Book Description

Since 1990, Scott Chaskey has worked as a land steward and farmer for the Peconic LandTrust at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, New York, an organic community farm. Overthe years, he has recorded his meditations on weather, wildlife, soil, seed, root, plant, andflower, and in This Common Ground, he has organized some of these reflectionsseason by season, through the course of one year on the farm. Chaskey’s observationsreflect a doer’s respect for the rhetoric of the fields and a firsthand knowledge of theinterdependence of soils, plants, animals, and humans. His contagious sense of wonderand artistic sensibility illustrate why planting and reaping are such an important part ofwhat defines the human community and the human condition.

Like Joan Gussow’s This Organic Life or Verlyn Klinkenborg’s The RuralLife, this inspirational evocation of a life spent working the earth is certain tobecome a classic of nature writing, as well as appealing to today’s burgeoning organiclifestyle audience. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This Common Ground : Seasons on an Organic Farm
Farmer and Poet Scott Chaskey gives us this wonderful work following his journey on his South Fork farm for a year. Follow Chaskey through the spring, summer, autumn, and Winter as he learns and explores life on this organic farm.This book appeals to the senses and to the heart.**** ... Read more

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Is water capable of extinghuishing the Middle Eastfire?
Hydrology is an aspect central to Arab - Israely conflict. This is one thing commonly ignored by Peace and Conflict scholars.The author suggests a valuable reminder of the water determinant in the political equation ofthe lengthy Middle East conflict. The book is highky actual in these daysdue to Israel goverment's effort to achieve peace deals with it'sneighbours. ... Read more

Book Description

Water plays an important part in today's environmental concerns. Since the publication of the first edition there have been rapid developments in the application of hydrology, geomorphology and ecology to stream management. In particular, growth has occurred in the areas of stream rehabilitation and the evaluation of environmental flow needs. The concept of stream health has been adopted as a way of assessing stream resources and setting management goals.

Stream Hydrology: An Introduction for Ecologists Second Edition documents recent research and practice in these areas. Chapters provide information on sampling, field techniques, stream analysis, the hydrodynamics of moving water, channel form, sediment transport and commonly used statistical methods such as flow duration and flood frequency analysis. Methods are presented from engineering hydrology, fluvial geomorphology and hydraulics with examples of their biological implications. This book demonstrates how these fields are linked and utilised in modern, scientific river management.

• Emphasis on applications, from collecting and analysing field measurements to using data and tools in stream management.
• Updated to include new sections on environmental flows, rehabilitation, measuring stream health and stream classification.
• Critical reviews of the successes and failures of implementation.
• Revised and updated windows-based software.

Book Description

Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests brings together practitioners and thinkers from a variety of fields?including forestry, biology, philosophy, ecology, political science, archaeology, botany, and geography?to synthesize what is known about ecological restoration in ponderosa pine forests and to consider the factors involved in developing and implementing a successful restoration effort. The book examines:

? the overall context for restoration?ecological, social, economic, political, and philosophical
? how ecosystem processes such as fire, hydrology, and nutrient cycling are affected by restoration activities
? treatment effects on specific ecosystem components such as trees, understory plants, animals, and rare or invasive species
? the details of implementing restoration projects, including smoke management, the protection of cultural resources, and monitoring

Each section is introduced with a case study that demonstrates some of the promise and pitfalls of restoration projects.

Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests is the second book in the series The Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration from the Society for Ecological Restoration International and Island Press.
... Read more

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A variety of essays by learned and articulate authors
Knowledgeably compiled and deftly edited by Peter Friederici (Ecological Restoration Institute), Ecological Restoration Of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests presents a variety of essays by learned and articulate authors in the fields of forestry, biology, philosophy, ecology, political science, archaeology, botany, and geography. Ecological Restoration Of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests brings together perspectives from all these fields with a special focus upon the task of renewing the pine forests of Southwestern Ponderosa. The thoughtful and scholarly writings are enhanced with black-and-white photographs, as well as charts, maps, and graphs addressing all aspects and difficulties pertaining to contemporary efforts to encourage mother nature. Ecological Restoration Of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests is an important and welcome contribution to professional and academic Environmental Studies reference collections. ... Read more

Book Description

This third edition of Fish Nutrition is a comprehensive treatise on nutrient requirements and metabolism in major species of fish used in aquaculture or scientific experiments. It covers nutrients required and used in cold water, warm water, fresh water, and marine species for growth and reproduction. It also highlights basic physiology and biochemistry of the nutrients and applications of these principles to scientific and practical diet formulations and to manufacturing techniques for major species used worldwide in aquaculture.

