This small and well-researched text introduces the reader to the detailed botanical knowledge of Native Americans of the central and southern Oregon coast—the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Tribes. Prior to this book, very little research had been published about these people and their relationship to plants. The culture and languages of these central and…
“The forest battle between commerce and protection is an old one.” Which should be more important on public lands, resource extraction or resource protection? In his recent memoir, Jim Furnish relates his 37 years in the Forest Service, starting in Tiller, Oregon in 1965. He shares how his perspective on managing forests changed from maximum…
This slim paperback has served as the standard reference for coastal plants for more than forty years. It offers simple keys for identification, supplemented by black and white photos of many species. After a general introduction to dune ecology, sand dynamics and plant succession, the authors describe almost 100 species of plants common to the…
Touted as the “Insiders Guide to Central Oregon Plants & Animals,” The Nature of Bend is a new natural history field guide for central Oregon. The author is an outdoor enthusiast who landed in Bend several years ago and her “wonder at the sheer beauty of this place” inspired her to write a field guide to help…
Contemporary, authoritative, comprehensive, well-illustrated, beautifully laid-out, and easy-to-use. These terms aptly describe Flora of Oregon, Volume 1: Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, and Monocots, which was published in 2015. The impacts of this book reach well beyond the Oregon borders because many of the plant taxa (species, subspecies, and varieties) spill over into adjacent Washington, Idaho, and Nevada….
From the authors of Attracting Native Pollinators (2011) and Farming with Native Beneficial Insects (2014), the new Xerces Society book, Gardening for Butterflies, focuses on butterfly and moth conservation in a way that is both accessible and practical. The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization that uses applied sciences to research and advocate for invertebrates (including pollinators), thus has…
Largely due to the Northwest Forest Plan and other government programs, federal land management agencies in Oregon are mandated to survey and mitigate for many taxa, including bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). The list of species that the agencies survey is maintained by the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center (ORBIC, formerly the Oregon Natural Heritage Program)….
Rare Lichens of Oregon provides species specific information on 78 special status lichen species included in the 2016 publication Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species of Oregon by the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center (ORBIC). Rare Lichens of Oregon covers each species including synonyms, common names, field summaries, diagnostic characters, detailed descriptions, ecology, similar species, and distribution, including distribution maps…
This book is a great addition to a bookshelf of coastal field guides because, plant by plant, it describes herbivorous insects that live on common coastal plants, and their insect predators and parasites. The herbivores also include a few mammals. Growing up on the beach, I pored over kelp tangles and driftwood, and wondered what…
Already in possession of a number of books defining botanical terms, I initially wasn’t particularly interested in looking at this book. I should have been, though, as I have long admired Bobbi Angell’s skill in botanical illustration. One look inside the cover and I was ready to toss the other books in favor of this…
Welcome to the little-known world of gardening with mosses. In this publication, gardener Annie Martin introduces you to moss gardening and offers exciting ideas for your garden landscape. Annie Martin’s enthusiasm for moss conservation centers on salvaging moss colonies in sites slated for demolition and using them for educational projects or for her nursery/landscaping business….
The book comprises seven essays on diverse concepts that the author thinks of as metaphors for “boundary layers,” e.g., Dune ecosystems between land and water, Mosses (the bryosphere), Fungi, European and American views on ecosystems, Lichens with the species-ecosystem boundary, and Wilderness with human influence boundaries. The author, Kem Luther, has a background in philosophy…