Seasons on the Pacific Coast: A Naturalist's Notebook
Susan J. Tweit
Illustrations: James Noel Smith
Naturalist's Notebook Series
Chronicle Books, 1999
Clothbound, OP
Featured on "The Naturalist's Datebook," Martha Stewart Living Radio Network
This fascinating new book... can be enjoyed as much from the armchair as from the field. -- Seattle Times
The Pacific Ocean receives fond and detailed attention in naturalist Susan J. Tweit's Seasons on the Pacific Coast. ... Tweit studies pacific sea life, offering vivid description and sometimes surprising facts about animal habitats and habits. ... Throughout, Tweit soberly reminds us of the connections binding humans and wild lives everywhere. -- San Diego Union-Tribune
(From Southern Sea Otter) There is a story in American history that we tell over and over again, in many different versions, as if we haven't learned it yet. It goes like this: An explorer (his name and nationality are not important) is shipwrecked on a remote coast--the exact location also does not matter. He dies, but his crew manages to survive the winter by killing and eating the curious, docile animals they find there. Come spring, the survivors patch together a boat from the wreckage, and sail back to their homeland, bearing pelts of the very animals that kept them fed and warm through the perilous season. The fur of the pelts (or the meat, or the shells, or the wood, or the feathers) is so precious that it sets off a rush to find more. Soon, ships of every sort are sailing the area, plundering this newfound resources. Eventually, the ships return with smaller and smaller cargoes, until finally the resource is gone. The hunters/loggers/fishermen lose their livelihood. And so the story ends.
In the case of the sea otter, the story is true. The explorer was the Dane Vitus Bering, the year 1741, and the location the Commander Islands of Alaska. ...
BUY the book online, or order through your local bookstore.
