Review by Choice Review
Environmental scientist Crifasi brings a quarter century of field experience to his examination of the historic evolution of irrigation ditches in Boulder, Colorado. Although Boulder is at the center of this fine study, the book deserves a broad audience, including anyone interested in water management in the American West. Crifasi establishes the importance of irrigation in the development of Boulder and, by extension, in many other western settlements and shows how irrigation law (through modification of appropriation rights) gave priority to the earliest ditches established. Thus, rights claimed in the 19th century have continued to influence urban water systems, often through corporate--and later municipal--acquisition of shares from ditch companies. The book is both a history of local water management and a primer in the operation, management, and evolution of ditch companies, illustrated with examples drawn from the author's experiences as a ditch rider, an officer in ditch companies, and a municipal official seeking cooperation between civic authority and private ditch companies. Crifasi concludes with a discussion of the management of natural landscapes, arguing that it is unrealistic to try to achieve a pristine wilderness devoid of human activity. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners; general readers. --Andrew J. Dunar, University of Alabama in Huntsville
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
