Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society’s book club selection for April is The Sea Runners by Ivan Doig.  We will meet on Monday, April 25, 2016, from 3:30-5:00.  E-mail Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org to RSVP and for location.

The Sea Runners is based on an actual incident in 1853.  It is the gripping survival tale of four indentured servants who escape their Russian Alaska work camp in a stolen canoe, only to face a harrowing journey down the Pacific Northwest coast.  The men battle high seas and fierce weather from New Archangel (Sitka), Alaska, to Astoria, Oregon, struggling to avoid hostile Indians, fending off starvation and exhaustion.  This is master storyteller Doig’s first novel.

 Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society ‘s book club selection for March 2016 is Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy: The Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists by Dyana Z. Furmansky. We will meet on Monday, March 28, from 3:30 – 5:00.  Email Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org to RSVP and for the location.

Rosalie Edge (1877-1962) was the first American woman to achieve national renown as a conservationist.  She was a suffragist, an amateur birdwatcher, and a champion of the establishment of Olympic National Park.  She was an early voice against the indiscriminate use of toxins and pesticides, reporting the evidence about the dangers of DDT fourteen years before Carson’s Silent Spring was published.

In spite of her legacy of achievements (called “widespread and monumental” by the New Yorker), her name is not widely known.  Dyana Furmansky’s book will enlighten readers about the indomitable personality of Edge and her many accomplishments in the arena today known as “environmentalism.”

February’s Natural History Book Club selection is Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson.  We will meet on Monday, February 22, from 3:30-5:00.  Contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org to RSVP and for location.

Feathers are an evolutionary marvel, dating back more than 100 million years.  This expansive natural history looks at feathers from many viewpoints–as insulation, as enabling flight, as protection, as adornment and beauty.  Thor Hanson’s book is based on the research of ornithologists, paleontologists, biologists, engineers, and art historians.  He combines personal storytelling with scientific information in a most entertaining manner.  Hanson resides in the San Juan Islands.  He spoke at the Port Townsend library recently about his latest book Seeds.

The Natural History Society Book Club will discuss Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer on Monday, January 25, 2016, from 3:30 – 5:00. We will meet at Wendy Feltham’s house.  E-mail Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org for directions, if needed.

Gathering Moss  is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection, inviting readers to explore and learn from the simple lives of mosses.  It is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise.  It is a series of personal essays that leads readers to an understanding of how mosses live and are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings–from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods.  Kimmerer explains the biology of mosses, at the same time reflecting on what these largely unnoticed organisms have to teach us.

In order to accommodate holiday activities, the Natural History Society book club will have one meeting, rather than two, for the months of November and December.  We will meet on Monday, December 7, from 3:30 – 5:00, at Oma Landstra’s house. Contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org for directions, if needed.

We will discuss Carl Safina’s book, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. Amazon describes this book as weaving decades of field observations with new discoveries about the brain.  Safina writes about animal behaviors that challenge the fixed boundary between humans and nonhuman animals.  We will read stories of animal joy, grief, jealousy, anger, and love in various locations–in Africa, in Yellowstone National Park, in the Pacific Northwest. The similarity between human and nonhuman consciousness, self-awareness, and empathy prompts us to re-evaluate how we interact with animals.  It is a “graceful examination of humanity’s place in the world.”