In doing research for QuickReads I’ve come across some interesting websites containing science and social studies content. Just early this year I came across this story about habitat restoration and it has stayed with me since then. The Discover magazine article got me thinking about a book we had used for a QuickReads topic called How the Forest Grew. Of course I started to wonder if there are other wonderful books on habitat restoration. Here are a few that I found.
Enjoy!
p.s. A few weeks ago NSTA released their 2009 list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for K-12.
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Wangari’s Trees of Peace
Written by Jeanette Winter
Wangari Maathai grew up in the rich green land of Kenya. However in the years she studied in the United States, the rich green land she grew up in was on the verge of becoming a desert. Without trees, the land had dried up and was no longer able to support the people who depended on the food grown in the soil. Wangari’s simple plan was to replant some of the native trees that were removed. Over time Wangari convinced other women to plant trees. Word spread and after a few decades the land that once was barren became fertile again. For her initiative and contribution to world peace, Wangari was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 2004.
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How the Forest Grew
Written by William Jaspersohn
Illustrated by Chuck EckartThis is one of those books that can be described as quiet beauty. Originally published in 1980, How the Forest Grew is not flashy or even colorful but it is a true gem. The book traces the slow restoration of a plowed field back into a hardwood forest in Massachusetts. First the plowed field used for farming is overgrown with weeds and is considered a meadow. Next fast growing sun loving trees take over and the meadow turns into a forest. Next slower growing and shade loving trees start to take over and the forest floor. At each stage of transformation the author describes the animals and plants that inhabit the new habitat. The simplistic text mirrors the quiet and fluid changes the habitat undergoes.
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Come Back, Salmon
Written by Molly Cone
Photographs by Sidnee WheelwrightJackson Elementary School is located near the mouth of Pigeon Creek in Washington’s Puget Sound. Before the town grew into a proper city, Pigeon Creek was home to pigeons, native plants, and Coho Salmon. By 1986 only trash and called Pigeon Creek home. The students and teachers of Jackson Elementary School wanted to change that. It took them many months and diligence to clean Pigeon Creek. When the city wanted to build a storage facility near the mouth of the Pigeon Creek the students wrote letters against the plan.
Once they cleaned the creek, the students began to raise 1000 salmon eggs in a large aquarium. The entire school took charge of making sure the salmons survived. When the salmon was large enough they were released into Pigeon Creek. No one knew for sure that the salmons would return. But everyone continued to keep the creek clean and when it came time for salmons to spawn, they monitored the creek for salmons. Finally in 1988, two years after the first salmons were released, twenty-three salmons were spotted in the once polluted Pigeon Creek. The salmon came back.
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The Prairie Builders
Written and photographed by Sneed B. Collard III
A prairie is habitat where animals that depend on grass, and wild grass live. As the American settlers moved west most of the prairie land was turned into farmland. By the 1980’s Iowa had “less than one tenth of one percent” of its original prairie left. One congressman and a team of scientist began the journey to rebuild Iowa’s prairie. This book is about the progress as the scientists reintroduce native plants, and animals. The book raises and interesting question at the end; Is it really a prairie if it looks and acts like a prairie? That is to say can an entire ecosystem be replaced if not all of its components are understood or known?