The Krause Ranch is not the usual Hill Country landscape one might expect—it has bottomless holes, dinosaur tracks, high limestone river cliffs where golden eagles nest, and occasional visits by pumas and black bears. Historian Thad Sitton paints a detailed portrait of the 1,670-acre property, its human history, its natural history, and Gary Krause—the man who spent several decades clearing cedar to bring grass and good water back to the land. Krause “resurrected” the land’s natural spring...

This “marvelously humor-laced page-turner” about one of the world’s most influential species is “a masterpiece of a treatise on the natural world” (The Washington Post, “50 Notable Works of Nonfiction”).“Takes us inside the amazing world of nature’s premier construction engineer . . . and shows us why the restoration of an animal almost driven to extinction is producing wide-ranging, positive effects on our landscapes, ecology, and even our economy...

Beginning in the late 1980s, a series of improbable bark beetle outbreaks unsettled iconic forests and communities across western North America. An insect the size of a rice kernel eventually killed more than 30 billion pine and spruce trees from Alaska to New Mexico. Often appearing in masses larger than schools of killer whales, the beetles engineered one of the world's greatest forest die-offs since the deforestation of Europe by peasants between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.

Thorough, detailed, and scientifically up-to-date, Prairies: A Natural History provides a comprehensive nontechnical guide to the biology and ecology of the prairies, or the Great Plains grasslands of North America, offering a view of the past, a vision for the future, and a clear focus on the present. With a total area of more than 3.5 million square kilometers (500,000 in Canada and the remainder in the United States), the prairies occupy the heartland of the co...

A collection of essays and articles that reflect upon the ecology, conservation history, missed opportunities and emerging possibilities of a place that could have been about so much more than oil.Naturalist, hunter, conservation activist and recovering bureaucrat Kevin Van Tighem explores the landscapes and wildlife of one of Canada's most diverse and beautiful provinces and the ways in which Albertans have often failed – and sometimes succeeded – at the challenge of sust...

Quetico Park in northwestern Ontario celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2009. Long-recognized as a gem among parks, Quetico contains some of the largest stands of old-growth red and white pine in Canada , as well as a diversity of fascinating lichens, carnivorous plants in specialized habitats.The author presents an insightful look into Quetico's natural history as he examines the adapations that have allowed moose, white-tailed deer, wolves and other mammals to survive. The human...

You pull in your driveway, turn off the engine and just sit there. It's happened again. Three glorious days in the wilderness. You're hot, tired, dirty and disgruntled.You glance in the rear view mirror at the mound of brand new fishing and camping gear piled in the back of the SUV. You just know that as soon as you hit the front door you're going to hear about it."Yeah Honey, but I almost had one," you'll say. "Had him right on my hook and he flipped and got away!"...

Until about 13,000 years ago, North America was home to a menagerie of massive mammals. Mammoths, camels, and lions walked the ground that has become Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and foraged on the marsh land now buried beneath Chicago's streets. Then, just as the first humans reached the Americas, these Ice Age giants vanished forever. In Once and Future Giants, science writer Sharon Levy digs through the evidence surrounding Pleistocene large animal ("megafauna") extinction...

Bestselling author John Davidson presents "Animals of North America For Kids – Amazing Animal Books For Young Readers". Beautiful Pictures and easy reading format will help children fall in love with Animals of North America. This is one of over 30 books in the Amazing Animal Books for Young Readers Series.The series is known as one of the most beautiful on tablets. The pictures look great even in black and white and are excellent on the full color tablets.Lots of facts and ...

Earth has been shaped by thousands of years of weathering and erosion. These forces have created amazing landforms around the world, from rock arches to deep canyons. This book introduces readers to the science behind erosion and weathering. Readers will dig deep to uncover the many forces that impact the shape of the earth, including wind, water, and living creatures. Through accessible text, conversation-starting sidebars, and eye-catching photographs, readers will gain a deep understand...

A brilliant evocation of one of America's most beautiful desert landscapes. Award-winning author Stewart Aitchison reveals the fascinating truths and debunks the countless myths surrounding this magic landscape. In depth information assists the reader in planning and preparing for the trip of a lifetime.

The Mojave Desert has a rich natural history. Despite being sandwiched between the larger Great Basin and Sonoran Deserts, it has enough mountains, valleys, canyons, and playas for any eager explorer. Ancient and current waterways carve the bajadas and valley bottoms. This diverse topography gives rise to a multitude of habitats for plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else in the world.A Natural History of the Mojave Desert explores how a combination of com...