*Nutrient requirements for dietary formulations for fish farming
*Digestive physiology
*Comparative nutritional requirements of different species
*Fish as unique animals for certain metabolic pathways ... Read more

Book Description

Managing water effectively means reconciling the often conflicting goals of conservation, irrigation, drainage, supply, flood control, hydropower, waste, recreation, and other needs. Water Resources Management: Principles, Cases, and Regulations gives you a complete framework for mastering the technical, financial, legal, political, regulatory, and administrative demands of today's complex water industry. Stressing how to gain political and managerial water project support, infrastructure engineer Neil S. Grigg also serves up over 50 real-world case studies that help you manage the problems of water supply and environment, flood control, drought, reservoir operations, water quality, watersheds and wetlands, estuaries and coastal waters, and much more. ... Read more

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Clear and concise yet a rigorous treatment
I used this text at Manhattan College's graduate engineering school and was fortunate enough to be taught by one of the authors. This text covers the material at levels that an undergraduate engineer can grasp, yet is suited perfectly for graduate level training. Written by some of the best people in the business, personally and professionally. ... Read more

Book Description

This book will be an edited volume in which specialists will be invited to write chapters on the major river basins and regions of North America.The introduction will cover general aspects of geology, hydrology, ecology and human impacts on rivers.The book will consist of 21 chapters on the major basins.The chapters will include 3-5 featured rivers of the basin/region as well as 3-7 other rivers to be described in contrast, ina one-page format.Rivers slected for coverage will include the largest, the most natural and the most affected by human impact.

The book will also include a seperate section of color photographs of key river basins and important features of those basins.

A major theme of the book will be the ability to compare one system to another in terms of its physiography, hydrology, ecology, biodiversity and human impacts

* Extensive treatment provides a single source of information for North Americas major rivers
* Regional specialists provide the most authoritative information available
* Full color photographs and topographical maps demonstrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system
* One-page summaries make finding key statistics easy and enables comparisons among rivers ... Read more

Book Description

Through engaging stories from around the world, the authors introduce readers to a diverse group of people who are pioneering new approaches to conservation.

Daily and Ellison describe the dynamic interplay of science, economics, business, and politics that is involved in establishing these new approaches and examine what will be needed to create successful models and lasting institutions for conservation. ... Read more

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Both a business and environmental book
The New Economy Of Nature: The Quest To Make Conservation Profitable is both a business and environmental book. Gretchen C. Daily and Katherine Ellison study the ways that human self-interest can be harnessed to protect Mother Earth, as pure philanthropy combined with government regulations simply are not enough by themselves to stand against naked human greed and unchecked commercial exploitation. From crises in biodiversity, to issues of the stratosphere, The New Economy Of Nature cogently draws upon ideas, examples, and situations worldwide to lend hope for the cause of financially motivated conservation. The New Economy Of Nature is an important contribution to Environmental Studies and highly recommended reading for anyone seeking to operating a successful commercial venture through making conservation profitable. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

