Land Conservation

In this awe-inspiring memoir, a woman attempts to restore land in the Blue Ridge Mountains, facing her own limitations while getting to know a breathtaking corner of the natural world. When empty nester Paula Whyman climbs to a peak in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, her plans for a...

At stake in 1896 was the new idea that some landscapes should be collectively, permanently owned by a democratic government. Although many people today think of public lands as an American birthright, their very existence was then in doubt and dependent on a merger of the talents of these two men. Natural Rivals examines a time of environmental threat and political dysfunction not unlike our own and reveals the complex dynamic that gave birth to America’s rich public lands legacy. 

A vivid, searching journey into California's capture of water and soil—the epic story of a people's defiance of nature and the wonders, and ruin, it has wrought Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water...

Discover the vibrant tapestry of life that blankets our incredible region in "Flora and Fauna of Our Land." This captivating eBook delves into the heart of our natural world, exploring the rich diversity of plant life and their indispensable roles in maintaining the balance of our ecosystems. Begin your journey by unveiling the secret lives of native flora, understanding their crucial role in sustaining biodiversity. Dive deep into the world of photosynthesis, nutrient cycles, and the complex energy flows that plants orchestrate within their ecosystems. From the towering giants of the ...

A sweeping meditation on the historical relationship between humans and land that challenges us to rethink common beliefs Land is the natural environment that humans have defined, shaped, and endlessly reinvented. In this lyrical narrative, Steven Stoll explores ways of thinking about land...

First published in 1949 and praised in the New York Times Book Review as "full of beauty and vigor and bite", A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land. 

Christopher Knowlton, author of Cattle Kingdom and former Fortune writer, takes an in-depth look at the spectacular Florida land boom of the 1920s and shows how it led directly to the Great Depression. The 1920s in Florida was a time of incredible excess, immense wealth, and precipitous collapse...

The Conservation Essentials Collection brings together six classics of American nature writing, wilderness reflection, and early conservation thought. Together these works trace a line from personal communion with nature to the broader conservation ethic that helped shape modern environmental thought.

America’s public lands include more than 600 million acres of forests, plains, mountains, wetlands, deserts, and shorelines. In this book, John Leshy, a leading expert in public lands policy, discusses the key political decisions that led to this, beginning at the very founding of the nation. He traces the emergence of a bipartisan political consensus in favor of the national government holding these vast land areas primarily for recreation, education, and conservation of biodiversity and cultural resources.

From the author of New York Times bestseller The New New Deal, a groundbreaking piece of reportage from the trenches of the next climate war: the fight to fix our food system. Humanity has cleared a land mass the size of Asia plus Europe to grow food, and our food system generates a third of our...

When the Freeman family decided to restore a damaged creek in Washington's Olympic Peninsula - to transform it from a drainage ditch into a stream that could again nurture salmon - they knew the task would be formidable and the rewards plentiful. In Saving Tarboo Creek, Scott Freeman artfully blends his family's story with powerful universal lessons about how we can all live more constructive, fulfilling, and natural lives by engaging with the land rather than exploiting it.

How does an elephant use its trunk—and can these enormous animals really communicate through the ground? Journey into the remarkable world of gentle giants with Fun Facts About Elephants, an engaging nonfiction animal book created for curious kids. Filled with fascinating facts, colorful images, quizzes, and hands-on activities, this educational wildlife adventure makes learning about elephants exciting and easy to understand. Young readers will discover how elephants use their trunks, tusks, ears, and powerful bodies to survive. They’ll explore the differences between African and Asian...

YOUR LAND IS ALREADY MAKING MONEY. YOU JUST HAVEN'T COLLECTED IT YET. Every acre you own has income buried inside it that most landowners never touch: standing timber, wildlife, groundwater, mineral deposits, and the raw acreage itself. Book 12 of the Off-Grid Income Secrets series shows you exactly how to unlock it — safely, profitably, and without wrecking the land you're trying to build wealth from. What's inside: Timber Harvesting and Sustainable Forestry Income Learn how to evaluate your woodlot, work with a forester instead of getting lowballed by a logger, and generate real income ...

As a changing climate threatens the whole country with deeper droughts and more furious floods that put ever more people and property at risk, Texas has become a bellwether state for water debates. Will there be enough water for everyone? Is there the will to take the steps necessary to defend ourselves against the sea? Is it in the nature of Americans to adapt to nature in flux?

Aldo Leopold Explained: Land Ethics, Ecological Consciousness, and the Foundations of Modern Environmental Thought is a deep and accessible exploration of one of the most influential thinkers in environmental history. Aldo Leopold transformed how humanity understands its relationship with the natural world by challenging the idea that land exists solely for human use. Through his groundbreaking land ethic, Leopold argued that humans are members of a living community that includes soils, waters, plants, and animals, all deserving of moral consideration. This book introduces Leopold’s life,...

Once, farmers knew how to make a living hedge and fed their flocks on tree-branch hay. Rural people knew how to prune hazel to foster abundance: both of edible nuts, and of straight, strong, flexible rods for bridges, walls, and baskets. No place could prosper without its inhabitants knowing how to cut their trees so they would sprout again. This created the healthiest, most sustainable, and most diverse woodlands that we have ever known. In this journey from the English fens to Spain, Japan, and California, William Bryant Logan rediscovers what was once an everyday ecology.

“A convincing case for Powell’s legacy as a pioneering conservationist.”--The Wall Street Journal "A bold study of an eco-visionary at a watershed moment in US history."--Nature A timely, thrilling account of the explorer who dared to lead the first successful expedition down the Colorado...

For John Sutton, rest is just around the corner. Soon it will be time to sit on his porch, kick his feet up, and watch his wheat grow. All he has to do first is fight his way through a cutthroat magic competition held once every thousand years, navigating mage politics and an aggressive dragon empire bent on punishing him for Farroutef’s death.

Some towns can be bought. Dalton is not one of them. When Kennebunkport’s polished Traynor Ashford makes an offer on a beloved Dalton parcel—a trail-access wildlife corridor locals protect like a family heirloom—the answer is immediate and unanimous: We don’t sell to strangers. Unfortunately for Traynor, the town’s official “no” is Fish & Wildlife warden Foster Brady—calm authority, sharp boundaries, and the kind of steady gaze that makes even a confident lawyer feel like he’s on trial. Determined to prove he’s more than a checkbook with good manners, Traynor does the ...

“An inspiring reminder of the incredible resource that is our public lands.” —Brendan Leonard, author of The Camping Life and Surviving the Great Outdoors Across 193 million acres of forests, mountains, deserts, watersheds, and grasslands, national forests provide a multitude of uses as...