Eric Jay Dolin

Smithsonian Book of National Wildlife Refuges

 

(Smithsonian Books, 258 pp., 200 illus., ISBN: 1588341178, 2003, $39.95)

 

In 1903 Theodore Roosevelt signed a proclamation that created the first of what, a century later, would become a system of 538 National Wildlife Refuges spread across all fifty of the United States. Stretching from the cypress swamps of Okefenokee to the remote wilderness of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the refuges now occupy an amazing 95 million acres of the American landscape, and include America's most treasured habitats - filled with waterfowl, fish, mammals, and diverse array of plants. Coupling his text with the remarkable photographs of John and Karen Hollingsworth, Dolin draws on the rich history surrounding the refuges to reveal an intriguing story of people and nature.