The NC Waterfall Hikers Bible
When my photo trip to Yellowstone was cancelled, I was heartbroken. As I was browsing the net looking for an alternate place to vacation (a place closer to our FL home) I came across a site on NC Waterfalls. I then browsed Amazon.com and found this book and liked what I read in the reviews. This book was a real vacation saver! It is extremely specific and it is quite obvious that the author when to an enormous amount of time, trouble and travel to write the perfect waterfall seekers book. Not only does he provide the waterfall locations, the trail lengths and difficulty ratings, but he also gives fantastic photo tips. He organizes the book in area locations so we found hotels in the areas that provided the falls that appealed to us and spent a day or two hiking each region. Out of the 51 falls we attempted to find, we located 49. The 2 we missed were remote and the trails were probably so overgrown that we couldn't find them. The author rates each fall according to a "beauty rating" that he assigns, and in our opinion, he is dead on. When we were running out of vacation days, we stuck mostly to falls that had at least a 5 out of 10. Thanks to his ratings, we didn't waste precious time searching for waterfalls that would be a disappointment. All I have to say about this book is -- excellent job! During our vacation, we spent a few days in PA & NY and looked for a book similar to this one to outline the falls in those states. There was nothing! Once you've had the best, no other book compares.

Incredible resource on NC falls and shooting them...
Kevin outlined everything you need to discover and photograph waterfalls in North Carolina. Compared to other waterfall guides (New Hampshire, California, Tennesse, Michigan, Wisconsin), this book is the standard for which everyone should aim. He included everything you might ask for:

• beauty ratings (helpful when no picture was provided) • directions (including maps) • pictures (wonderful collection) • photograph statistics (camera, film, f-stop, lens) • photo tips (places to shoot, things to avoid)

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in touring North Carolina's waterfalls and particularly interested (like me) in taking pictures of them.

For New Hampshire waterfalls, buy Doreen Bolnick's "Waterfalls of the White Mountains: 30 Hikes to 100 Waterfalls." While not as well suited for photographers, Doreen produced an equally helpful resource to find waterfalls.

Most complete coverage of its subject, but needs updating
I'm sure no one has written a book more extensively covering Waterfalls of North Carolina than this one. It remains an excellent guide to many of the wterfalls included. But one drawback at this point in time, as the author acknowledges on his own web site, is that the book needs updating now, as several trail accesses have changed. He says he's been wanting to update it for some time but the publishers have been slow to warm up to the idea. Hopefully, that will change. I have no comprehensive list of all the directions in the book that are now out of date, but here are a few hints: Unfortunately the Bob's Creek Pocket Wilderness as described in his Marion Hub seems to have been abolished and is no longer oper to the public. A company that formerly owned it allowed it to be a protected wilderness with what was even designated a National Recreation Trail. Many of us thought that designation would protect it forever. I'm afraid it turned out to be a short forever. I was fortunate to go there in the last years of its accessability. The waterfalls there were small and never the highlight, but it was a nice area now sorely missed. In his Saluda hub, the road providing access to Little Bradley Falls has recently been realigned, making the trail as described hard to find. I was with a group that did find the falls. But the change can leave you disoroented and with a very sttep roadbank looming and no obvious way to find a less steep descent in or climb out. On a more positive note, where his Hendersonville and Brevard hubs meet, there's a new thing called DuPont State Forest, providing new public views of at least four waterfalls. These include the modest Hooker Falls and the much larger Triple Falls and High Falls, and also another smaller one I've not yet