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Our Favorite Books
American canopy - trees, forests, and the making of a nation
An Epic Book by Eric Rutkow - Nothing Else Like It
This fascinating and groundbreaking work tells the remarkable story of the relationship between Americans and their trees across the entire span of our nation’s history.
Eric Rutkow’s “deeply fascinating” (The Boston Globe) work shows how trees were essential to the early years of the republic and indivisible from the country’s rise as both an empire and a civilization. Among American Canopy’s many captivating stories: the Liberty Trees, where colonists gathered to plot rebellion against the British; Henry David Thoreau’s famous retreat into the woods; the creation of New York City’s Central Park; the great fire of 1871 that killed a thousand people in the lumber town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin; the fevered attempts to save the American chestnut and the American elm from extinction; and the controversy over spotted owls and the old-growth forests they inhabited. Rutkow also explains how trees were of deep interest to such figures as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, who oversaw the planting of some three billion trees nationally in his time as president.
Never before has anyone treated our country’s trees and forests as the subject of a broad historical study, and the result is an accessible, informative, and thoroughly entertaining read. Audacious in its four-hundred-year scope, authoritative in its detail, and elegant in its execution, American Canopy is perfect for history buffs and nature lovers alike and announces Eric Rutkow as a major new author of popular history.
Longleaf, As far as the eye can see
Longleaf forests once covered 92 million acres from Texas to Maryland to Florida. These grand old-growth pines were the "alpha tree" of the largest forest ecosystem in North America and have come to define the southern forest. But logging, suppression of fire, destruction by landowners, and a complex web of other factors reduced those forests so that longleaf is now found only on 3 million acres. Fortunately, the stately tree is enjoying a resurgence of interest, and longleaf forests are once again spreading across the South. Blending a compelling narrative by writers Bill Finch, Rhett Johnson, and John C. Hall with Beth Maynor Young's breathtaking photography, Longleaf, Far as the Eye Can See invites readers to experience the astounding beauty and significance of the majestic longleaf ecosystem.
The authors explore the interactions of longleaf with other species, the development of longleaf forests prior to human contact, and the influence of the longleaf on southern culture, as well as ongoing efforts to restore these forests. Part natural history, part conservation advocacy, and part cultural exploration, this book highlights the special nature of longleaf forests and proposes ways to conserve and expand them.
Looking For Longleaf, the fall and rise of an american forest
Looking for Longleaf explores the history of these forests and the astonishing biodiversity of the longleaf ecosystem, drawing on extensive research and telling the story through first-person travel accounts and interviews with foresters, ecologists, biologists, botanists, and landowners. For centuries, these vast grass-covered forests provided pasture for large cattle herds, in addition to serving as the world’s greatest source of naval stores. They sustained the exploitative turpentine and lumber industries until nearly all of the virgin longleaf had vanished.
Looking for Longleaf demonstrates how, in the twentieth century, forest managers and ecologists struggled to understand the special demands of longleaf and to halt its overall decline. The compelling story Earley tells here offers hope that with continued human commitment, the longleaf pine might not just survive, but once again thrive.
turpentine, citrus,lumber and cattle: the forgottern turn of the century economic engine
An amazing book written and published by a duo team of amateur "Historians, Explorers, Archeologists" in a small community in Central Florida. As much a story about their journey and adventures together as it is about the amazing answers they pursued and found ... to questions no one else thought to ask.
Two years of exhaustive research and on the ground investigation combined with extensive historical records analysis has produced a fresh, heartwarming and inspiring look at a forgotten time.
As often occurs ...one question answered leads to another question asked. ...and this book is only the start of a continuing and uncommon adventure.
You can get a copy at Lulu Press ...see link below
the depardo project florida model - project update december 31, 2018
The very first and seminal privately published hard back volume (442 pages) of a multi-state documentary series. This cherished and prized initial volume contains the latest detailed modeling results from The DiPardo Project - U.S. Rail and Timber Research in the State of Florida as of the end of the year 2018.
the depardo project texas model - project update - volumes 1 to 8 december 31, 2018
An epic and ground breaking eight volume - privately published documentary series spanning over 5,000 pages and containing the latest detailed modeling results from The DiPardo Project - U.S. Rail and Timber Research which was ongoing in the State of Texas as of the end of the year 2018.