The Future of the Wild: Radical Conservation for a Crowded World (2007)(en)(267s)

In this important book, biologist Jonathan S. Adams explains an exciting new approach to conservation. The main strategy behind it involves using the latest in conservation science along with the desires of local communities to protect the places where people live and work. In this way, each small success moves conservationists closer toward creating huge protected landscapes large enough to support animals like bison and wolves. Only with freedom to roam through and between these lands, using wilderness corridors, can such large animals flourish.Adams provides numerous examples of how this new conservation is succeeding around the country: cooperative ranchers work together to preserve wilderness in Arizona; activists fight the encroachment of big business on the Florida Everglades; and a maverick scientist struggles to create safe passageways for pumas in California's overpopulated Orange County. Each example proves the benefits of combining the latest scientific studies with practical community organizing and sound economic planning. Through these examples and important conservation history, Adams shows how we can realistically protect wildlands despite our growing numbers.The Future of the Wild is a much needed, accessible book full of fascinating stories, unforgettable characters, and, ultimately, a powerful new vision for conservation in America.