seen, Wintergreen Falls (not to be confused with a falls of the same name farther west and covered in the book). At that farther west location, quite a bit of change has occurred in his Lake Toxaway hub. One thing is the new Gorges State Park, now encompassing about half of the land owned by Crescent Resources at the time the book indicates. It will preserve several waterfalls and presumably ultimately provide smoother trails to them, including the second mentioned Wintergreen Falls. But the park is now in early development stages and hasn't provided any new waterfall paths just yet. It does now provide the parking of choice for the Horsepasture River, just outside its western edge. The parking lot for the park, just off NC 281, less than a mile south of US 64, is now the place to park for the Horsepasture River. One then walks back to the road, turns left, and a short distance down the road picks up a 3/4 mile trail down to the Horsepasture River. Once there one turns right to hike to a view of Drift Falls, now form behind fences and no-traspassing signs, or turns left to views of the other falls on the Horsepasture River, the trail downriver from there not having changed much. The access to the Horsepasture as described in the book has now been made off-limits by no-parking signs along the road and no-trespassing signs where the book's directions called for scrambling down the bank. The old directions had the hike starting very close to Drift Falls, which was then said to be on Nantahala National Forest Land, but the present state of affairs seems to imply that it is just outside that public land. Although Drift Falls is visible from the road, at least in low-foliage seasons, the no-parking signs now make the prospect of parking there to see it forbidding. Best to hike from just downroad from the state park parking lot to see any of the Horsepasture's falls, which adds most of 3/4 mile to any of the distances given in the book. In the book's Waynesville hub little has changed, except the last steep part of the descent to Second Falls has been replaced by a wooden stairway, bypassing the steep part of the footpath, badly eroded by the HIGH volume of visitors to that falls. Nearby Yellowstone Falls is as hard to view as ever, and the overlook providing a limited view from the trail is made harder to find using the book's directions, due to a proliferation of campfire rings. The best safe view of that Falls is still from the Blue Ridge Parkway, a distant view where binoculars help. In the Hot Springs hub, I feel fairly certain that the hike to the falls on West Prong of Hickey Fork has been lengthened somewhat from the book's directions by a trail relocation that added switchbacks. That makes part of the hike less steep, but one needs allow extra time for the longer distance (maybe up to 50% longer) and carefully finding the trail where it doesn't quite match the book's directions. In the Burnsville hub, the falls on Big Creek is about as hard to find as any roadside falls can be. This seems in part because the junction of US 19, US 19E, and US 19W seems to have been slightly relocated, making the 17.5 miles from that junction in the directions a bit inaccurate. Instead look for the pull-off as about 1.8 miles beyond the little sign identifying the community of Sioux, or about 4.2 miles from the Tennessee line, if approaching from the opposite direction, and the only pulloff in that vicinity with guardrails coming right up to both ends of it. You cannot see the falls from your car; it is below road level and you must park and get out. Riding along and listening for the sound is little help, as there are numerous noisy rapids along that part of Big Creek. Finally in the Stone Mountain hub, the trails have not changed much, but the location of the picnic area has. Park officials can tell you where to find the old route from where the picnic area was. But actually you can hike from the new picnic area and it is closer that way to Stone Mountain Falls at least. You'd just feel disoriented if going only by the book's directions, because you'll reach the top of the falls rather than the bottom first, and then go right from the bottom of the stairs if you still wish to reach the smaller middle and lower falls, or go left there to the nearby base of the main falls.

