The history of the Swiss National Park, from its creation in the years before the Great War to the present, is told for the first time in this book. Unlike Yellowstone Park, which embodied close cooperation between state-supported conservation and public recreation, the Swiss park put in place an extraordinarily strong conservation program derived from a close alliance between the state and scientific research. This deliberate reinterpretation of the American idea of the national park was innovative and radical, but its consequences were not limited to Switzerland. The Swiss park became the prime example of a “scientific national park,” thereby influencing the course of national parks worldwide.

The history of the Swiss National Park, from its creation in the years before the Great War to the present, is told for the first time in this book. Unlike Yellowstone Park, which embodied close cooperation between state-supported conservation and public recreation, the Swiss park put in place an extraordinarily strong conservation program derived from a close alliance between the state and scientific research. This deliberate reinterpretation of the American idea of the national park was innovative and radical, but its consequences were not limited to Switzerland. The Swiss park became the prime example of a “scientific national park,” thereby influencing the course of national parks worldwide.

Figures
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1. Global Parks: National Parks, Globalization, and Western Modernism

• The Myth of Yellowstone
• Nature as National Symbol
• The Value of “Unspoiled” Nature
• The Global Conservation Movement
• National Parks and Natural Monuments
• The Globalization of the National Park

Chapter 2. National Natures: The Swiss National Park and the Conservationist “Internationale”

• “A Beautiful Vision of the Future”
• Laying the Foundations
• The National Dimension
• “Reserve” or “National Park”
• National and Global Conservation
• Dynamics and Contingencies

Chapter 3. Local Landscapes: Political Spaces, Institutional Arrangements, and Subjective Attitudes

• Global, Local
• Local Culture and Economy
• Fears and Expectations
• Area Selection and Initial Leases
• Rounding Out and Expanding
• Dealing with Conflicts
• Institutionalization and Subjectivation

Chapter 4. Total Protection: Philosophy and Practice of “Freely Developing Nature”

• “Total Protection” and Intervening in Natural Processes
• Humans and Animals
• The Role of Park Wardens
• Managing Nature
• Introducing Animals
• Seeking a New Equilibrium

Chapter 5. Ecological “Field Laboratory”: The Park as a Scientific Experiment

• A New Field within Ecology
• Organizing and Financing Research
• “A Scientific National Park”: International Reception
• Changing Research Methods and Practices
• Asynchronous Rhythms: Long-Term Observation and University Research
• Growing Importance of the National Park as a Field Laboratory?

Chapter 6. Wilderness Limits: Natural Dynamics and Social Equilibrium

• A Faustian Bargain with Water Power
• Gambling with the National Park
• Calling All Nature Lovers
• And the Tourists Came
• “Recreational Instruction”
• Managing Wildlife
• Of Hunters and Deer
• Shooting in the National Park

Conclusion

Bibliography
Index