The Spine of the Continent: The Most Ambitious Wildlife Conservation Project Ever Undertaken [Hardcover]

Mary Ellen Hannibal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2012

As climate change encroaches, animals and plants around the globe are having their habitats pulled out from under them.  At the same time, human development has made islands out of even our largest nature reserves, stranding the biodiversity that lives within them.  The Spine of the Continent introduces readers to the most ambitious conservation effort ever undertaken:  to create linked protected areas extending from the Yukon to Mexico, the entire length of North America.  This movement is the brainchild of Michael Soule, the founder of conservation biology and the peer of E.O. Wilson and Paul Ehrlich, who endorse his effort as necessary to saving nature on our continent.  With blue-ribbon scientific foundations, the Spine is yet a grassroots, cooperative effort among conservation activists – NGOs large and small -- and regular citizens.  The Spine of the Continent is not only about making physical connections so that nature will persist; it is about making connections between people and the land we call home.  In this fascinating, exciting, and important book, Mary Ellen Hannibal travels the length of the Spine, sharing stories and anecdotes about the passionate, idiosyncratic people she meets along the way – and the critters they love. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is the biography of a big conservation idea – connected wild lands and nature-friendly landscapes the length of the Rockies – and of the scientific and conservation pioneers making it actually happen. Mary Ellen Hannibal gives us an engrossing and inspiring story. The Spine of the Continent comes to life through those who are making it happen.  This is a page-turner of science, action, and hope.” – Thomas E. Lovejoy, Biodiversity Chair, the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

“The bad news is that human impacts are tearing nature apart at the seams. The good news is that conservation biology has quantified why we have to heal these wounds in our life-support systems, and how to do it. Scientists, NGOs, and regular people are joining in a geographical, social, and political effort to sustain wilderness along the Rocky Mountains—the most significant stretch of wilderness left on the continent. If we are to get any kind of handle on the extinction crisis that is decimating biodiversity, it will be by protecting the habitats that sustain it, along the Spine of the Continent. This is an engaging and entertaining book, and it is an important one.” –Paul R. Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University and author of The Dominant Animal

 A fine overview of wide-angle environmentalism. Hannibal explores the ambitious Spine of the Continent Initiative, a massive project to protect wildlife and land by connecting expanses of acreage across North America.  --Kirkus Reviews

The Spine of the Continent initiative may be the most daring and important conservation effort of our era, knitting the islands of natural beauty we've preserved (or ignored) during the last century into a connected, functioning ecosystem to sustain us all. Mary Ellen Hannibal delivers a compelling and personal narrative about science, nature, the extinction crisis -- and the men and women determined to restore America's most epic landscapes.

                                                                   --Edward Humes, author of Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash

 

 

A thoroughly satisfying gem, readers will find themselves in the company of America’s best minds (Jared Diamond, Michael Soule) and heroes (Sherri Tippie), as Hannibal travels through landscapes chronicling the efforts underway to keep North America habitable for the plants and animals that first lived here and the people who now call it home. This is what scientific writing should be: fascinating and true.

                                                    --Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review,  07/09/2012

 

From the Inside Flap

As climate change encroaches, animals and plants around the globe are having their habitats pulled out from under them. At the same time, human development has made islands out of even our largest nature reserves, stranding the biodiversity that lives within them. The Spine of the Continent introduces readers to the most ambitious wildlife conservation effort ever undertaken: to create linked protected areas extending from the Yukon to Mexico, the entire length of North America.

This movement is the brainchild of Michael Soulé, the founder of conservation biology and the peer of E. O. Wilson and Paul Ehrlich, who endorse his effort as necessary to saving nature on our continent. With blue-ribbon scientific foundations, the Spine is as yet a grassroots, cooperative effort among conservation activists—NGOs large and small—and regular citizens.

The Spine of the Continent is not only about making physical connections so that nature will persist; it is about making connections between people and the land we call home. In this fascinating and important book, Mary Ellen Hannibal travels the length of the Spine, sharing stories about the passionate, idiosyncratic people she meets along the way—and the critters they love.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st Edition, 1st Printing edition (September 4, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076277214X
• ISBN-13: 978-0762772148
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a Bay Area writer and editor focusing on science and culture. My most recent book is The Spine of the Continent, which is about the science behind what we have to do to save nature, and tells stories about lots of people out there working on behalf of biodiversity because it is the right thing to do. To research the book, I travelled the Rockies from Waterton Lakes, Canada, down to Sonora, Mexico. Nobody knows precisely when the term "spine of the continent" came into use to describe this vast landscape, but the Miistakis Indians called the Rockies "the backbone of the world." So much of what science tells us today about nature is echoed in native wisdom.

My previous books are Evidence of Evolution, Good Parenting Through Your Divorce, and Leaves & Pods. I love literature and blog about it on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library: http://thereadersreview.org/category/the-writers-life/ I was a 2011 Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow, and a 2012 National Association of Science Writers award.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What we can do with what we have left August 30, 2012

By Vin Packer

Format:Hardcover

In a clear, watchful way Mary Ellen Hannibal presents the people
and the plans they have for preserving and restoring the one
wilderness we have left, The Rocky Mountains. Filled with information
about activists along with unofficial lovers of our land and its creatures,
we are told of the ambitious plans for conservation and repair.This
is an important book in which Hannibal share with the readers the sometimes
grandiose visions of the dedicated, along with endearing anecdotes of natives
and neighbors.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beavers, Bunnies and Bears August 31, 2012

By TracyThorne

Format:Hardcover

I read fiction. I read history. I don't read science. Except now, I do. With grace and wit and precision and passion, THE SPINE OF THE CONTINENT, by MaryEllen Hannibal, fully engages the reader in the Herculean challenges of conservation biology. In introducing her readers to a landscape populated by scientists, beavers, microbes, forests and powerfully engaged private citizens, Hannibal makes us feel the profound connection within, and between, the ecosystems of the American west. She writes, "An ecosystem is equally microcosmic and macrocosmic. For example, a rotting log is an ecosystem in which energy is flowing through growth and decomposition, predation and reproduction, as microbes, fungi, bugs, birds, plants, and animals partake in natures' ongoing rave." Gorgeous. THE SPINE OF THE CONTINENT'S advocacy for "large landscape connectivity" has my full attention.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A necessary book September 24, 2012

By david leddick

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an important book. Very few people realize that our living in North America is destroying the continent. Mary Ellen Hannibal tells us about it in a concise and gripping way. Her writing is not only smart and perceptive, she is also a very good writer. It is a pleasure to read.