Wild heart : the possibility of wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand / edited by Mick Abbott & Richard Reeve.

Contributors: Mick Abbott ... [et al.].

Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-235) and index.

The shape of wilderness / Mick Abbott & Richard Reeve -- Our place -- Seeing the red hills again / Kerry Popplewell -- The doh! of wilderness / Shaun Barnett -- Bringing wilderness home: the challenge facing outdoor education / Mike Boyes -- Running wild: what path will we walk through the wilderness? / Jonathan West -- Wilderness denied / Gerard Hindmarsh -- World of indifference / Brian Turner -- A personal journey into the New Zealand wilderness / Robin McNeill -- The transformed wild -- The heart of the matter / Alison Ballance -- Wilderness found, lost and restored: the sublime and picturesque in New Zealand / James Beattie -- Mountains of fear: wilderness in New Zealand literature / Julian Kuzma -- Enduring themes in conservation: a story from Fiordland / Philippa Wells -- So different from the USA: our late appreciation of wilderness / Tom Brooking -- Wilderness talk: interpreting remote recreation experience / Kerry Wray, Stephen Espiner & Harvey Perkins -- Wilderness tomorrow -- Reprise / Cilla McQueen -- In search of wilderness in the twenty-first century / Les Molloy -- Wilderness mine: or 'wilderness is where you find it' / Richard Reeve -- Wilderness as a walled garden / Jacinta Ruru -- From preserve to incubator; giving a new meaning to wilderness / Mick Abbott -- Living with the land: a wilderness traveller's perspective / Geoff Spearpoint -- Our home in the wild / Mick Abbott & Richard Reeve.

Images of pristine forests, mountain ranges, untameable rivers and empty expanses of coastline are the key attraction in how we promote Aotearoa New Zealand internationally: '100% Pure' no less. Such wildness is at this nation's psychological and physical core. This book searches for an understanding of 'the wild', of what makes wilderness such an important part of our psyche. The seventeen essays come from trampers, scientists, conservationists, policy-makers, photographers, historians, and writers. Together they examine many aspects of the idea of wilderness. What and where is New Zealand's wilderness? Is the wilderness something that we lock up or not? How do Maori see wilderness? How is it defined by law and what is government policy? Why? Where does that leave us? What do we want of wilderness? Can we exploit its resources? Wild Heart looks forward, as exploring the 'possibility' of wilderness lies at its core. What could wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand become, and, consequently, what might we its people also become?