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978-0-89587-183-1
0-89587-183-1
$15.95 hardcover
6" x 9"
211 pages
black-and-white photos, appendix, bibliography, index
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North American wildlife is
under siege. First came the hunters, who spread across the continent
killing animals for food and clothing and because they were dangerous.
Then came the developers, who continue to chip away at our wilderness at
a rate of over a million acres per year.
It wasn't until 1903 that the
first North American sanctuary specifically aimed at protecting animals
was established. Today, the continent is peppered with thousands of
public and private refuges--green islands of hope for wildlife. These
sanctuaries have saved species like whooping cranes and trumpeter swans
from extinction and allowed others like American bison and Canada geese
to recover in number.
Islands of Hope visits
ten preserves in four North American countries. At Cape May National
Wildlife Refuge, Phillip Manning examines the dependence of one of
nature's farthest-traveled animals--the red knot--on one of its
oldest--the horseshoe crab. At El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve, he
tells of the impossible migration of a creature that weighs one-fiftieth
of an ounce--and the equally captivating story of the human effort that
tracked the eastern monarch to its wintering ground in Mexico. At the
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, he describes the effort to bring back not
only North America's largest land animal--the American bison--but also
an entire landscape as it existed hundreds of years ago. At Hart
Mountain National Antelope Refuge, he tells of the pronghorn antelope
and its stalker, the coyote, and the dilemma faced by those humans who
would manage--or not manage--relations between the two.
Behind Manning's fascinating
account lies the purpose of learning what makes these ten preserves
successful. Islands of Hope investigates the animals and
ecosystems that the sanctuaries protect; it talks with people who run
the preserves to discover how they use conservation laws and the
sciences of ecology in their work; it examines how refuges are created;
and it explores the threats still facing North America's sanctuaries.
Sanctuaries featured in
Islands of Hope
include the following:
Bonaire Marine Park, Bonaire,
Netherlands Antilles
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary,
Florida
El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve,
Michoacan, Mexico
Cape May National Wildlife Refuge,
New Jersey
Machias Seal Island,
New Brunswick, Canada
Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge,
North Carolina
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve,
Oklahoma
Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge,
Oregon
Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge,
Alabama
Horicon National Wildlife Refuge,
Wisconsin
about the author
Phillip Manning's writing has appeared in Field & Stream,
the Washington Post, and numerous other publications. The author
and editor of the newsletter Walker's World, Manning is also the
author of Afoot in
the South, Palmetto Journal,
and Orange Blossom Trails.
Manning holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. He lives in
Chapel Hill with his wife, Diane, the illustrator of several of his
books.
also by Phillip Manning:
Afoot
in the South:
Walks in the Natural Areas of North Carolina
Palmetto
Journal:
Walks in the Natural Areas of South Carolina
Orange
Blossom Trails:
Walks in the Natural Areas of Florida
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