The Natural History Society book club’s selection for October 2017 is The Olympic Rain Forest: An Ecological Web by Ruth Kirk and Jerry Franklin.  We will meet on Monday, October 23, 3:30-5:00 at the Pink House (next to the Port Townsend library).

Ruth Kirk and Jerry Franklin examine the unique ecological web of the temperate-zone rain forest that exists in the two thousand miles of coast from Coos Bay, Oregon, to the Gulf of Alaska.  The forest’s productivity and sheer biomass per square mile are among the world’s greatest.  The Olympic Rain Forest reveals the beauty and intricacy of the forest while summarizing scientific understanding of the components of this ecological web and their interactions.  Numerous photographs capture the grandeur of this magnificent forest.

The Natural History Society book club’s selection for September 2017 is The Oyster War: The True Story of a Small Farm, Big Politics, and the Future of Wilderness in America by Summer Brennan.

The book club will meet on Monday, September 25, 3:30-5:00. For further information and location, contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org

The Oyster War is the story of a long battle about wilderness protection of land in the Point Reyes, CA area, including Drakes Estero.  Included in that area was an oyster farm first established in the 1930s. The National Park Service informed the owner of the oyster farm that its lease would not be renewed past 2012, and the rancher vowed to keep the farm in business, even if it meant taking his fight to the Supreme Court.  Environmentalists, national politicians, scientists, and the Department of Interior all joined in the long battle that had the potential to influence the future of wilderness for decades to come.

Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean by Jonathan White will be the focus of our book club on Monday, August 28, 2017.  We will meet at the Ilahee Preserve from 3:30 – 5:00.  Contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org for directions or any questions.

We will have a special guest at our gathering–author Jonathan White will join us!

Writer, sailor, and surfer Jonathan White takes readers across the globe to discover the science and spirit of ocean tides. His book includes such diverse accounts as hunting for mussels under the Arctic ice with an Inuit elder, racing a 25-foot tidal bore in China, and the growth of tidal power generation in Chile and Scotland.  Tides is a combination of lyrical prose, adventure travel, and scientific inquiry into the elemental, mysterious paradox that keeps our planet’s waters in constant motion. Photographs, scientific figures, line drawings, and sixteen color photos dramatically illustrate this expert tour of the tides.

Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature will be discussed on Monday, July 24, 2017.  We will meet at the Ilahee Preserve from 3:30 – 5:00.  Contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org for directions or any questions.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962, did more than any other single publication to alert the world to the hazards of environmental poisoning and to inspire a powerful social movement that would alter the course of American history. This definitive, sweeping biography shows the origins of Carson’s fierce dedication to natural science–and tells the dramatic story of how Carson, already a famous nature writer, became a brilliant if reluctant reformer. Drawing on unprecendented access to sources and interviews, Lear masterfully explores the roots of Carson’s powerful connection to the natural world, crafting a ” fine portrait of the environmentalist as a human being” (Smithsonian).

Elwha: A River Reborn by Lynda Mapes is the Natural History Society’s book selection for June 2017.  The discussion of this book will be held on Monday, June 26, 2017, 3:30-5:00, at the shelter at Ilahee Preserve.  For directions or further information, contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org

Seattle Times science writer Lynda Mapes tells the story behind the removal of the two dams on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, the largest dam removal project in the world to date.  She tells the story of the building of the dams, as well as the long political fight that led to their removal.  In this book we meet members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, who had fished the river for generations; the biologists who study the Elwha and its plants and animals; and the dam workers who ultimately powered down the old turbines.  The book includes many color photographs and historic images.

The impact of the removal of the Elwha dams at Glines Canyon and Lake Aldwell continues to be studied by scientists around the world, and these results are a consideration in the political battles over proposed dam removals in the United States.