Landscapes of Conflict: The Oregon Story, 1940–2000

Abstract

William G. Robbins's Landscapes of Conflict continues the story begun in his Landscapes of Promise: The Oregon Story, 1800–1940 (1997). It is a major contribution, for Oregon has played a key role in environmental developments in the United States since World War II. By focusing on a variety of issues, Robbins provides better understanding of the movement as a whole than do the studies of individual issues, selected activists, and restricted locales that are the norm in environmental history. New Deal and wartime success strengthened confidence in planning and the human capacity to manipulate and control developments, long prominent in the American psyche, and convinced policy makers that economic progress and environmental quality, long cherished by Oregonians, were compatible. Planning and technology would reconcile the two. After establishing this mind-set, Robbins proceeds to demonstrate how it led to actions and reactions in agriculture, forestry, hydro-power development, stream pollution control, and land use planning. In case after case, Rob-bins sees industrial interests and their handmaidens in government and universities pitted against both environmental activists and moderates such as Gov. Tom McCall, who struggled to protect Oregon's “livability” but refused to embrace an antibusiness stance. Sen. Richard Neuberger was equally torn. With the faith in planning of an unreconstructed New Deal Democrat, Neuberger fought private hydroelectric power development on the Snake River, preferring a federal project, but, wanting economic development, supported private dams on the Deschutes in spite of opposition from the state and sportsmen's groups.