Environmental Management Glossary, Fourth Edition. Edited by Debra A. Happe. This comprehensive glossary of environmental management terms was published in July of 2006 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society, 945 SW Ankeny Road, Ankeny, Iowa 50023-9723. This is the first update of this publication since the third edition was published in 1982. It contains a compilation of terms gathered from multiple disciplines and presents them to the reader in an easy to understand manner. The publication contains over 4000 environmental terms used in over 50 technologies in its 282 pages. While the reader may have specialized glossaries for individual areas of expertise, this glossary will be useful when encountering interdisciplinary activities. It may be ordered through the Soil and Water Conservation Society website for $25.00 at www.swcs.org.
Aquatic and Riparian Weeds of the West. Written by Joseph M. DiTomaso and Evelyn A. Healy. This 442 page publication was published in 2003 by the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as Publication No. 3421 and was sponsored by the California Weed Science Society. The book contains keys to emergent, floating and submerged aquatic weeds as well as grasses or grass-like riparian plants. It also contains many native riparian plant species along with a comprehensive listing of wetland plants that are not native to the western areas of North America. The technical descriptions of over 180 species are excellent. An outstanding feature of the publication is the large number of excellent photographs of more than 171 riparian plant species from 36 plant families. The book may be purchased through the Weed Science Society of America website for $40.00 at www.wssa.org or by calling the University of California at 1-800-994-8849 .
Three Against the Wilderness. Written by Eric Collier, ©1960, Hutchinson & CO. LTD, London. In his extraordinary book, Eric Collier recalls his life in the British Columbia mountain wilderness. With only the basic necessities and secured sole trapping rights for 150,000 acres, Collier, wife, and child set out in the early 1920s on a life-long adventure along Meldrum Creek, a headwater of the Fraser River. Initially, with the extirpation of the beaver from over trapping and frequent ravaging wildfires set by ranchers to remove the last years dead grass from open meadows, the land was parched and virtually devoid of wildlife. Collier’s 97 year old Native American grandmother, LaLa, told tales of life before the beaver were extirpated, when game and fish were abundant. Collier and his wife, Lillian, made a promise to LaLa to bring the beaver back. This is an early account of restoration of a wilderness by harnessing the talents of “Nature’s engineers” to raise the natural water table and subsequently bring life back to the riparian forests. This work is a classic literary accomplishment and a convincing anecdotal account of the benefits that healthy beaver populations have on natural montane ecosystems. The book is out of print; but used copies are available on the internet.
