Bayou-Diversity: Nature and People in the Louisiana Bayou Country($25.99Value)

Description

Louisiana's bayous and their watersheds teem with cypress trees, alligators, crawfish, and many other life forms. From Bayou Tigre to Half Moon Bayou, these sluggish streams meander through lowlands, marshes, and even uplands to dominate the state's landscape. In Bayou-Diversity, conservationist Kelby Ouchley reveals the bayou's intricate web of flora and fauna. Through a collection of essays about Louisiana's natural history, Ouchley details an amazing array of plants and animals found in the Bayou State. Baldcypress, orchids, feral hogs, eels, black bears, bald eagles, and cottonmouth snakes live in the well over 400 bayous of the region. Collectively, Ouchley's vignettes portray vibrant and complex habitats. But human interaction with the bayou and our role in its survival, Ouchley argues, will determine the future of these intricate ecosystems. Bayou-Diversity narrates the story of the bayou one wildflower, one creature at a time, in turn illustrating the bigger picture of this treasured and troubled Louisiana landscape. It is hard to imagine an ecology book as a page turner, but that is exactly what Ouchley delivers to his reader, who will be steered from story to story as masterfully as if the writer were poling a pirogue past alligators...Ouchley's Bayou-Diversity is a fitting addition to the great tradition of Louisiana naturalists. The Ouachita Citizen Biologist Kelby Ouchley has composed an encyclopedia of Louisiana wildlife, sentient and otherwise, in Bayou-Diversity: Nature and People in the Louisiana Bayou Country... Ouchley catalogs all walks of bayou life in essay form...and takes the study one step further with a series of examinations of different ecological phenomena.- New Orleans Magazine Ouchley pulls together all sorts of facts about the natural world in...this fantastic book...a magical window into Louisiana's wild animals and plants. Highly recommended for...those readers interested in diverse, well-written stories about the natural history of one of most unique areas in the country. -Lenhardt Library, Chicago Botanic Garden. Conservationist Ouchley takes readers on a cultural and ecological tour of Louisiana bayous in this fascinating collection of essays...This captivating work offers a gentle reminder of how closely humans and their experiences are connected to the natural world. Highly recommended. CHOICE Reviews In a collection of over 150 short essays and stories, Kelby Ouchley has brought the bayou country to life for those who don't have the opportunity to live a mere stone's throw from those rich, murky waters, as he does. A wildlife biologist by trade, Ouchley's essays prove him to be an engaging and entertaining historian, teacher, and storyteller by nature. A lifetime in the bayous of Louisiana has given him incredible insight into the nature and needs of the plants and animals native to that intricate ecosystem. -Tennessee Libraries Through a collection of essays about Louisiana's natural history, Kelby Ouchley's Bayou Diversity details an amazing array of plants and animals found in the Bayou State. Baldcypress, orchids, feral hogs, eels, black bears, bald eagles and cottonmouth snakes live in the well over a hundred bayous of the region. Collectively, Ouchley's vignettes portray vibrant and complex habitats. But human interaction with the bayou and our role in its survival, Ouchley argues, will determine the future of these intricate ecosystems. "Kelby Ouchley has given us an unforgettable collection of essays on the natural history of Louisiana. Nothing escapes his attention: ticks, lightning, stray cats, oil spills, sluggish water, snakebite myths and remedies, the origin of his great-grandmother's rocking chair. At the heart is an acute understanding of Louisiana ecology--how it works and should work. The essays are beautifully written: thermal wind currents are 'bubbles of air that serve as elevators for raptors.' In five paragraphs, Ouchley completely changed my understanding of teeth. I haven't enjoyed or learned so much about the natural history of a place since I read Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac."--Phillip Hoose, National Book Award-winning author of The Race to Save the Lord God Bird Kelby Ouchley is a writer, public speaker, and retired biologist and manager of national wildlife refuges for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  Since 1995 he has written and narrated  Bayou-Diversity , an award-winning weekly conservation program on public radio.  He is the author of  Flora and Fauna of the Civil War; Bayou-Diversity: Nature and People in the Louisiana Bayou Country; Bayou-Diversity 2; American Alligator: Ancient Predator in the Modern World ; and with his wife Amy,  Natural Words - A Dictionary for Naturalists .   Kelby and Amy live in Rocky Branch, Louisiana on the edge of the D'Arbonne Swamp.Contact him through his  Bayou-Diversity  website or  Bayou-Diversity  Facebook page. Used Book in Good Condition