Tallgrass Prairie Restoration in the Midwestern and Eastern United States: A Hands-On Guide

Brian Donahue (Author)

Slow Wood: Greener Building from Local Forests

1,A radical proposal for healing the relationship between humans and forests through responsible, sustainable use of local and regional wood in home building American homes are typically made of lumber and plywood delivered by a global system of ruthless extraction, or of concrete and steel, which are even worse for the planet. Wood is often the most sustainable material for building, but we need to protect diverse forests as much as we desperately need more houses. Brian Donahue addresses this modern conundrum by documenting his experiences building a timber frame home from the wood growing on his family farm, practicing "worst first" forestry. Through the stories of the trees he used (sugar maple, black cherry, black birch, and hemlock), and some he didn't (white pine and red oak), the book also explores the history of Americans' relationship with their forests. Donahue provides a new interpretation of the connection between American houses and local woodlands. He delves into how this bond was broken by the rise of a market economy of industrial resource extraction and addresses the challenge of restoring a more enduring relationship. Ultimately, this book provides a blueprint ...

Nick Thorpe (Author)

Walking Europe's Last Wilderness: A Journey Through the Carpathian Mountains

0,An evocative voyage through the Carpathian mountain range and its threatened landscape, peoples, and history The Carpathian Mountains of Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine are Europe's last true wilderness. A landscape of great spruce and beech forests, grass meadows, and ancient villages, its people contend daily with the elements--as well as Europe's last large carnivores. But this fragile ecosystem is now under threat, from climate change and illegal logging. Journeying from the banks of the Danube to Transylvania, Nick Thorpe guides us through the history and ecology of the watershed of Europe, between the Black Sea and the Baltic. For a thousand years the Carpathians have been a place of refuge, of identity and belonging, where powerful rulers and dynasties fought to gain control over rich gold seams and the unruly inhabitants of strategic valleys. Today, its inhabitants struggle to protect its vast forest habitat from urban sprawl as well as logging. Drawing on interviews with shepherds, foresters and loggers, and his four decades of experience in the region, Thorpe sheds light on a neglected part of Europe--where bears, wolves, chamois, and lynxes still roam. ...

Rachel Carson (Author)

The Edge of the Sea

6, From the author of one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, Silent Spring, The Edge of the Sea is part handbook, part hymn to ecological complexity that conveys the sense of wonder in nature for which Rachel Carson is justly celebrated. With a new introduction from New York Times bestselling author Sy Montgomery for the 70th anniversary, it is a brilliant, beautiful exploration of the Atlantic seashore that is still relevant today. In this remarkable book, Rachel Carson explores the strange and beautiful places at the edge of the sea, leading us into unknown worlds to catch the evanescent beauty of a tide pool and tell the story of a grain of sand.Focusing on the plants and invertebrates surviving in the Atlantic zones between the lowest and the highest tides, between Newfoundland and the Florida Keys, The Edge of the Sea is divided into three main sections: The Rocky Shore, The Rim of Sand, The Coral Coast. These environments are found the world over but because of its configuration in geological history, the American Atlantic coast demonstrates their life patterns "almost with the clarity of a well conceived scientific experiment."With poetry and science she ...