Organizations
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project
Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council
Freedom from Aerial Herbicides Alliance
Klamath-Syskiyou Wildlands Center
Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team
Pacific Wolf Coalition
Publications
Beyond the War on Invasive Species by Tao Orion
Invasive species are everywhere, from forests and prairies to mountaintops and river mouths. Their rampant nature and sheer numbers appear to overtake fragile native species and forever change the ecosystems that they depend on. Concerns that invasive species represent significant threats to global biodiversity and ecological integrity permeate conversations from schoolrooms to board rooms, and concerned citizens grapple with how to rapidly and efficiently manage their populations. These worries have culminated in an ongoing “war on invasive species,” where the arsenal is stocked with bulldozers, chainsaws, and herbicides put to the task of their immediate eradication. In Hawaii, mangrove trees (Avicennia spp.) are sprayed with glyphosate and left to decompose on the sandy shorelines where they grow, and in Washington, helicopters apply the herbicide Imazapyr to smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) growing in estuaries. The “war on invasive species” is in full swing, but given the scope of such potentially dangerous and ecologically degrading eradication practices, it is necessary to question the very nature of the battle.
http://www.chelseagreen.com/beyond-the-war-on-invasive-species
Biodiversity and Climate Change by Thomas E. Lovejoy & Lee Hanna
An essential, up-to-date look at the critical interactions between biological diversity and climate change that will serve as an immediate call to action
The physical and biological impacts of climate change are dramatic and broad-ranging. People who care about the planet and manage natural resources urgently need a synthesis of our rapidly growing understanding of these issues. In this all-new sequel to the 2005 volume Climate Change and Biodiversity, leading experts in the field summarize observed changes, assess what the future holds, and offer suggested responses. From extinction risk to ocean acidification, from the future of the Amazon to changes in ecosystem services, and from geoengineering to the power of ecosystem restoration, this book captures the sweep of climate change transformation of the biosphere. https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300206111/biodiversity-and-climate-change
The Carnivore Way by Cristina Eisenberg
In the Carnivore Way, Cristina Eisenberg argues compellingly for the necessity of top predators in large, undisturbed landscapes, and how a continental-long corridor—a “carnivore way”—provides the room they need to roam and connected landscapes that allow them to disperse. Eisenberg follows the footsteps of six large carnivores—wolves, grizzly bears, lynx, jaguars, wolverines, and cougars—on a 7,500-mile wildlife corridor from Alaska to Mexico along the Rocky Mountains. Backed by robust science, she shows how their well-being is a critical factor in sustaining healthy landscapes and how it is possible for humans and large carnivores to coexist peacefully and even to thrive.
Earth in the Balance by Al Gore
Earth in the Balance probes the roots of the environmental crisis and offers a bold and forceful vision of a new, more sustainable path. Having provoked international discussion upon its original publication, it continues to confront us with profound challenges. Human civilization must change its course if we are to heal our ailing environment and preserve the earth’s ecology for future generations.
Extreme Conservation by Joel Berger
A journey into some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, Joel Berger’s Extreme Conservation is an eye-opening, steely look at what it takes for animals like these to live at the edges of existence. But more than this, it is a revealing exploration of how climate change and people are affecting even the most far-flung niches of our planet.
https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo23299766.html
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
In her first book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths – that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complex, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own.
Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes by William L. Baker
Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes brings a century of scientific research to bear on improving the relationship between people and fire. ... At the policy level, state and federal agencies have focused on fuel reduction and fire suppression as a means of controlling fire.
https://islandpress.org/book/fire-ecology-in-rocky-mountain-landscapes
Fire Storm - How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future by Edward Struzik
For two months in the spring of 2016, the world watched as wildfire ravaged the town of Fort McMurray. Firefighters named the fire “the Beast.” It seemed to be alive with destructive energy, and they hoped never to see anything like it again. Yet it’s not a stretch to imagine we will all soon live in a world in which fires like the Beast are commonplace. In Firestorm, Edward Struzik confronts this new reality, offering a deftly woven tale of science, economics, politics, and human determination. It’s possible for us to flourish in the coming age of megafires – but it will take a radical new approach that requires acknowledging that fires are no longer avoidable. Living with fire also means, Struzik reveals, that we must better understand how the surprising, far-reaching impacts of these massive fires will linger long after the smoke eventually clears.
