The Future of the Southern Plains.

The Future of the Southern Plains. Edited by Sherry L. Smith. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press in cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University, c. 2003. Pp. xii, 275. $29.95, ISBN 0-8061-3553-0.)

In 2001 a cohort of scholars visited Southern Methodist University (SMU) to participate in a symposium on the southern plains. Their number included six historians, one geographer, and a paleoclimatologist. Sherry L. Smith, professor of history and associate director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at SMU, collected their written remarks on important issues and published them in this brief volume, The Future of the Southern Plains.

Smith's collection differs from ordinary collections. Since the authors in this case were asked to speak directly to one another, they focused on the points raised by the studies of the symposium. With a fine introduction and skillful editing, Smith achieves a remarkable amount of cohesion in the eight chapters. A collective vision of the region emerges, one that reveals mixed results, missed opportunities, and unintended consequences. Participants find that the frontier is actually returning to places where depopulation threatens community vitality. Paradoxically, cultural and ecological diversity are expanding. In the introduction Smith writes, "The story of the Southern Plains. then, is a lens through which one can examine a host of developments and problems that transcend section, state, and even nation" (p. 9).

The list of contributors reads much like a "who's who" of outstanding scholars of the region, including John Opie, John Miller Morris, Diana Davids Olien, and Elliott West. Their familiar statements mesh well with the fresh voices of Yolanda Romero and Connie Woodhouse. In "Loving the Plains, Hating the Plains, Restoring the Plains." Dan Flores guides the reader through Palo Duro Canyon State Park, one of this reviewer's favorite places in world. In perhaps the most original of the essays, Jeff Roche argues that the "cowboy conservatism" of the southern plains will continue to resonate, though not without challenges from a "'more urban, Catholic, working-class" identity (p. 189). Simply stated, all of the essays are stimulating and highly readable.

I would like to have read a more thorough discussion of the "Buffalo Commons" concept, which proposes to transform parts of the region into space for bison and prairie restoration (p. 79). Under federal Conservation Reserve Program initiatives, countless contracts between farmers and the United States Department of Agriculture have converted millions of acres of cropland to permanent, mostly native vegetation. In addition, the efforts of the Nature Conservancy, the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, and the inevitable return of severe drought may converge to force residents, if not the essayists, to embrace ecotourism. Even if the concept prompts scorn from locals, the facts on the ground suggest that the buffalo are returning.

The fundamental flaw of the volume is its failure to provide at least a chapter on the future of Indian Country. To be sure, the Kiowa, Comanche, Wichita, and Southern Cheyenne lack the reservation land base possessed by native groups elsewhere, but they are still present. Unfortunately, none of the essayists mentions the gaming operations of the Cherokee or Choctaw Nations. Even the state of Oklahoma recognizes the significance of indigenous culture to regional identity today, stamping the phrase "Native America" on their license plates.

Because of this oversight, I hesitate to recommend the book. The observations, analysis, and commentary on the southern plains skillfully locates the region's future within the context of its history. However, the contributors ignore the first people of the region in their vision of things to come.

Columbia College of Missouri

BRAD D. LOOKINGBILL