Friday Bookshelf

What is the worth you place on a river otter, a tree, a forest, or a river? How much for that home where the muskrats lounge in the spring sunshine? Have you ever seen a whale in its natural habitat? What would that be worth to you?

In Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Really Mattered, by Bill Devall, George Sessions, these questions are posed and a thoughtful debate is begun on answers that would make it possible to invest as much in the earth and place as much importance in nature, as our society places in things like iPads, smart phones, and satellite television.

Preservation and maintenance, good stewardship of the natural world does not come for free. Most of us without thinking automatically assume that nature is as free as the air we breathe. On the contrary, nature is a valuable resource that takes millions to protect, manage, and maintain. The human world, without thinking, destroys much of what we need to protect.

This book is not aimed at transforming people into nature lovers. It is for the lovers of nature who would like to change their own little corner of the world in tiny ways that, when added to the next guy's tiny ways, add up to a national park, river, or whale becoming more important (at least as important) as that latest iPad or phone.  

Friday Bookshelf

There are two sides to every issue; environmental issues seem especially divided. Compromises are a necessary ingredient in solutions. Sometimes understanding the other side brings innovative win-win solutions that no one was aware existed.

That is why Taking Sides Clashing Views on Controversial Environmental Issues by Theodore D. Goldfarb is an important, well read book on my shelf.

This book outlines 18 important and controversial environmental issues. Then 2 experts on either side of each issue offer up their side. After that it is up to you to decide where you stand. You'll find that things are not as black and white as you once believed. You'll also find that there are no easy answers.

Ideally this book would be read by everyone. It should be part of every school curriculum. No matter where someone stand on the issues, everyone should be aware that they exist. Solutions to problems don't always come from predictable sources. Sometimes answers are floating around in left field; the only problem is that left field isn't aware of the problem's existence.

There are no clear answers or sides in Taking Sides but if everyone read this book we'd have a lot more options.          

Friday Bookshelf

The first time I witnessed a fish run up a river I was in the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of salmon running up a river to spawn and die was a magnificent, magical sight. Signs posted along the river warned not to wade or allow pets to wade in the river in order to protect fragile eggs. It was an event that can rarely be witnessed today.

We have our own fish runs in Indiana, maybe not to the same extent as the salmon of the Northwest, but our fish run from Lake Michigan to spawn in streams in Northwest Indiana. The fish in the photograph were spawning in Coffee Creek a couple of years ago.

The Stream by Brian Clarke is a poignant tale about the struggle between stream, river, ecosystem, fish, and man's needs and desires. It takes place over a five year period in the life of a stream.

A trout is born; escapes being otter food, being caught by fishermen, struggles to find food. In the meantime, in the human world, dams are planned, factories built, human needs are being met by people totally oblivious to the trout, his needs, his place in the scheme of things. His world is at risk of being exterminated by beings who don't know of his existence and whom he has never met.

The Stream is a haunting book that applies no matter where you live; right in your own back yard is a world at risk; a trout, a stream, a wetland; an ecosystem. If you only read one book about the environment this year; read this one. And be sure to take a look around your own backyard ecosystems before they, too, disappear.....            
      

Friday Bookshelf

Deer aren't the only animal that will eat and reproduce until they starve; but they are one of the largest.

Nature is full of instances where populations grow at phenomenal rates and then crash when the food source is used up. Everything from lowly moths, dependent on forests, to birds of prey that depend on a growing rodent population; grow and crash based on food sources.

We, humans, think we are immune.

Cod by Mark Kulansky is a wonderfully, fresh book; one part history, two parts environmental prose, to one part recipe book. It tells the tale of the lowly cod; starting at the beginning of time, following the course of human history as each and every place that human civilization has gone has affected cod populations. Cod was once bountiful fish in all parts of the world.

The tale explains the impact we have had on the cod with the advent of factory ships. We are shown how the factory ships work, why we take so many fish, the ultimate impact of the over-fishing for us and the rest of the animals of the earth.

This book can be read in a weekend and it's not just about fish. It's about everything lovers of nature and the natural world care about. But most of all it's about how humans are more like deer than we even realize.  

Friday Book Shelf

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard  is a book that blends poetry with hard environmental facts. It is the prose that makes your heart sing with nature's song.

