II would like to start an exchange on books that are helpful for land stewards.  I don’t mean field guides–we all have dog-eared copies of NEWCOMB’S WILDFLOWER GUIDE in our packs and an assortment of the Peterson guides on our shelves, along with both the tree and shrub books by George Symonds.  Nor do I think we need to exchange opinions on some of the standard references; we already know, for example that Rhoads and Block THE PLANTS OF PENNSYLVANIA is a great reference.  But there are a number of books that have inspired me.  They usually have a distinct voice and contain insights that open my eyes, rather than facts that armor me in my daily battle against the forces that are destroying the natural world.  Aldo Leopold’s SAND COUNTY ALMANAC is the classic example of what I am thinking about.  The following are four of my personal favorites.  I hope that you will follow with comments and additional titles:

• Teaching the Trees; Lessons from the Forest, by Joan Maloof.  This is a collection of essays about twelve trees and their niche in the ecosystem by a person who clearly loves trees.  Her wonderful essay on “grandfather trees” alone is worth the price of the book.
• Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, by Janisse Ray. This book is the epitome of a distinct and wonderful voice.  Ms. Ray cuts right to the bone on the importance of preserving the south Georgia forest where Ms. Ray–the daughter of a junkyard owner–grew up and lives.
• Bringing Nature Home; How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens, by Douglas W. Tallamy.  In his afterword, Tallamy says it all, “I have attempted to make several points in this book, but they all converge on a common theme: we humans have disrupted natural habitats in so many ways and in so many places that the future of our nations’ biodiversity is dim unless we start to share the places in which we live–our cities and, to an even greater extent, our suburbs–with the plants and animals that evolved there.”  This is a good book to give to someone who is interested in native plant gardening but unconvinced of its importance.
• Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  It would be easy to say that Kimmerer tells us more than we would ever want to know about mosses but it would be a total misservice to this great little book.  It is full of information, but it is also full of insight and it gives new meaning to the concept of seeing the forest from the ground up.