Defenders of Wildlife; Nature Book Society selection. (Oct.)