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I. S. MacLaren, ed. Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park.

Article Excerpt
I. S. MacLaren, ed. Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park: Studies in Two Centuries of Human History in the Upper Athabasca River Watershed. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2007. liii + 356 pp. $45 paper.

My parents once sent me a postcard from a business engagement in Jasper National Park depicting formal afternoon tea on the lawn of Jasper Park Lodge. The photograph captures the formality of the occasion, with white linen, china cups, and a silver tea service on display. Somewhat incongruously, three of the park's black bears were also shown helping themselves to the scones that hotel staff had so carefully placed out for their guests. The card, though meant to be humorous, provides a potent message for potential visitors: Jasper National Park is a place where civilization and the wilderness intersect, an environment where one may encounter nature's rawness from the comforts of a five-star hotel room. If the myth that Canada's Rocky Mountain national parks represent the untouched wilderness persists among some nature enthusiasts, such images remind us forcefully that human cultures have shaped our experience and expectations of these places since their inception.

Ian MacLaren's recent collection of nine essays...