Signals from the Heartland

Relates the activities and profiles those people in Illinois and Missouri who are concerned in changing, keeping, studying, and analyzing the local environment

To Fitzpatrick, a science writer based in St. Louis, the heartland is Missouri and Illinois--an important ecosystem in trouble. He explores the region with naturalists, farmers and scientists who are actively involved with such environmental issues as water pollution, soil conservation, silting and the restoration of wetlands. Peter Raven, a biologist and director of the Missouri Botanic Garden, collects endangered plant species; Robert Mohlenbrock has developed a conservation plan for the cypress swamps of southern Illinois. Two other scientists are re-creating a tallgrass prairie; a farmer practices conservation tillage on his corn and soybean fields. Fitzpatrick tours the Tyson Research Center, a living biological laboratory in Missouri where songbird migration is monitored and wolves are raised to be returned to the wild. As reported here, the signals from this area of shrinking farms and wetland, which is marked by suburban sprawl and disrupted by interstates, are nevertheless encouraging. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is a collection of thoughtful, well-researched essays sharing a common theme: the relationships between Americans and their natural environment. Each of the 12 chapters focuses on one or several presently active individuals and their own unique efforts to contribute to the improvement, understanding, and appreciation of our land and its contents. These environmentalists, professors, farmers and scientists live in Illinois or Missouri, although their interests may carry them far beyond their states' borders. These are two states that the author knows well, since he was born in Illinois and now lives and works in St. Louis. His book should find a wide range of readers and is recommended for academic, public, and high school libraries. It will also be of special interest to residents of Illinois, Missouri, and surrounding states.
- William H. Wiese, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.