Longtime fly fisherman Quinn Grover had contemplated the "why" of his fishing identity before more recently becoming focused on the "how" of it. He realized he was a dedicated fly fisherman in large part because public lands and public waterways in the West made it possible. In Wilderness of Hope Grover recounts his fly-fishing experiences with a strong evocation of place, connecting those experiences to the ongoing national debate over public lands.
Because so much of America's public lands are in the Intermountain West, this is where arguments about the use and limits of those lands rage the loudest. And those loudest in the debate often become caricatures: rural ranchers who hate the government; West Coast elites who don't know the West outside Vail, Colorado; and energy and mining companies who extract from once-protected areas. These caricatures obscure the complexity of those who use public lands and what those lands mean to a wider population.
Although for Grover fishing is often an "escape" back to wildness, it is also a way to find a home in nature and recalibrate his interactions with other parts of his life as a father, son, husband, and citizen. Grover sees fly fishing on public waterways as a vehicle for interacting with nature that allows humans to inhabit nature rather than destroy or "preserve" it by keeping it entirely separate from human contact. These essays reflect on personal fishing experiences with a strong evocation of place and an attempt to understand humans' relationship with water and public land in the American West.

lgli/R:\Project-Muse\md5_rep\702CBF7FF24F6C35A03ACE91DE68B1F1.pdf

Project MUSE (https://muse.jhu.edu/)

Quinn Grover

United States, United States of America

PS, 2019

producers:
Muse-DL/1.0.0

Cover 1
Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication 2
Contents 10
Acknowledgments 12
Prologue 14
Fridays 32
Wandering 49
Kissing, Telling, and Invisible Trout 57
Laid Off 69
Driving Conversations 74
Solo 77
The Case for Inefficiency 86
Home Waters 96
Hiking Conversations 107
Short Seasons 110
The Bank Grass 126
The Glimpse 130
Golden 133
Conversations with Grandpa 145
First Good Fish 146
Mistress 152
A One-Sided Conversation with a Brown Trout 164
The Big V 167
The Stump Ranch Fish 172
The Dark 186
Drakes 190
Wind, Rain, and Snow 200
Funeral 207
Fear 209
Fishing Conversations 220
Five Days in the Wilderness 221
Paige¬タルs Trout 231
Epilogue: The Shallow End of a Nameless Lake 242
References 244
Publisher:University of Nebraska Press,Published:2019,ISBN:9781496217967,Related ISBN:9781496211804,Language:English,OCLC:1107494022
Longtime fly fisherman Quinn Grover had contemplated the€“why” of his fishing identity before more recently becoming focused on the “how” of it. He realized he was a dedicated fly fisherman in large part because public lands and public waterways in the West made it possible.€In Wilderness of Hope Grover recounts his fly-fishing experiences with a strong evocation of place, connecting those experiences to the ongoing national debate over public lands. Because so much of America’s public lands are in the Intermountain West, this is where arguments about the use and limits of those lands rage the loudest.€And those loudest in the debate often become caricatures: rural ranchers who hate the government; West Coast elites who don’t know the West outside Vail, Colorado; and energy and mining companies who extract from once-protected areas. These caricatures obscure the complexity of those who use public lands and what those lands mean to a wider population. Although for Grover fishing is often an “escape” back to wildness, it is also a way to find a home in nature and recalibrate his interactions with other parts of his life as a father, son, husband, and citizen.€Grover sees fly fishing on public waterways as a vehicle for interacting with nature that allows humans to inhabit nature rather than destroy or “preserve” it by keeping it entirely separate from human contact. These essays reflect on personal fishing experiences with a strong evocation of place and an attempt to understand humans’ relationship with water and public land in the American West. €

Wilderness of Hope explores one fly angler's relationship with the public lands and public waterways of the American West and how those public resources complicate and enrich a conception of wildness.

2022-03-08