In 1976, the influential journalist and National Geographic editor John G. Mitchell published a book in the hopes of saving a precious part of Staten Island, where he and his family had lived for many years. The book, High Rock: A Natural and Unnatural History, helped to save a beloved tract of land―a Girl Scout camp known as High Rock―from becoming the roadbed for a major highway being proposed by Robert Moses. The protection of this important parcel jump-started a modern conservation movement in the city and led to the creation of the Staten Island Greenbelt―a congeries of natural landscapes adjacent to High Rock that now links more than 2,800 acres of preserved open space, more than three times the size of Central Park’s 843 acres.

Now High Rock is once again available―retitled and with significant new material edited and introduced by the renowned author and conservationist Charles E. Little. As a supplement to John Mitchell’s original text, this new edition features Charles Little’s historical update on High Rock and the Greenbelt today, including the addition of Fresh Kills Park and its 2,200 acres; a gallery of brilliant photographs by Dorothy Reilly, of the Staten Island Greenbelt Foundation; a discussion of the future of the Greenbelt by land-conservation leaders and city officials, moderated by Deborah Popper of the College of Staten Island and Princeton University; and a directory of resources and places by the historian Michael C. Twomey, of the College of Staten Island.