The NC Hikers Bible
When my photo trip to Yellowstone was cancelled, I was heartbroken. As I was browsing the net looking for an alternate place to vacation (a place closer to our FL home) I came across a site on NC Waterfalls. I then browsed [...] and found this book and liked what I read in the reviews. This book was a real vacation saver! It is extremely specific and it is quite obvious that the author when to an enormous amount of time, trouble and travel to write the perfect waterfall seekers book. Not only does he provide the waterfall locations, the trail lengths and difficulty ratings, but he also gives fantastic photo tips. He organizes the book in area locations so we found hotels in the areas that provided the falls that appealed to us and spent a day or two hiking each region. Out of the 51 falls we attempted to find, we located 49. The 2 we missed were remote and the trails were probably so overgrown that we couldn't find them. The author rates each fall according to a "beauty rating" taht he assigns, and in our opinion, he is dead on. When we were running out of vacation days, we stuck mostly to falls that had at least a 5 out of 10. Thanks to his ratings, we didn't waste precious time searching for waterfalls that would be a disappointment. All I have to say about this book is -- excellent job! During our vacation, we spent a few days in PA & NY and looked for a book similar to this one to outline the falls in those states. There was nothing! Once you've had the best, no other book compares.

Highly recommended by a North Carolina travel guide author
When I first returned to the NC mountains a friend gifted me this book and now it is dog-eared and well-worn from years of practical use in the field. And I'm not even a photographer...this book is great for everyone...my professional photographer friends also rave about the photographer tips...As an author of a bestseller guide book about Asheville NC I am often asked for advice about visiting these mountains. I invariably recommend Kevin Adams' book because it is beautifully presented, has the best maps and directions I've ever seen, and includes both the popular and the lesser known waterfall attractions. The ratings scales used are innovative and useful and smart. A must-have book for anyone enthusiastic about exploring the mountains in this area. Hats off to the author/photographer with sincere gratitude. Cheers! TK ... Read more

Book Description

Hydroelectricity is the world's largest -- and cleanest -- source of renewable -energy. But despite lively interest in renewables generally, there is an information vacuum about the smallest version of the technology dubbed "the simplest, most reliable and least expensive way to generate power off grid."

Highly illustrated and practical, Microhydro is the first complete book on the topic in a decade. Covering both AC and DC systems, it covers principles, design and site considerations, equipment options, and legal, environmental, and economic factors.

Scott Davis has decades of experience operating, installing, designing, selling, and teaching about microhydro technology. An award-winner in the field, he currently works as a system designer and retailer with an alternative energy company for whom he has authored an on-line microhydro course.

Reviews (1)

Indium by Schwarz-Schampera
This book would be helpful for any project in inorganic chemistry. Indium has many medicinal and industrial/petro-chemical utilizations. For instance, it is used in the manufacture of control rods. It was discovered spectroscopically in the mid 1860s by Heronymus Richter .
It melts at 157 C and boils at 2080 C with an atomic wt of
114.82. It is rarely , if ever, found in free form. Typically,
Indium is bound to sulfur according to In S3. It may be bound to
zinc (zn) blendes, tungsten, tin and iron ores. It may be utilized in conjunction with bearing alloys, semi-conductors and
medicinally. Specifically, Indium helps the body absorb and use
more of the other trace minerals . It is known that the levels
of copper and manganese in the kidneys are in direct proportion to the level of Indium. Generally, Indium exists in small amounts. It is insoluble and virtually non-existent in the food
chain. To be of use as a nutrient, Indium must be bound to a
sulfate to be water-soluble. Indium is being investigated for
its positive role in reducing cancerous tumors. Its positive effects are also seen in pain management, inflammatory disease
management & diabetes. Dietary supplementation is found in the
Indium-sulfate liquid drop method of ingestion. This book would be perfect for a class project in chemistry at virtually every
level in academe. The book has applications throughout industry,
academe and medicine. The subject matter of the research contained in this
work would require a considerable effort of time and expense to replicate. For this reason, the work has a unique value to a wide
constituency of people in the scientific community. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Resource models explained
A super helpful book for non-econ, calculus-literate students of environmental science.For environmental econ students, here's an excellence reference book that explains the basic models more thoroughly than most other environmental econ books. Also includes a reasonable amount of bibliographical information to start off research in the discipline. ... Read more

Book Description

Going Solar contains everything that a budding or experienced solar enthusiast could wish for. By distilling thousands of years of history and knowledge into one book, Tomm Stanley brings together the work of pioneering solar designers, some of the greatest scientists that the world has known and a range of modern, practical applications for hands-on people to create a delicious brew of thought provoking, solar thermal discussion.

Enthusiastically coaxing readers through the essential concepts at work in fields of study as diverse as history, geography, nuclear physics, thermodynamics and astronomy, Going Solar reveals the "how's" and "why's" behind the solar heating phenomenon. When the subject matter turns to a study of devices that use solar heat, readers have a firm grasp of the natural forces at work and an appreciation of how the technology might be applied in their own lives.

Written in easy-to-understand language for everyday people and the scientifically challenged, Going Solar contains a delightful blend of humor, fact and function that continually guides readers back to the purpose of its making; understanding and effectively using the warmth found in sunlight for our day-to-day lives. ... Read more

