Nathaniel Tarn's newest collection of poems, Ins and Outs of the Forest Rivers, dives deep into the spiritual and physical sufferings of our global age. After a moving overture, the book unfolds in five sections: "Of the Perfected Angels," with its lucid meditation on Issenheim altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald; "Dying Trees," written out of the horrible loss of hundreds of thousands of trees throughout the American West in recent years; "War Stills," an engagement with the ongoing atrocities in Iraq; "Movement / North of the Java Sea," taking flight from Maui to Bali to Papua New Guinea; and the final section "Sarawak," snaking its way through the river and indigenous anguish of Borneo, where Tarn as poet-anthropologist surveyed the loss of forest lands and its effects on tribal peoples.

"This is a very readable book in which the ecological concepts are carefully explained and the glossary of key terms will be a welcome inclusion for those getting to grips with ecology. The book will therefore appeal to a wide readership of aquatic ecologists and foresters, both professional and amateur alike". Scottish Forestry Royal Scottish Forestry Society"...the book makes a very significant contribution to our growing awareness of the ecological importance of driftwood. This contribution is founded on two particular aspects of the book: the writing style, which is clear and directed very much at the general reader; and the scope of the book, which is very broad and, to my knowledge, goes far beyond other reviews of the topic". Angela Gurnell School of Geography, University of Birmingham British Journal of Forestry"This is not a review article containing a current review of all works on wood in aquatic ecosystems. Instead, it is a comprehensive treatment of the general role of wood". J.L. Tank and J.R. Webster Journal of the North American Benthological SocietyFrom the Forest to the Sea: The Ecology of Wood in Streams, Rivers, Estuaries and Oceans is a fascinating scientific work that discusses the role wood plays in very complex and diverse aquatic ecosystems. Until now almost nothing has been published on this little understood topic.-- European settlement and laissez-faire capitalism-- Streams-- The Sea-- The Sea and estuaries-- Rivers

The threats from global cultural change and abandonment of traditional landscape management increased in the last half of the twentieth century and ten years into the twenty-first century show no signs of slowing down. Their impacts on global biodiversity and on people disconnected from their traditional landscapes pose real and serious economic and social problems which need to be addressed now. The End of Tradition conference held in Sheffield, UK, was organised by Ian D. Rotherham and colleagues. It addressed the fundamental issues of whether we can conserve the biodiversity of wonderful and iconic landscapes and reconnect people to their natural environment. And, if we can, how can we do so and make them relevant for the twenty-first century. The book is in two parts: Part 1. A History of Commons and Commons Management and Part 2. Commons: Current Management and Problems.

The story of two generations of scientific explorers in South America—Richard Evans Schultes and his protégé Wade Davis—an epic tale of adventure and a compelling work of natural history. In 1941, Professor Richard Evan Schultes took a leave from Harvard and disappeared into the Amazon, where he spent the next twelve years mapping uncharted rivers and living among dozens of Indian tribes. In the 1970s, he sent two prize students, Tim Plowman and Wade Davis, to follow in his footsteps and unveil the botanical secrets of coca, the notorious source of cocaine, a sacred plant known to the Inca as the Divine Leaf of Immortality. A stunning account of adventure and discovery, betrayal and destruction, One River is a story of two generations of explorers drawn together by the transcendent knowledge of Indian peoples, the visionary realms of the shaman, and the extraordinary plants that sustain all life in a forest that once stood immense and inviolable.

Understanding the current state and dynamics of any forest is extremely difficult - if not impossible - without recognizing its history. Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF), located on the border between Poland and Belarus, is one of the best preserved European lowland forests and a subject of myriads of works focusing on countless aspects of its biology, ecology, management. BPF was protected for centuries (15th-18th century) as a game reserve of Polish kings and Lithuanian grand dukes. Being, at that time, a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, BPF was subject to long-lasting traditional, multi-functional utilisation characteristic for this part of Europe, including haymaking on forest meadows, traditional bee-keeping and fishing in rivers flowing through forest. This traditional model of management came to an abrupt end due to political change in 1795, when Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania ceased to exist in effect of partitioning by neighbouring countries, and the territory of BPF was taken over by the Russian Empire. The new Russian administration, influenced by the German trends in forestry, attempted at introducing the new, science-based forestry model in the BPF throughout the 19th century. The entire 19th century in the history of BPF is a story of struggle between new trends and concepts brought and implemented by new rulers of the land, and the traditional perception of the forest and forest uses, culturally rooted in this area and originating from mediaeval (or older) practices. The book will show the historical background and the outcome of this struggle: the forest’s history in the long 19th century focusing on tracking all cultural imprints, both material (artificial landscapes, introduced alien species, human-induced processes) and immaterial (traditional knowledge of forest and use of forest resources, the political and cultural significance of the forest) that shaped the forest’s current state and picture. Our book will deliver a picture of a crucial moment in forest history, relevant not only to the Central Europe, but to the continent in general. Moment of transition between a royal hunting ground, traditional type of use widespread throughout Europe, to a modern, managed forest. Looking at main obstacles in the management shift, the essential difference in perceptions of the forest and goods it provides in both modes of management, and the implications of the management change for the state of BPF in the long 19th century could help in better understanding the changes that European forests underwent in general.

The recent listing of Pacific salmon under the Endangered Species Act has led to substantial interest in the scientific basis for river restoration in the Pacific Northwest. Millions of dollars in state and federal funding have been programmed for habitat restoration efforts to stem the decline of salmon populations in the region. This volume addresses the need for a solid understanding of fluvial processes and aquatic ecology in order to predict both river and salmonid response to restoration projects. In the Pacific Northwest, as in most regions of the United States, we are still learning about the processes that create habitat and river structure, how those processes influence aquatic ecosystems, and how to gauge the response of river systems to both land-use changes and restoration efforts. River systems are still responding to historic changes, and degraded habitat may not be restored successfully if natural conditions are not well understood, particularly if massive changes in watershed hydrology or other processes are the root cause. These issues faced in the development of regional river restoration programs are by no means unique to the Northwest, and so the initiation of a regional program of river restoration provides an opportunity to evaluate the state of river restoration in general. The eighteen chapters of Restoration of Puget Sound Rivers--presented by the region's experts at a symposium of the Society for Ecological Restoration--examine geological and geomorphological controls on river and stream characteristics and dynamics, biological aspects of river systems in the region, and the application of fluvial geomorphology, civil engineering, riparian ecology, and aquatic ecology in efforts to restore Puget Sound Rivers. This volume will be of interest to geomorphologists, aquatic biologists, civil engineers, planners, and all those interested in the interface of science and policy in addressing one of the fundamental environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.