C.Y. Chong's captivating and insightful revelation about what it's like to spend over two decades at WWF. This light-hearted collection of memoirs tells the compelling story of a company executive who walked away from global corporations and immersed himself in the world of non-profit - in this case, WWF, one of the world's largest conservation organisations. After years of working in the corporate sector, C.Y. Chong decided to pursue a new avenue of work. He joined WWF International as a finance manager and was soon promoted to Director of Finance - however, this book is about his non-financial experiences... Life on Planet WWF follows Chong as he travels and tells of a myriad of interesting and unforgettable happenings - being attacked by a mad crow being one. From fitting the letters `WWF' into a television interview as many times as possible, to having cocktails with HRH Prince Philip, he recalls visits to conferences, field projects or other events - each anecdote providing a unique insight into some of his truly extraordinary experiences at WWF. This book makes an interesting read for anyone thinking about a career outside the corporate sector as well as for the five million supporters of WWF and everything it stands for.

This Report was commissioned under contract with the NPS to review "The state of knowledge and future monitoring of white-tailed deer browsing impacts in the Great Lakes Network." It is intended to assist the GLKN regional ecologists in developing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for surveying and monitoring deer impacts within vegetation monitoring plots throughout the nine National Parks in the region.

During surveys in 2006, the authors documented 35 invasive, exotic plant species on Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. Their findings are detailed in this report.

What does the monkey know? What are the unknown secrets of the rainforests? What if the monkey knows more then he will tell? This book is about an imaginary rainforest where the young and young-at-heart will delight in meeting the extraordinary creatures living there. All scenes and creatures were first sculpted in polymer clay and then photographed to become a part of this wonderful book. This book was created to help children understand and protect our natural resources so that we don't destroy the gifts of Mother Earth.

The information presented in this report is a summary of the harbor seal data collected at Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area during the 2011 breeding and molting seasons, March-July. Summary data collected as part of a region-wide survey effort, including adjacent areas (San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County, and Sonoma County) where NPS surveys were conducted in conjunction with other agencies and organizations for 2011, are also presented.

`Ireland's heritage is being steadily whittled away by human exploitation, pollution and other aspects of modern development. This could represent a serious loss to the nation.' Irish Government Report, June 1969 Nature in Ireland is disappearing at an alarming rate. Overfishing, industrial-scale farming and pollution have decimated wildlife habitats and populations. In a single lifetime, vast shoals of herring, rivers bursting with salmon, and bogs alive with flocks of curlew and geese have all become folk memories. Coastal and rural communities are struggling to survive; the foundations of our tourism and agricultural sectors are being undermined. The lack of political engagement frequently sees the state in the European Court of Justice for environmental issues. Padraic Fogarty authoritatively charts how this grim failure to manage our natural resources has impoverished our country. But all is not lost: he also reveals possibilities for the future, describing how we can fill our seas with fish, farm in tune with nature, and create forests that benefit both people and wildlife. He makes a persuasive case for the return of long-lost species like wild boar, cranes and wolves, showing how the interests of the country and its nature can be reconciled. A provocative call to arms, Whittled Away presents an alternative path that could lead us all to a brighter future.

Emily Dickinson's poem "Split the Lark" refers to the "scarlet experiment" by which scientists destroy a bird in order to learn more about it. Indeed, humans have killed hundreds of millions of birds-for science, fashion, curiosity, and myriad other reasons. In the United States alone, seven species of birds are now extinct and another ninety-three are endangered. Conversely, the U.S. conservation movement has made bird-watching more popular than ever, saving countless bird populations; and while the history of actual physical human interaction with birds is complicated, our long aesthetic and scientific interest in them is undeniable. Since the beginning of the modern conservation movement in the mid-nineteenth century, human understanding of and interaction with birds has changed profoundly. In Scarlet Experiment, Jeff Karnicky traces the ways in which birds have historically been seen as beautiful creatures worthy of protection and study and yet subject to experiments-scientific, literary, and governmental-that have irrevocably altered their relationship with humans. This examination of the management of bird life in America from the nineteenth century to today, which focuses on six bird species, finds that renderings of birds by such authors as Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Don DeLillo, and Christopher Cokinos, have also influenced public perceptions and actions. Scarlet Experiment speculates about the effects our decisions will have on the future of North American bird ecology.