I particularly loved this book because the author spent so much time hunting down the elusive muskrat until finally she learns to sit down, enjoy nature, and let the muskrat find her.

I share the author's love for muskrats. They fight, and love, and snack. And if you are very quiet and patient; they discover you and share their world. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is such a masterpiece; stay in out of the cold and spend a winter afternoon nature walking with Annie Dillard.

Friday Book Shelf

Budget cutting seems to be happening all over the country these days as state, local, and the federal governments struggle under the heavy deficit caused by the recession.

Unfortunately, it is often the things that make us the happiest and healthiest that get placed on the cutting block first; things like state and federal park funding.

Besides keeping us healthy and active, wild places nurture and heal us. Occasionally great things come out of this melding of humanity and nature. Almost everyone has heard of Walden Pond and the great Thoreau. An Indiana author of the same caliber came out of the swamps and wildflower fields of Indiana.

In Gene Stratton Porter's The Song of the Cardinal, Stratton-Porter takes the reader inside the mind and life of a male cardinal. The book is a haunting reminder that mankind is not the only intelligence on earth and that good stewardship of our wild areas should be a requirement in good times as well as bad.

The Song of the Cardinal is a short book that can be read in an afternoon. And I guarantee once you pick it up, like all Stratton-Porter's books, you won't be able to put it down.       

Friday Bookshelf

 Have you ever been at a pond or lake during a dragonfly hatch?  It's a great time to get some photographs. The colors of a newly hatched dragonfly are very vivid and the dragonfly's colors become more muted as time goes by until, at the very end, some species appear quite chalk like. 

If you want to find out all about dragonflies one great source is Dragonflies Through Binoculars by Sidney W. Dunkle. This book has loads of pictures and information and will have you identifying meadow hawks from river cruisers in no time. 

If you would like to move on and try to raise and release your own dragonflies, or if you just want to know how they do it, then the book for you is Dragonflies of the World by Jill Silsby and Michael J. Parr . This is a more indepth life history of dragonflies than your typical field guide. 

The larva are best observed in stagnant waters of wetlands, ponds, and lakes. They are ferocious hunters and move like miniature tanks. They are difficult to raise and need a long term commitment because they often stay in the larva stage for 2 or more years.

Friday Bookshelf

One early spring a few years ago I took off in search of the beginnings of the spring bird migration. As it turned out I was a little late and as I traveled south I discovered wave after wave of birds heading north. Nevertheless it was a grand experience.

On my bookshelf I have an old copy of Where the Birds Are  by John Oliver Jones. The book is full of maps, wildlife spots, and information on birds to look for in each location.

This book is not a field guide; you won't find pictures of any birds inside. What you will find is the most comprehensive amount of information brought together in one place on where you might go to observe certain species and at what time of the year you need to be at a given location for viewing.

I plan to get this book off the shelf again some snowy day this winter and dream of some place to go this spring to add another bird to my life list.

Friday Bookshelf

My first hike of 2011 was through the Grand Kankakee Marsh. I love the wetland created by the Kankakee River. The marsh is full of ducks and geese in the spring. Deer, muskrat, heron and many frogs and turtles make their home there. And the fishing is great too.

Wetlands clean a lot of the poisons that we humans leave in our wake. Things like pesticides and fertilizers from farming along the river go into the river. People who use the area also leave things behind like horse and dog dung. And then there are things that float down through the area with the river water;  maybe a big factory farm that leaches antibiotics and chemicals from raising chickens and eggs. All these things can be filtered somewhat through a wetland.

The book that made the biggest difference to me about the havoc that pollutants can make to the environment is Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Ms. Carson was just a regular person who noticed that birds had been quietly disappearing. She found the source was pollution and did something about it. Re-reading the book every now and then reminds me of the part we all take in making the pollution and the impact that it has on the water, air, and land that we share with all the creatures on the fragile planet Earth.

Friday Book Shelf

One of my favorite things to do is to take a jar full of water from a local stream, pond, or lake and examine all the tiny critters that make a living right under our noses; yet we rarely take notice of them.

Most of the tiny creatures are difficult to identify but with some practice and a good field guide the hidden wonder of your local wetland will be revealed.

