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A Californian may vacation in Yosemite, Big Sur, or Death Valley, but many of us come home to an oak woodland. Yet, while common, oak woodlands are anything but ordinary. In a book rich in illustration and suffused with wonder, author Kate Marianchild combines extensive research and years of personal experience to explore some of the marvelous plants and animals that the oak woodlands nurture. Acorn woodpeckers unite in marriages of up to ten mates and raise their young cooperatively. Ground squirrels roll in rattlesnake skins to hide their scent from hungry snakes. Manzanita's rust-colored, paper-thin bark peels away in time for the summer solstice, exposing sinuous contours that are cool to the touch even on the hottest day. Conveying up-to-the-minute scientific findings with a storyteller's skill, Marianchild introduces us to a host of remarkable creatures in a world close by, a world that "rustles, hums, and sings with the sounds of wild things."
Bakker’s classic of ecological science now includes three new chapters on Southern California which make the book more useful than ever. Striking new photographs illustrate the diversity of life, climate, and geological formation. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1985. Bakker’s classic of ecological science now includes three new chapters on Southern California which make the book more useful than ever. Striking new photographs illustrate the diversity of life, climate, and geological formation. This title is
"This exciting book belongs on every naturalist's bookshelf. The excellent color photos and clear text will endear it to the amateur while the accurate identifications will please the professional. This book is an ideal gift for anyone who enjoys spending time outdoors."--Katherine Schick, Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley "This identification guide, with its summaries of the science and lore of galls and their causative organisms, engagingly draws one into another barely explored world, one presently known only to a few. With the publication of this book, many more can now appreciate these fascinating plant growths."--Raymond J. Gagne, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA "This comprehensive, descriptive, and beautifully illustrated guide to plant galls of the West will appeal to both professional and amateur."--Diane M. Erwin, Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley "A great book for entomologists, plant pathologists, and would-be naturalists who are curious about the amazing insect-plant relationships illustrated by plant galls."--Charles Dailey, Sierra College
The California Naturalist Handbook provides a fun, science-based introduction to California’s natural history with an emphasis on observation, discovery, communication, stewardship and conservation. It is a hands-on guide to learning about the natural environment of California. Subjects covered include California natural history and geology, native plants and animals, California’s freshwater resources and ecosystems, forest and rangeland resources, conservation biology, and the effects of global warming on California’s natural communities. The Handbook also discusses how to create and use a field notebook, natural resource interpretation, citizen science, and collaborative conservation and serves as the primary text for the California Naturalist Program.
Its hard to imagine Californias landscape before European explorers arrived and recorded what they saw. Laura Cunninghams research goes well beyond that and her art brings that landscape to life once again
In the visionary tradition of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, One Square Inch of Silence alerts us to beauty that we take for granted and sounds an urgent environmental alarm. Natural silence is our nation’s fastest-disappearing resource, warns Emmy-winning acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, who has made it his mission to record and preserve it in all its variety—before these soul-soothing terrestrial soundscapes vanish completely in the ever-rising din of man-made noise. Recalling the great works on nature written by John Muir, John McPhee, and Peter Matthiessen, this beautifully written narrative, co-authored with John Grossmann, is also a quintessentially American story—a road trip...
An anthology of poems about climate crisis by Californians of all ages.
"A dazzling book, full of knowledge and rare wisdom, too" —Thomas Pakenham, author of Remarkable Trees of the World Professional arborist and award-winning nature writer William Bryant Logan deftly relates the delightful history of the reciprocal relationship between humans and oak trees since time immemorial. 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.
Today, Monterey Bay is a place of beauty and natural splendor, but in 1965 it narrowly avoided becoming a vast industrial complex. It was one of the first major battles of the modern environmental movement. Humbled tells the story of how activists and politicians fought back against Humble Oil's plan for a refinery, and won.