The Hidden Life of Wolves by Jim & Jamie Dutcher
Delve into amazingly intimate wolf photography by Jim and Jamie Dutcher, a couple who spent many years living with a pack of wolves at the edge of Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness, observing their complex social hierarchy.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hidden-life-of-wolves-jim-dutcher/1110503713
Land on Fire: The New Reality of Wildfire in the West by Gary Ferguson
Wildfire season is burning longer and hotter, affecting more and more people, especially in the west. Land on Fire explores the fascinating science behind this phenomenon and the ongoing research to find a solution. This gripping narrative details how years of fire suppression and chronic drought have combined to make the situation so dire. Award-winning nature writer Gary Ferguson brings to life the extraordinary efforts of those responsible for fighting wildfires, and deftly explains how nature reacts in the aftermath of flames. Dramatic photographs reveal the terror and beauty of fire, as well as the staggering effect it has on the landscape. https://www.jmichaelsbooks.com/pages/books/301064/gary-ferguson/land-on-fire-the-new-reality-of-wildfire-in-the-west
Life in an Old Growth Forest by Valerie Rapp
Using the forests of the Pacific Northwest as an example, this book examines the physical features, processes, and many species of plants and animals that make up old growth forest ecosystems. Includes historical perspectives on how humans have used these forests and what is being done to ensure that old growth forests remain viable in the future. Visit a land filled with giant trees to learn what makes this environment so special. Ages 9-17
Oregon's Ancient Forests by Chandra LeGue & Oregon Wild
Oregon’s Ancient Forests is a guidebook with a purpose: to inspire readers to learn about and visit Oregon’s rapturous old-growth forests, and then love them enough to keep them protected. Not just for hikers, this Oregon Wild– sponsored guide explains where the forests are and who manages them, the threats they face, and an action plan for protecting what remains and restoring damaged forests so they may become the ancient forests of the future.
https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books/oregons-ancient-forests-a-hiking-guide
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Overstory, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of—and paean to—the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.
Poison Spring by E.G. Vallianatos
Writing with acclaimed environmental journalist McKay Jenkins, E.G. Vallianatos provides a devastating exposé of how the agency created to protect Americans and our environment has betrayed its mission. Half a century after Rachel Carson's Silent Spring awakened us to the dangers of pesticides, we are poisoning our lands and waters with more toxic chemicals than ever.
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
A Sand County Almanac is a combination of natural history, scene painting with words, and philosophy. It is perhaps best known for the following quote, which defines his land ethic: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
The Serengeti Rules: ​The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters by Sean B. Carroll
How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions, and shows how their discoveries matter for our health and the health of the planet we depend upon.
Silent Spring by Rachael Carson
Silent Spring documented the detrimental effects on the environment—particularly on birds—of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims unquestioningly. In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring which brought environmental concerns to the American public.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
Wolf Nation by Brenda Peterson
In the tradition of Peter Matthiessen’s Wildlife in America or Aldo Leopold’s work, Brenda Peterson tells the 300-year history of wild wolves in America. It is also our own history, seen through our relationship with wolves. Native Americans revered them. Settlers jealousy exterminated them. Now, scientists, writers, and ordinary citizens are fighting to bring them back to the wild. Peterson, an eloquent voice in the battle for twenty years, makes the powerful case that without wolves, not only will our whole ecology unravel, but well lose much of our national soul.
The Wolf’s Tooth by Cristina Eisenberg
Animals such as wolves, sea otters, and sharks exert a disproportionate influence on their environment; dramatic ecological consequences can result when they are removed from, or returned to, an ecosystem. In The Wolf’s Tooth, scientist and author Cristina Eisenberg explores the concept of trophic cascades and the role of top predators in regulating ecosystems. Her fascinating and wide-ranging work provides clear explanations of the science surrounding keystone predators and considers how this notion can help provide practical solutions for restoring ecosystem health and functioning.
Of Wolves and Men by Barry Lopez
Of Wolves and Men reveals the uneasy interaction between wolves and civilization over the centuries, and the wolf's prominence in our thoughts about wild creatures. Drawing on an astonishing array of literature, history, science, and mythology as well as considerable personal experience with captive and free-ranging wolves, Lopez argues for the necessity of the wolf's preservation and envelops the reader in its sensory world, creating a compelling picture of the wolf both as real animal and as imagined by man.
http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Men-Barry-Holstun-Lopez/dp/0684163225
Films
BURNED: Are Trees the New Coal?