Book Description

This lively book reveals a little known culture that predates the Pilgrims and has remained true tothe earliest version of the American Dream: an egalitarian, self-reliant republic. The self-sufficientlobstermen of the Maine coast are models of environmental prudence: at a time when the fishingindustry is in crisis, they have conserved the bounty of their waters, even as the once-humblelobster has become a coveted delicacy. How denizens of the coast achieved this balance, even asthey withstood assaults from everyone from French raiders to rapacious land speculators, makes fora "stellar informal history ... a primer for conservation and the effects of bad politics" (TheKingston Observer). ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Absolutely fascinating and extremely well written book
Despite having grown up in midcoast Maine, the focus of this book, and having had Maine history in school, I learned so much from this book!I had no idea how fascinating the history of coastal Maine was---perhaps because much of it is rather disturbing---not something they wanted to teach us in 6th grade!I also now understand much more about the attitudes I grew up with regarding those "from away".I learned that I was part of a huge migration into Maine in the early 70s---I had always known that most anyone in my class that was not native had moved to Maine the very same summer we did (summer of '72) but I never really realized why.I've been away from Maine for a while now, and this book opened my eyes to some of the recent changes there---how many now are moving to Maine that have no interest in really becoming part of the culture they find there.And of course, I also learned a great deal about lobstering.Growing up, about half the kids in my class had fathers who were lobstermen, but this book greatly increased my knowledge of their culture and of lobsters themselves.I can't recommend this book highly enough!!

Read "The Lobster Gangs of Maine" first
I'd steer readers to Dr. James Acheson's book "The Lobster Gangs of Maine" first as it provides excellent insight into the culture from someone who has studied the Maine lobster fishery for years.

The sky is falling, but not on lobsters
The sky is truly falling on many fish species. Nets come up empty, and fish-based economies collapse. But the Maine lobster seems almost immune to such disaster; a growing number of Maine lobstermen continue to haul in a grand 20 million pounds a year of delectable crustacean with no shortage looming on the horizon. Why?

The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier by Colin Woodard explains how Maine lobstermen voluntarily conserve their lobster population and keep the industry sustainable.

The stereotype of the Maine fisherman as stoic, independent and not easily impressed is apparently well deserved. Woodard suggests that Maine's lobsters benefit from small, traditional, often ancient, fishing communities that jealously guard their resource. Though anyone can theoretically obtain a license to fish for lobster in Maine, the pros protect their harbors from interlopers, snubbing neophytes with no ancestral ties to the community, and even vandalizing their traps.

Maine lobstermen have also protected their lobster population by making the breeding female lobster almost sacred. Woodard lauds the lobstermen's practice of "V-notching" egg-bearing females-punching a small hole in their tail fins before releasing them back into the ocean. Notching is code for "Cherished breeder-not for sale." Lobstermen have agreed among themselves to throw back the V-notched lobsters-even when they are eggless.

Maine's lobstering community also tosses back outsized male lobsters-a practice unique among fishing industries.

Woodard writes ambitiously about the whole state of Maine and its history, starting with its pre-Pilgrim inhabitation by Europeans. Throughout his book, he keeps an eye on lobstering, the industry that has been the backbone of Maine's economy, the ever-present default option as other industries, such as ice and granite, failed.

Woodard reports not only on the conflict between lobstermen and government scientists, but also on the friction between ancient lobster communities and encroaching suburbia-what he calls the "Massification" of southern Maine, i.e. the tendency of Boston professionals to sprawl northward, driving lobstermen out of their ancestral homes with tax increases, beach access restrictions and noise ordinances.

Woodard's chapter, "The Triumph of the Commons," is, itself, a triumph. Science has declared that, by and large, shared natural resources are doomed to overharvesting, but Woodard shows how Maine's lobster community has defied that trend through religious self-regulation.

Woodard takes as his focal point the beautiful and largely undeveloped Monhegan Island. On Monhegan, lobstermen have taken resource conservation a quantum step further: they only fish for lobsters December through June.

Monhegan is not only a model of conservation; for Woodard, it is also a symbol of Maine and lobstering culture at its very best. Monhegan, he writes, is "an ancient, self-governing village, essentially classless and car-less, whose homes, sheds, and footpaths appear to have thrust themselves out of the wild and arrestingly beautiful landscape. . . . [B]eing immersed in it pulls at something deep within our civic being, a hint of a simpler, perhaps nobler world that might have been, but can never be again."

... Read more