The hidden stories of the public lands that unite us   While the National Park Service is widely known, far fewer Americans are familiar with the Bureau of Land Management’s vast National Conservation Lands—thirty-seven million acres spanning eleven western states and Alaska. Lonesome Landscapes is the first comprehensive history of this system from public domain lands to the designation of national monuments and conservation areas in the twenty-first century. Drawing from archives, interviews, and field reporting, Gulliford reveals the unsung heroes who safeguarded these lands, from pioneering rangers to grassroots advocates in Native American and Hispanic communities. With vivid stories of explorers, cowboys, hermits, and even an alligator named Clem, this book blends scholarship with storytelling. Lonesome Landscapes is both a definitive history and a call to keep America’s wild places in public hands—an essential read for anyone passionate about the West.