This feature-length documentary takes an unwavering look at the latest energy industry solution to climate change. The film tells a story of greenwashing -- how woody biomass has become the fossil-fuel industry’s renewable, green savior, and of the people and parties who are both fighting against and promoting its adoption and use.
Chasing Ice
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers. https://www.chasingice.com/
Elemental: Reimagining Wildfire
Filmed across the West and narrated by Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actor David Oyelowo, Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire (84 min) takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. The film follows the harrowing escape from Paradise, California as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire's start. It then continues to the even more recent fires of the last two years, when Oregon, California and Colorado suffered their worst wildfires in recorded history. https://www.elementalfilm.com/
A Fierce Green Fire
A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet is the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement – grassroots and global activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate change. Inspired by the book of the same name by Philip Shabecoff and informed by advisors like Edward O. Wilson, A Fierce Green Fire chronicles the largest movement of the 20th century and one of the keys to the 21st. It brings together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds. http://www.afiercegreenfire.com/
Gasland
In 2005, the Energy Policy Act removed environmental protection restrictions against hydraulic fracturing drilling. Since then, drilling for natural gas has increased at a dramatic rate. When Josh Fox, a theatrical director and filmmaker, was offered $100,000 for the gas rights to family property, he decided to investigate the environmental impact caused by reckless gas drilling. In the documentary, Fox travels to 34 states, speaking to property owners and environmental experts on the under-reported menace of fracking and the truth about the dangers of natural gas. https://www.amazon.com/Gasland-Dick-Cheney/dp/B005C0DHEY
Gasland II
This explosive follow-up to the Oscar-nominated film Gasland, shows how the stakes have been raised on all sides in one of the most important environmental issues facing our nation today. The film argues that the gas industry’s portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth’s climate with the potent greenhouse gas, methane. In addition the film looks at how the powerful oil and gas industries are in Fox's words "contaminating our democracy". https://www.hbo.com/movies/gasland-part-ii
Green Fire
Aldo Leopold is considered the most important conservationist of the 20th century because his ideas are so relevant to the environmental issues of our time. He is the father of the national wilderness system, wildlife management and the science of ecological restoration. His classic book A Sand County Almanac still inspires us to see the natural world as a community to which we belong. Green Fire explores Leopold's personal journey of observation and understanding, It reveals how his ideas resonate with people across the entire American landscape, from inner cities to the most remote wild lands. The film challenges viewers to contemplate their own relationship with the land. https://www.aldoleopold.org/teach-learn/green-fire-film/
Living with Carnivores: Boneyards, Bears and Wolves
Living with Carnivores: Boneyards, Bears and Wolves is a documentary film about living with large carnivores. The story begins a decade ago in western Montana’s Blackfoot River Valley and explores how a rural agricultural community responded to the resurgence of grizzly bears and wolves. The film explores the thoughtful “can do” approach of Montana ranchers who realized that the age old practice of dumping dead livestock onto “boneyards” was destined to spell trouble by attracting grizzly bears and wolves onto ranches resulting in poor outcomes for wildlife and ranchers. https://vimeo.com/131528982
Lords of Nature
Birds, butterflies, beaver and antelope, wildflowers and frogs — could their survival possibly be connected to top predators like the wolf and cougar? This captivating documentary goes behind the scenes with leading scientists to explore the role top predators play in restoring and maintaining ecosystems and biodiversity. Wolves and cougars, once driven to the edge of existence, are finding their way back -- from the Yellowstone plateau to the canyons of Zion, from the farm country of northern Minnesota to the rugged open range of the West. Lords of Nature: Life in a Land of Great Predators tells the story of science now discovering the great carnivores as revitalizing forces of nature, and a society now learning tolerance for the beasts they had once banished. http://www.lordsofnature.org/
Who Owns Water
"WATER WARS. Let's have a whiskey and I'll tell you something different." It's a conflict once unthinkable in the deep green South. Three states are locked in battle over the diminishing fresh water that saw Atlanta go from a small town to the largest growing city in the US. Who’s in control? It depends on who you talk to. In this stunningly-shot, award-winning documentary film, brothers Michael and David Hanson return to the source of their childhood river and paddle it to the Gulf of Mexico to take you deep into the Water Wars. Everything comes down to one question.