The Future of the Wild: Radical Conservation for a Crowded World - Hardcover

Adams, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807085103 ISBN 13: 9780807085103

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2006

Synopsis

The grizzly bear, the northern spotted owl, the mountain lion, the sea otter-these are just a few of the species that, however large or small, tell us so much about how to conserve what's left of North America's wilderness.

In The Future of the Wild, conservationist Jonathan S. Adams uses stories about these species and others to show us how to think big. Only by saving large tracts of land and the wildlife corridors that connect them can we hope to save the widest variety of species in any ecosystem. And only by saving whole ecosystems, including human communities, can we hope to make significant strides in conservation. Individual parcels of land, acquired piecemeal, simply will not provide an adequate safeguard against endangerment-or worse, extinction. Even large national parks will not suffice, unless they are connected to the larger landscape.

Eloquently and accessibly, Adams weaves conservation history and biology with on-the-ground stories of successful, if unexpected, partnerships wherein sometimes opposing groups find common ground in their commitment to protect land and the animals that inhabit it. From Arizona ranchers using the latest scientific advances to create a "working wilderness," to farmers and conservationists in the Florida Everglades protecting endangered wetlands and the California Department of Transportation unpaving roads for use as mountain lion crossings, based on research into the animals' movements.

Adams proves that an effective conservation strategy is only possible if we use modern science, local community resources, and good economic sense. In The Future of the Wild, the vision Adams offers is clear and hopeful. It is up to environmentalists everywhere to heed his call and work to protect the wildness of the land around us.

About this title

About the Author:

Jonathan S. Adams is a conservation biologist, writer, and program director with the Nature Conservancy. He is the coauthor of The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation Without Illusion and the coeditor of Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States. He lives with his wife and two children in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly:

When it comes to protecting the wilderness, national parks, no matter how large, are just not effective: that's the core argument advanced by Adams, a conservation biologist (The Myth of Wild Africa). Instead of policies that focus scarce economic resources, shrinking political clout and waning emotional energy on scattered wildlife parks and preserves that isolate and often degrade the fauna and flora they're meant to sustain, the author favors a system of "landscape connectivity"—wilderness corridors through which animals as large as bears or as small as field mice (and even seeds and pollen) might migrate between patches of sustainable habitat. Crafting such corridors requires community support, and Adams cites several success stories: across a vast swath of southern Arizona, for example, where cooperative ranchers met with concerned environmentalists about using land more wisely; in California's crowded Orange County, where one maverick scientist is creating safe passageways for pumas; and in the Florida Everglades, where in 1991 the state government and a coalition of environmental organizations bought 60,000 acres of company-owned land, linking two existing preserves to create an expanse of wetlands. Fertile with fresh thinking, this book is an uncommonly eloquent call for urgent but thoughtful action. (Jan.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0807085103
• ISBN 13: 9780807085103
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296