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| Author/activist Jay Leutze |
“Stand Up That Mountain” persuasively details the extremely long odds that small environmental groups face against a system that routinely puts corporations over people, profits over rights. It’s enough to make you want to head for the mountains.The book chronicles an epic struggle of the "Dog Town Bunch" against a gravel mine on private property and the effort of residents to preserve property rights, their peace, quiet and environment and the viewshed of the Appalachian Trail, "the footpath of the people." It is at once a different and yet similar struggle facing more than a few communities in the West, with hardrock mines on federal lands in their backyards and the primacy of the 1872 Mining Law to contend with. Watch a 2 minute video below:
The author's story is inspirational for anyone in a David and Goliath struggle against extractive industries—like the neighbors and property owners in Josephine County, along the California border, faced with the prospect of a large sulphide gold mine in their backyards or those involved the ongoing two decade long struggle against nickel mining at the beloved Rough and Ready Creek.
Again from the Charlotte Observer:
Leutze also writes beautifully about his own love of nature and fierce loyalty to the region:
“In a sense I was ruined for every other place, every other life I could imagine. To live like this, to live simply, in this place amid rock, seeping water, the dirt bursting forth with wild orchids and rare lilies and jewelweed and all the splendor of the natural world pressing into the daily routines, both wrecked and made me.”We too, in Southwest Oregon and the Illinois River Valley, are naturally blessed with a landscape of red rock, pure water, wild orchids, rare lilies and, if not jewelweed, Howell's jewelflower (Streptanthus howellii). At the same time we live under the constant threat of this treasured landscape being mined because no one has taken the necessary measures to protect it.
Here's a 2 min. video about the book and the Down Town Bunch:
Lean more about Stand Up That Mountain and get inspired at these websites:
Simon and Schuster
Jefferson Exchange Podcast
Interview with author on North Carolina Bookwatch (26 mins)
Mining vs. the Mountain: review in the Charlotte Observer
