This exquisite book, now in softcover, is the result of that bold and immensely personal project. Through the accompanying essay, Brandenburg shares his innermost thoughts and passions as he witnesses the cycle of nature near his home in the northwoods of Minnesota.Brandenburg also contributes new photos and an Epilog that illustrates and discusses the devastating summer wind storm that wreaked havoc on the locations photographed for the original project.

    But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity.There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife is in crisis and may be headed toward extinction.Bringing Nature Home has sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being, and the new paperback edition—with an expanded resource section and updated photos—will help broaden the movement. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical recommendations, everyone can make a difference.

    For centuries these supremely adaptable, generous trees have supported humankind in nearly every facet of life. From the ink of Bach’s cantatas to the first boat to reach the New World, the wagon, the barrel, and the sword, oak trees have been a constant presence in our past. Yet we’ve largely forgotten the oak’s role in civilization. With reverence, humor, and compassion, Logan awakens us to the vibrant presence of the oak throughout our history and in today’s world.

    Seeing Trees celebrates seldom seen but easily observable tree traits and invites you to watch trees with the same care and sensitivity that birdwatchers watch birds. Many people, for example, are surprised to learn that oaks and maples have flowers, much less flowers that are astonishingly beautiful when viewed up close. Focusing on widely grown trees, this captivating book describes the rewards of careful and regular tree viewing, outlines strategies for improving your observations, and describes some of the most visually interesting tree structures, including leaves, flowers, buds, leaf scars, twigs, and bark. In-depth profiles of ten familiar species—including such beloved trees as white oak, southern magnolia, white pine, and tulip poplar—show you how to recognize and understand many of their most compelling (but usually overlooked) physical features.

    John Kallas makes it fun and easy to learn about foods you've unknowingly passed by all your life. Through gorgeous photographs, playful, but authoritative text, and ground-breaking design he gives you the knowledge and confidence to finally begin eating and enjoying edible wild plants. Edible Wild Plants divides plants into four flavor categories -- foundation, tart, pungent, and bitter. Categorizing by flavor helps readers use these greens in pleasing and predictable ways. According to the author, combining elements from these different categories makes the best salads.

    The Complete Book of Cacti & Succulents is a feast of in-depth information and over 600 eye-catching photographs. This book has everything you need to make your plant arrangements healthy and spectacular no matter what kinds of succulents you use. Using this guide, you will quickly discover just how bold and creative you can be with these arrangements, and understand why so many decorators can recommend succulents for almost every occasion.Whether you're just thinking about decorating with these beautiful, easy-to-care-for plants, or you've been a sucker for succulents for a good long while, this book contains ideas and inspiration for beginners and masters alike. Through step-by-step full-color sequences and expert guidance, this book gives in-depth information on the history, cultivation, and creative use of hundreds of strikingly handsome specimens of cacti and provides practical information for use in both house and garden.

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    Each portrait includes full-color original artwork; details on identification, habitat, nesting, and food; and a color-coded range map.

    You'll find: * All the identification information on a single page-color photographs, range map, and detailed description. No more fumbling to match photos with text! * For fast reference-a compact alphabetical index inside the front and back covers. * More than 900 high-resolution color identification photographs. * An illustrated Quick Guide to the most common backyard and feeder birds. * Convenient colored tabs keyed to each bird group. * Concise and comprehensive text, with information on habitat; plumage variation; feeding, nesting, and mating behavior; bird feeder proclivity; and-for the first time in any guide-population trends and conservation status.

    This field guide is divided into two large sections -- one devoted to minerals and one to rocks, each prefaced by a comprehensive introduction that discusses formation, chemistry, and more. All 377 entries, beautifully illustrated with color photographs and helpful visual symbols, provide descriptions and practical information about appearance, classification, rarity, crystal formation, mode of occurrence, gravity of mineral, rock chemistry, modal classification fields, formational environments, grain sizes of rocks, and much more. Whether you are a serious collector or an information-seeking amateur, this incomparably beautiful, authoritative guide will prove an invaluable reference.

    That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how. The basic science goes like this: Microscopic cells called “mycelium”--the fruit of which are mushrooms--recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other essential elements as they break down plant and animal debris in the creation of rich new soil. What Stamets has discovered is that we can capitalize on mycelium’s digestive power and target it to decompose toxic wastes and pollutants (mycoremediation), catch and reduce silt from streambeds and pathogens from agricultural watersheds (mycofiltration), control insect populations (mycopesticides), and generally enhance the health of our forests and gardens (mycoforestry and myco-gardening).  In this comprehensive guide, you’ll find chapters detailing each of these four exciting branches of what Stamets has coined “mycorestoration,” as well as chapters on the medicinal and nutritional properties of mushrooms, inoculation methods, log and stump culture, and species selection for various environmental purposes. Heavily referenced and beautifully illustrated, this book is destined to be a classic reference for bemushroomed generations to come.

    Fully illustrated and comprehensive, each volume includes practical information, time-tested nature skills, and exciting new ways to rediscover the earth around us.

    It offers a clear overview of the fundamentals of environmental economics that will enable students and professionals to quickly grasp important concepts and to apply those concepts to real-world environmental problems. In addition, the book integrates normative, policy, and institutional issues at a principles level. Chapters examine: the benefits and costs of environmental protection, markets and market failure, natural resources as capital assets, and sustainability and economic development. Markets and the Environment is the second volume in the Foundations of Contemporary Environmental Studies Series, edited by James Gustave Speth. The series presents concise guides to essential subjects in the environmental curriculum, incorporating a problem-based approach to teaching and learning.

    But in the early twentieth century, an exotic plague swept through the chestnut forests with the force of a wildfire. Within forty years, the blight had killed close to four billion trees and left the species teetering on the brink of extinction. It was one of the worst ecological blows to North America since the Ice Age—and one most experts considered beyond repair. In American Chestnut, Susan Freinkel tells the dramatic story of the stubborn optimists who refused to let this cultural icon go. In a compelling weave of history, science, and personal observation, she relates their quest to save the tree through methods that ranged from classical plant breeding to cutting-edge gene technology. But the heart of her story is the cast of unconventional characters who have fought for the tree for a century, undeterred by setbacks or skeptics, and fueled by their dreams of restored forests and their powerful affinity for a fellow species.

    Dozens about lions and tigers and bears. But how many non-scholarly books have been written about giraffes-one of nature's most intriguing and unique animals? None. Until now.You know Lynn Sherr as a veteran journalist and as a leading correspondent for the ABC news magazine 20/20, but you probably didn't know that she has been an avid giraffophile since a visit to the African wilderness nearly twenty-five years ago.The days of the giraffe being overlooked and under-appreciated are over with the publishing of Tall Blondes,a one-of-a-kind book about a one-of-a-kind animal. The giraffe's unusually long neck and legs make it one of the most recognizable creatures on our planet. But it also possesses a wide range of other fascinating and endearing traits and features. And while most giraffes are blondes, they come in beautiful arrays of red, brown, and even white.Sherr traces the cultural history of the giraffe, from it's first appearance in Europe in 46 B.C. (thanks to Julius Caesar) through medieval bestiaries and up to the modern giraffe star of a TV movie. The book is not just about giraffes in the wild: it's about how they have impacted on humans (and visa versa), stirring the imaginations of artists, writers and thinkers. Taking a whimsical approach to her very serious subject, Sherr has filled it with little-known tidbits, awe-inspiring photographs and drawings, and intriguing tales about the world's tallest land animal.Read it, and you'll not only learn about why Sherr (a tall blond herself) has fallen head over heals for this gawky but graceful animal-you'll fall in love too.