Rants from the Hill: A Christmas tree grows in the Nevada desert

By Michael Branch / On January 8th, 2016
While you might imagine that artificial Christmas trees may be traced back only as far as the glory days of plastic in the 1950s, people actually began making fake holiday trees in the mid-nineteenth century. The practice began in Germany, where extensive deforestation compelled folks to make “trees” out of goose feathers that were dyed green.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Conservation in a world of uncertainty and change

By Charles G. Curtin / On October 20th, 2015
What does it mean to conserve is an era of ever growing rates of cultural, social, and ecological change? One dictionary definition of conservation I found defined it as the act of preserving, guarding, or protecting. But what does one guard or protect when gone is the certainty that even a particular habitat, species, park or preserve will remain viable in the relatively near future (next 100 or so years). What does that mean for how we conceive of conservation?

President Obama Should Include the Tongass In Alaska’s First Line of Global Warming Defense

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On October 6th, 2015
I began my career as forest ecologist in the 1990s, cataloging the remarkable web-of-life in the old-growth rainforests of Prince of Wales Island. Since then, I have worked with rainforest ecologists around the world to document exceptional places like the Tongass and how they can contribute to a global climate change solution. Last April, hundreds of scientists, including myself, sent President Obama a letter asking him to include the Tongass as Alaska’s first line of climate defense.

Reflections on ESA 2015

By Rachel Miller / On September 11th, 2015
Earlier this month, I attended my first conference with Island Press: the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD. As the sales associate, part of my role here is to coordinate the Island Press conference presence, such as the booth appearance, the books we have on sale, and our promotional materials.

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