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Summary
Summary
As climate change encroaches, animals and plants around the globe are having their habitats pulled out from under them. At the same time, human development has made islands out of even our largest nature reserves, stranding the biodiversity that lives within them. The Spine of the Continent introduces readers to the most ambitious conservation effort ever undertaken: to create linked protected areas extending from the Yukon to Mexico, the entire length of North America. This movement is the brainchild of Michael Soule, the founder of conservation biology and the peer of E.O. Wilson and Paul Ehrlich, who endorse his effort as necessary to saving nature on our continent. With blue-ribbon scientific foundations, the Spine is yet a grassroots, cooperative effort among conservation activists - NGOs large and small -- and regular citizens. The Spine of the Continent is not only about making physical connections so that nature will persist; it is about making connections between people and the land we call home. In this fascinating, exciting, and important book, Mary Ellen Hannibal travels the length of the Spine, sharing stories and anecdotes about the passionate, idiosyncratic people she meets along the way - and the critters they love.
Author Notes
Mary Ellen Hannibal's most recent book is Evidence of Evolution. She has written for many publications, including The San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, and Elle magazines, and extensively for environmental nonprofits. She is a 2011 Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow and lives in the California Bay Area.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hannibal (Leaves and Pods) offers a gripping and informative look at the founding of bioconservation, the scientists and controversies behind environmental science, and the ambitious, necessary extension of theoretical knowledge into practical application with the formation of connected wildlife corridors from Canada to Mexico. Giving equal time to anecdotes and interviews, Hannibal supports her engaging and swift narrative with hard facts. This book is far more engrossing and dramatic than the title suggests; it goes beyond the politics of wildlife protection to present a real history of America's habitat, the animals within it, the people who study them, and the disparate motivations behind responsible conservation. Deep dives into the ecology of species both native-beavers, wolves, jaguar, and pika-and not native-cows-reveal the interdependence of humans and their wilder counterparts in the woods and plains. A thoroughly satisfying gem, readers will find themselves in the company of America's best minds (Jared Diamond, Michael Soule) and heroes (Sherri Tippie), as Hannibal travels through landscapes chronicling the efforts underway to keep North America habitable for the plants and animals that first lived here and the people who now call it home. This is what scientific writing should be: fascinating and true. Agent: Eleanor Jackson, Markson Thoma Literary Agency. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Any good three-dimensional relief map of North America will feature a prominent ridge running from top to bottom like a crooked backbone. This ridge, of course, represents the more than 3,000-mile geological monument known as the Rocky Mountains. A large-scale environmental project spearheaded by conservation biologist Michael Soule and appropriately named the Spine of the Continent (SOC) Initiative, was recently launched to make sure the Rockies are knit together as an interconnected ecosystem. As explained by veteran nonfiction author Hannibal in this sweeping overview of the initiative and its major players, many protected wildlife zones along this corridor, from Canada to Mexico, have become isolated from each other due to highways and urban development. Inevitably, the disconnection hinders migratory routes and threatens species diversity, problems Soule and his SOC partners are working to overcome by building animal throughways and addressing conflicting state predator laws, such as those allowing wolf extermination. Hannibal's captivating true-life narrative tells the stories of those devoted to Soule's vision and provides an inspiring example to follow for environmentalists on every continent.--Hays, Carl Copyright 2010 Booklist
Choice Review
While the national park system has been coined "America's best idea," this work effectively demonstrates how national and state park conservation efforts can go only so far. Much of nature is based on connections, and the area of unprotected land between parks is of little to no assistance to migratory species: what happens when animals migrate off the protected lands to nonprotected habitats? Editor/journalist Hannibal documents how the first (and only) protected migratory path came into existence. The "spine of the continent" extends from the Yukon through the Rocky Mountains (known as "Path of the Pronghorn") to Mexico. The author writes well, relating how the scientists, conservationists, private land owners, and several others she met as she traversed the path came together to create this 5,000-mile linked passageway. Additional discussions explore how this protected landscape will become increasingly important as climate change affects current habitats, bringing a need for additional protected migratory paths to enable genetic viability for species to continue. The index consists primarily of names, but includes key terms and species addressed throughout the work. Useful endnotes and bibliography. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. K. K. Goldbeck-DeBose Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Kirkus Review
Hannibal (Good Parenting Through Your Divorce, 2006, etc.) explores the ambitious Spine of the Continent Initiative, a massive project to protect wildlife and land by connecting expanses of acreage across North America. The concept, pioneered by conservation biologist Michael Soul, has been picked up by many others over the years, as a long-term way to help preserve wildlife and plant life in the West. Its ultimate goal was to unite discrete areas of publicly and privately owned wilderness to create one huge nature preserve stretching from Alaska to Mexico. In the first third of the book, Hannibal focuses on the history of conservation biology. The last two-thirds spotlight some of the many small organizations and researchers that are contributing to the larger vision, including projects focusing specifically on beavers, jaguars and wolves, among others. Throughout, Hannibal repeats the idea that everything in an ecosystem is connected. It's a seemingly simple concept, well-backed by research, and the author discusses how, in the long run, working for the preservation of even a single species links directly to larger issues such as climate change. Because Hannibal writes in a casual first-person voice, the narrative is occasionally haphazard, as she delves into the history of the beaver-pelt trade in America in one section and explores Soul's life-changing experience with Zen Buddhism in another. It has its share of odd moments, as when Hannibal compares beaver ponds to the concept of romanticism, or when she asks a scientist who experimented on temperature-intolerant pikas in the 1970s, "How could you fry those bunnies?" The author doesn't fully explore the opinions of anyone who might oppose the Spine plan, but the book works well as an introduction to modern conservationist figures and concepts for casual readers. A fine overview of wide-angle environmentalism.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Table of Contents
Maps | p. vi |
Introduction | p. xiii |
Part I America's Next Best Idea | |
Chapter 1 Bear with Me | p. 3 |
Chapter 2 They Paved Paradise | p. 19 |
Chapter 3 Reptile Brain | p. 30 |
Chapter 4 The Disappearance | p. 41 |
Chapter 5 A Science of Love and Death | p. 52 |
Chapter 6 The Real Work | p. 61 |
Chapter 7 Triple Crown | p. 72 |
Part II Cores, Carnivores, and Corridors on the Spine | |
Chapter 8 Leave It to Beaver | p. 91 |
Chapter 9 Holy Cow | p. 118 |
Chapter 10 Not Hunting | p. 136 |
Chapter 11 Take It from the Top | p. 149 |
Chapter 12 Wolf Sign | p. 162 |
Chapter 13 Borderline | p. 175 |
Chapter 14 There Ought to Be a Law | p. 195 |
Part III Congratulations, You've Won Climate Change | |
Chapter 15 Picka Pika | p. 213 |
Chapter 16 Eyes in the Sky | p. 232 |
Chapter 17 Welcome Home | p. 238 |
Endnotes | p. 249 |
Bibliography | p. 257 |
Index | p. 264 |
Acknowledgments | p. 271 |