One of the best fieldguides that I have found is A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America by J. Reese Voshell, Jr. This book does an outstanding job with detailed drawings, helpful size charts, and detailed life cycle information.

Because most of the aquatic creatures that are found in wetland waters metamorphose 2 or more times during their life cycle it can be difficult to identify a specimen in a juvenile stage without this informative and helpful reference.

The best time of the year to explore a jarful of water is in early spring. If you're lucky you can find mayfly or dragonfly larva ready to hatch. As the year progresses into summer, the population in the water changes with the season and more aquatic beetles, scuds, and even mosquito larva will be present.

With a copy of A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America,  you'll be able to identify them all. Happy hunting.   

Friday Book Shelf

Wildlife watchers often lament the darkest, coldest parts of the year when glimpses of any wildlife is often limited to the bird feeder.

But now is the perfect time to take advantage of the dark, clear, starry nights and look up.

If a telescope is in a loved one's or your Christmas stocking this year, the perfect accompaniment is Three Hundred and Sixty Five Starry Nights by Chet Raymo. This book leads you through a whole year of navigating the stars and will provide all the information you need to find your way around the sky during your first year with a telescope.

Winter is the best time for viewing the sky; not only are the brightest, easiest stars visible, but the cold, clear nights make for the best conditions for viewing. Just make sure to bring your scope down to the outdoor temperature prior to using and never try to view anything through a window; it doesn't work.

Enjoy.....heaven waits.
   

Friday Book Shelf

This week's book is The Natural Heritage of Indiana by Marion T. Jackson. I won this book off of the Indiana University Press Blog  and it is a real treasure load of information regarding the natural resources of Indiana.

This book is massive and encompasses just about everything you would need to know about how Indiana's land was formed, age of the land mass, the lakes and wetlands, plants and fauna, animals, and human settlement and impact on the land.

Jackson takes you on a historical journey from the ice age all the way through the present day and into the challenges that face our natural resources tomorrow.

The book is jam-packed full of magnificent pictures and maps supplementing all the facts and historical information. For anyone interested in a book all about Indiana and its natural resources The Natural Heritage of Indiana is a book not to be missed.

   

Friday Book Shelf

One of the best books that I have found regarding forests, forestry, and logging is The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant.

Most books on the subject of forests come down heavily on the side of ecology or the logging companies. This book tells the whole story of a northwest forest from the first tree's appearance before the pyramids of Egypt appeared on the earth, to the appearance of the first men, the first white men, the first loggers, the first chainsaw, and the first man who was brave enough to sacrifice a sacred tree on behalf of a sacred disappearing forest.

The Golden Spruce does not take sides, leaving the reader to struggle with the issues of vanishing resources vs people just struggling to make a living vs pure naked greed. It is not an easy decision to make even with all the facts outlined.

The book centers around one tree; a spruce with defects that give it a golden hue. We listen and watch as this tree becomes part of a surrounding forest and lives for thousands of years standing sentinel over the tragic happenings that men bring to the forest. Until finally, in the end the tree stands alone with only a sample of the vast majestic forest that once was home; saved from destruction by some defective genes.

Then comes a man; a master logger who one day looks around him and sees the forest for the tree. He alone knows the destruction that has occurred to the forest in the 20th century; how much has disappeared never to reappear in thousands of years. And it drives him crazy to see that the people honor the golden spruce in lieu of the whole forest.   

This book will open your eyes and force you to look at your back deck (or front deck) (or both) with new eyes. This book allows us to glimpse the true cost of those decks we love so well.

Friday Book Shelf

For tree identification 101 Trees of Indiana by Marion T. Jackson is the book that can't be beat.

It must have been the author's love for Indiana that made him put the Indiana in the title because the book would be a great reference for the entire eastern United States.

The book is the easiest and most comprehensive reference on trees that I have come across. Each tree is referenced by not only a photograph of leaves and bark but a photograph of twig, flower, and fruit is included. A map of Indiana references the counties where each tree can be found.

Additional references for habitat, wood uses, and wildlife importance as well as any underlying pests or diseases that affect each tree are included to make this one of the most complete tree guides that exist.

So whether you are interested in trees of Indiana or the whole eastern United States, 101 Trees of Indiana is a comprehensive guide for your shelf.