A vital read for anyone who cares about the future of British wildlife. With a foreword by the BBC TV presenter Chris Packham. 'A thriller, whodunnit and impassioned polemic.' - PATRICK BARKHAM, THE GUARDIAN Dominic Dyer explores the science and electioneering behind Britain's most controversial wildlife policy: the badger cull. He exposes the catastrophic handling of bovine TB by the British government, the political manoeuvring that engineered the badger cull in 2010, and the ongoing close relationship in perpetuating the cull between the National Farmers Union and the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). He shines an unflattering spotlight on Cabinet ministers, the veterinary profession, environmental NGOs and the BBC. Reviews 'I enjoyed reading this book and I strongly recommend it to you. 'This is a powerful and stimulating read and it's bang up to date with the important issue it discusses. It is written by a passionate insider with years of experience. The narrative is pacey and exciting. This book arrived with me on Thursday afternoon and I had read it completely by early yesterday [Saturday] morning.' - MARK AVERY, WRITER, BLOGGER AND ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGNER 'A vital must-read for anyone concerned about the badger's enduring place in the British countryside. 'A thriller, whodunnit and impassioned polemic, this is the inside story of the badger cull.' - PATRICK BARKHAM, THE GUARDIAN 'It should be read by all those battling against government policies that put money ahead of science and the environment. 'The book's conclusion is that the culls will be stopped, not by science or validity, but by cost. Yet Dyer remains optimistic: 'Despite all the incompetence, negligence and deceit, it's the caring compassionate British public who have made a stand for wildlife that gives me the most hope for the future.' 'His book pays tribute to the 'Badger Army', those many individuals from all walks of life who turned out to protest and importantly, once culling started, to protect the badgers out in the field. 'Those people will be patrolling the countryside, day and night, in every area where badger killing is taking place this autumn. While determined to protect their badgers, many also want to see the government help and support farmers to beat the TB in their cattle - but with proper cattle-based measures, not by senselessly killing wildlife.' - LESLEY DOCKSEY, THE ECOLOGIST, 'Why are our badgers 'Badgered to Death'?' Introduction by Chris Packham How viciously fickle we are. We arbitrarily pick and choose which species we like or dislike, normally and sadly based on purely anthropomorphic criteria, and then either laud or loathe them paying scant attention to the realities of their lives, or ours. And once cursed and demonised that tag is almost impossible to redress. Think rat, think fox... damned for historical crimes, firmly fixed as malevolent vermin, even in our supposedly enlightened age. But as this book displays we can also be quick to destroy the reputation of our animal heroes and blight their status with bigotry and ignorance. For many reasons we had come to love the badger, to cherish and admire it, to protect and celebrate it and of course many still do. But the reputation of this essential member of the UK's ecology has been targeted by a smear campaign which has been swallowed by the gullible and fuelled by those with vested interests. You see, in spite of all the science and all the truths that it outlines, the badger has become a scapegoat. Its been branded a 'bad guy' and is being persecuted as such. It's a terrible shame, but like I said, how fickle, how vicious, how predictably human. Buy the book and carry on reading Chris Packham's introduction

The Nature of Whiteness explores the intertwining of race and nature in postindependence Zimbabwe. Nature and environment have played prominent roles in white Zimbabwean identity, and when the political tide turned against white farmers after independence, nature was the most powerful resource they had at their disposal. In the 1970s, "Mlilo," a private conservancy sharing boundaries with Hwange National Park, became the first site in Zimbabwe to experiment with "wildlife production," and by the 1990s, wildlife tourism had become one of the most lucrative industries in the country. Mlilo attained international notoriety in 2015 as the place where Cecil the Lion was killed by a trophy hunter. Yuka Suzuki provides a balanced study of whiteness, the conservation of nature, and contested belonging in twenty-first-century southern Africa. The Nature of Whiteness is a fascinating account of human-animal relations and the interplay among categories of race and nature in this embattled landscape.

For a sustainable urban future to be possible, a new botanical discipline is needed to deepen our understanding of the relations between people and plants. This discipline will link environmental management concerns with those of human welfare and wellbeing in a specifically urban context to achieve both ecological restorations and social redress. The Durban Botanic Gardens Trust has published The Durban Forest as an early effort to establish a manifesto for this much-needed new discipline, and provides both historical and forward-looking perspectives on the changing relations between natural areas and urban dwellers. These relations urgently await our exploration if we are to face the challenges of the accelerating urbanism and environmental change that are now upon us. The Durban forest will appeal to all those interested in people and the environment, culture and community, our past and our future. Most of all, it will speak to the Durban of tomorrow and suggest a new kind of botany that will help to build a future for all Durban’s residents that is environmentally, socially and economically more just and more secure. The Durban forest is the first in a series of publications planned by the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust. The series is to be entitled umKhuhlu, the African name for Trichilia dregeana, the forest mahogany and an iconic Durban tree. The series will draw on the garden’s reputation as Durban’s oldest, and one of its most treasured public institutions in order to encourage a new model of plant use. This model aspires to a specific urban, humanitarian and restorative focus that will support a just and resilient urbanism.

The analysis of meat and its place in Western culture has been central to Human-Animal Studies as a field. It is even more urgent now as global meat and dairy production are projected to rise dramatically by 2050. While the term 'carnism' denotes the invisible belief system (or ideology) that naturalizes and normalizes meat consumption, in this volume we focus on 'meat culture', which refers to all the tangible and practical forms through which carnist ideology is expressed and lived. Featuring new work from leading Australasian, European and North American scholars, Meat Culture, edited by Annie Potts, interrogates the representations and discourses, practices and behaviours, diets and tastes that generate shared beliefs about, perspectives on and experiences of meat in the 21st century.

