George Frazier: Riverine Dreams, Gebunden

Klappentext

"The grasslands of the trans-Mississippi west-North America's most endangered ecosystems-are at a critical moment in their history. The science of prairie restoration is on the verge of unlocking the secrets to rewilding the last fragments of native prairie, just as a population shift is underway. Young people are moving inland and bringing with them a taste for outdoor adventure in wild places. Structured around a series of paddling trips to eight rivers across the heartland, Riverine Dreams explores the environmental and cultural history of grassland rivers and the colorful characters who love and protect them. This is a book about prairie preservation and restoration, and the first about grassland rivers suitable for anyone seeking inspiration for their own travels on the Great Plains. Not far from any spot in the American grasslands is a grassland river, and these rivers are no less endangered than the grasslands that surround them. As environmental writer George Frazier shows, following their twists and turns is the best way, in many places, to experience the land's wild essence. Grassland preservation organizations are purchasing land and creating conservation easements to save the few unplowed prairies that remain, and scientific breakthroughs are making it easier to rewild new ones. Local and national advocacy groups are cleaning up rivers and working to remediate one hundred and fifty years of channelization, dam building, destruction of riparian forests, and pollution. In the land of private property, paddlers are discovering that prairie rivers offer a Midwestern alternative to long distance, multi-day trekking, and so recreation and ecotourism companies are taking people out onto wild stretches of farm country rivers that most people, until recently, tried to avoid. It amounts to a grassland river revival, and this book tells its inspirational story"--