Grass

Explores affinities between humans and our original habitat - grasslands. This title introduces an intriguing cast of characters to illuminate a wide range of related topics: our love affair with turf and how it manifests in lawns and sports, the ecological and economic dimensions of ranching, grasslands and restoration ecology, and more. "Writing in language that is downright poetic at times, Joe Truett is clearly speaking from the heart."—Ernest Callenbach, author of Bring Back the Buffalo! and Ecology: A Pocket Guide Part autobiography, part philosophical rumination, this evocative conservation odyssey explores the deep affinities between humans and our original habitat: grasslands. In a richly drawn, anecdotally driven narrative, Joe C. Truett, a grasslands ecologist who writes with a flair for language, traces the evolutionary, historical, and cultural forces that have reshaped North American rangelands over the past two centuries. He introduces an intriguing cast of characters - wildlife and grasslands biologists, archaeologists, ranchers, and petroleum geologists - to illuminate a wide range of related topics: our love affair with turf and how it manifests in lawns and sports, the ecological and economic dimensions of ranching, the glory of cowboy culture, grasslands and restoration ecology, and more. His book ultimately provides the background against which we can envision a new paradigm for restoring rangeland ecosystems-and a new paradigm for envisioning a more sustainable future.