The Hunstein Rainforest I loved as a child is scheduled to be logged. Blissful birds of paradise dance in the mysterious Hunstein Mountains, unaware of their impending doom. The inhabitants of the tiny village of Wagu in Papua New Guinea who own the pristine forest, most importantly the widow Moyali, will decide the rainforest's fate even though they are not aware of its intrinsic value. I initiate a National Geographic expedition and follow along, trying to understand their struggles. Will they choose to save the trees? What is going to happen to their culture? One year later, I lead a small team on another expedition, a two week trek deep into the uncharted forest, following my tribal "uncle's" ideas, to gather photographs and challenge Mt. Hunstein. We fight food shortages, leeches and giant cassowaries, while rare birds, exotic flowers and crystal clear rivers fuel my deep love for this delicate forest. I come to realize only the villagers can save the rainforest.

The number of primates on the brink of extinction continues to grow, and the need to respond with effective conservation measures has never been greater. This book provides a comprehensive and state-of-the-art synthesis of research principles and applied management practices for primate conservation. It begins with a consideration of the biological, intellectual, economic, and ecological importance of primates and a summary of the threats that they face, before going on to consider these threats in more detail with chapters on habitat change, trade, hunting, infectious diseases, and climate change. Potential solutions in the form of management practice are examined in detail, including chapters on conservation genetics, protected areas, and translocation. An Introduction to Primate Conservation brings together an international team of specialists with wide-ranging expertise across primate taxa. This is an essential textbook for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and established researchers in the fields of primate ecology and conservation biology. It will also be a valuable reference for conservation practitioners, land managers, and professional primatologists worldwide.

THE TIMES, ECONOMIST AND GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 It is accepted wisdom today that human beings have irrevocably damaged the natural world. Yet what if this narrative obscures a more hopeful truth? In Inheritors of the Earth, renowned ecologist and environmentalist Chris D. Thomas overturns the accepted story, revealing how nature is fighting back. Many animals and plants actually benefit from our presence, raising biological diversity in most parts of the world and increasing the rate at which new species are formed, perhaps to the highest level in Earth's history. From Costa Rican tropical forests to the thoroughly transformed British landscape, nature is coping surprisingly well in the human epoch. Chris Thomas takes us on a gripping round-the-world journey to meet the enterprising creatures that are thriving in the Anthropocene, from York's ochre-coloured comma butterfly to hybrid bison in North America, scarlet-beaked pukekos in New Zealand, and Asian palms forming thickets in the European Alps. In so doing, he questions our irrational persecution of so-called 'invasive species', and shows us that we should not treat the Earth as a faded masterpiece that we need to restore. After all, if life can recover from the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs, might it not be able to survive the onslaughts of a technological ape? Combining a naturalist's eye for wildlife with an ecologist's wide lens, Chris Thomas forces us to re-examine humanity's relationship with nature, and reminds us that the story of life is the story of change.

The authors detail the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve vegetation classification and succession project which was undertaken by the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program in cooperation with the Alaska Natural Heritage Program (AKNHP). The objectives of this project were to: Describe existing plant associations and produce a vegetation classification for Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve; Conduct an accuracy assessment of the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve portion of the vegetation map developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Ducks Unlimited, Inc., referred to hereafter as the DU map (USFWS 2007); Provide detailed descriptions and distribution maps for earth cover class descriptions from the DU map that occur within the study area; and Describe vegetation succession on volcanic deposits within the study area.

Left in the wild, Billie the elephant would have spent her life surrounded by her family, free to wander the jungles of Asia. Instead, she was captured as a baby and shipped to America where she arrived in the mid 1950s, long before circus and zoo-goers worried about animal living conditions. Billie spent her first years confined in a tiny zoo yard giving rides to children. At 19, she was sold and groomed for life in the circus. Billie mastered difficult stunts: she could balance on her hind legs, walk on her front legs and perform one-foot handstands. For twenty-three years she dazzled audiences, but she lived a life of neglect and abuse. As years passed, Billie rebelled. When she attacked and injured her trainer, a federal inspector ordered her taken off the road. For a decade she languished in a dusty barn. Finally, fate intervened. The U.S. Department of Agriculture removed Billie and fifteen other elephants as part of the largest elephant rescue in American history. Billie wound up at a sanctuary for performing elephants in Tennessee at 45, but she thundered with anxiety in her new environment and refused to let anyone remove a chain still clamped around her leg. Last Chain on Billie charts the growing movement to rescue performing elephants from lives of misery, and tells the story of how one emotionally damaged elephant overcame her past and learned to trust humans again.

'A delight' Hugh Warwick, ecologist and author of A Prickly Affair 'Hilarious and heartbreaking' Lee Schofield, author of Wild Fell 'A necessary nature book.' John Lewis-Stempel 'A triumph' Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild, Being a Human and A Little Brown Sea Hedgehogs are disappearing. Their numbers are estimated to have halved in less than twenty years. Why? Who could possibly have it in for the hedgehog when in poll after poll they come out top as our favourite mammal. Is it the car driver, the badger, the farmer, or the gardener? Magnifying glass in hand, Tom Moorhouse investigates the evidence. On a vital mission to bring those responsible to justice, prevent further murder and save a species, he uncovers a story full of twists, turns and uncomfortable truths about the trade-offs that exist between humans and wildlife. And then thankfully he provides solutions. A final chapter equips the reader with the toolkit required to try and coax our beloved hedgehogs back.