Aldo Leopold

Published in 1949, shortly after the author's death, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book's pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim just as she was dying, "in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." Leopold's road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of Almanac elaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold's view that it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species. Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold's book deserves continued study and discussion today.

Zimmerman

Our wetlands are endangered. Half the acreage in the United States has disappeared since European settlers arrived a century ago.

Among the wetlands that remain, a few are outstanding for their size, location, and role in feeding and sheltering vast numbers of birds and other wildlife. Cheyenne Bottoms, way station for hundreds of thousands of migrating shorebirds, songbirds, and waterfowl, is one of the most important wetlands in North America.

Located in central Kansas, on the main migration highway between wintering grounds in South America and breeding territory in Canada, the 41,000 acre marsh called Cheyenne Bottoms is a critical refueling stop for migrating birds. It hosts 90% of the populations of five species of shorebirds as well as most of the remaining population of the endangered Whooping Crane and several other threatened and endangered species. Because of its critical role, it has been designated by treaty as a Wetland of International Importance.

Ecologist/ornithologist John Zimmerman provides an introduction to the Bottoms that is at once personal, impassioned, and technically accurate. Narrating the history of the Bottoms from its formation 100,000 years ago to the present, he describes the rich variety of birds, mammals, and reptiles that depend on it and the intricate web of interactions among them that preserves the Cheyenne Bottoms ecosystem.

But recently, Zimmerman notes, the fate of Cheyenne Bottoms has been determined by human history, not natural history. He describes the impact humans have had on the Bottoms and the complex problems created by irrigation, water rights disputes, and politics. He also chronicles the grassroots effort to save the Bottoms--a campaign that brought together conservation groups, garden clubs, grade school and high school students, and the state government. The struggle to preserve Cheyenne Bottoms, according to Zimmerman, is part of a global environmental battle that must be fought in our lifetime. "It has become the arena of confrontation," he writes, " between our desires to exploit the earth for our own short-term benefit and the altruism that will be required if we are to maintain the diversity and life-support systems of our planet. Cheyenne Bottoms is a focal point, a bridge at Concord, in the environmental revolution."

Van Driesche

Not long ago, while waiting to board a plane, environmental scientist Jason van Driesche noticed a Hawaiian tourism poster that showed a lush ravine carpeted with flowering trees and shrubs, "an exotic destination if ever there was one." If, that is, "exotic" means "alien," for the plants in the picture were all invaders from other continents: African tulip trees, Indian kahili ginger, and other non-native species that thrive on ecological disturbance and the willingness of humans to transport plants and animals from one ecosystem to another without pausing to consider the consequences. Those consequences, write van Driesche and his fellow scientist and father Roy van Driesche, are enormous. The ever-increasing globalization of agriculture and commerce is remaking the earth into a "planet of weeds," replacing biological diversity with a seemingly inescapable sameness of forms. In Nature Out of Place, they catalog some of these losses, showing how humankind's preference for the "best" species is yielding catastrophe on every continent. More helpfully, they offer a program of action for people to stem and even undo some of that destruction by landscaping with native plants, shunning exotic pets, eating locally grown foods, and protecting old, biologically rich habitats close to home. Clear-headed and illuminating, their book makes a useful tool for anyone concerned with environmental restoration and preservation.

Russo

This book guides readers who are interested in enjoying nature to the fullest. Learn how to develop observation skills to get the most out of what you see.