The thunder tree
lessons from an urban wildland
By Robert Michael Pyle
- Publication Year (This Edition): 1998
- Year of First Publication: 1998
- Publication Type: Book
- Language: English
- ISBN-13: 9781558217034
- Library: Pusthakalaya · Washington, D. C.
- Call number: QH105.C6 P88 1993
- Dewey (DDC): 508.788
- Publisher: Lyons Press
- Place of Publication: New York
- Original Price: 14.95 USD
- Keywords: Pyle, Robert Michael., Natural history -- Colorado -- High Line Canal., High Line Canal (Colo.)
A prolific naturalist author, Pyle narrates a tale which is part memoir and part ecological argument, advocating for his belief in the importance of the urban wild and forwarding the idea of "extinction of experience" when such places are unprotected in the midst of modern development. Alternating deeply personal anecdotes with local history, he uses the High Line Canal in Denver, Colorado as a microcosm in which to illustrate the intense informal utilization of near-urban countryside, defend that terrain as a modern form of Commons, consider the repercussions of growth on an inherently limited ecosystem, and reflect on the cultural aftermath when this unique terrain dwindles in the contemporary landscape.