{"product_id":"rooted-at-the-edge-ranching-where-the-old-west-and-new-west-collide","title":"Rooted at the Edge: Ranching Where the Old West and New West Collide","description":"Finalist for the 2026 Spur Award\nLonglisted for the Reading the West Book Award\nRooted at the Edge paints a portrait of a ranching community in a threatened landscape steeped in history, conflict, and beauty. In this narrative nonfiction work, Donna L. Erickson explores the hilly skirt of ground at the northern boundary of Missoula, Montana, separating the town from the wilderness beyond. The North Hills region represents the critical―and often highly personal―issues at play at the edge of many western towns.\nThe urban-rural fringe is both valuable and vulnerable. Across the West rural lifestyles are increasingly compromised by suburbanization, economic hardship, and family dynamics; a way of life and a way of work are vanishing. Ranchland may be simultaneously cherished by a family for the life its members have made there and coveted by urban neighbors for open space. Community residents may love a place for its scenery and wildlife habitat while others wish it converted to a commercial parking lot. Complex ecological relationships can be bulldozed in a single afternoon. And the threats of climate change and shifting populations compromise the edge even more.\nIn the tension between love and loss, Erickson wrote this story of a landscape’s soft contours, piney ridges, shady draws, and grassy slopes, and its potential disappearance under an expanding city. Rooted at the Edge conveys, in a way that statistics cannot, what’s at stake when ranches at the urban fringe are threatened.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 149624043X\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: BVV.149624043X.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Erickson, Donna L.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact  including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42830161543229,"sku":"BVV.149624043X.G","price":5.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/149624043X-0.jpg?v=1766437701","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/rooted-at-the-edge-ranching-where-the-old-west-and-new-west-collide","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}