NATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION • WINNER OF THE WRITERS’ TRUST NON-FICTION PRIZE “Absolutely spellbinding.” —The New York Times The environmental true-crime story of a glorious natural wonder, the man who destroyed it, and the fascinating, troubling context in which this act took place. FEATURING A NEW AFTERWORD BY THE AUTHOR On a winter night in 1997, a British Columbia timber scout named Grant Hadwin committed an act of shocking violence in the mythic Queen Charlotte Islands. His victim was legendary: a unique 300-year-old Sitka spruce tree, fifty metres tall and covered with luminous golden needles. In a bizarre environmental protest, Hadwin attacked the tree with a chainsaw. Two days later, it fell, horrifying an entire community. Not only was the golden spruce a scientific marvel and a tourist attraction, it was sacred to the Haida people and beloved by local loggers. Shortly after confessing to the crime, Hadwin disappeared under suspicious circumstances and is missing to this day. As John Vaillant deftly braids together the strands of this thrilling mystery, he brings to life the ancient beauty of the coastal wilderness, the historical collision of Europeans and the Haida, and the harrowing world of logging—the most dangerous land-based job in North America.

The boreal forest is the northern-most woodland biome, whose natural history is rooted in the influence of low temperature and high-latitude. Alaska's boreal forest is now warming as rapidly as the rest of Earth, providing an unprecedented look at how this cold-adapted, fire-prone forest adjusts to change. This volume synthesizes current understanding of the ecology of Alaska's boreal forests and describes their unique features in the context of circumpolar and global patterns. It tells how fire and climate contributed to the biome's current dynamics. As climate warms and permafrost (permanently frozen ground) thaws, the boreal forest may be on the cusp of a major change in state. The editors have gathered a remarkable set of contributors to discuss this swift environmental and biotic transformation. Their chapters cover the properties of the forest, the changes it is undergoing, and the challenges these alterations present to boreal forest managers. In the first section, the reader can absorb the geographic and historical context for understanding the boreal forest. The book then delves into the dynamics of plant and animal communities inhabiting this forest, and the biogeochemical processes that link these organisms. In the last section the authors explore landscape phenomena that operate at larger temporal and spatial scales and integrates the processes described in earlier sections. Much of the research on which this book is based results from the Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Here is a synthesis of the substantial literature on Alaska's boreal forest that should be accessible to professional ecologists, students, and the interested public.

“Whenever I open it, I find another marvelous tidbit, like Viereck’s description of uses for soft, acidic plant sphagnum, or peat moss, the plant often found chinking the walls of log cabins…” - Fairbanks News-Miner This guide to Alaskan wild plants, native and introduced, is a great way to acquaint people with Alaskan wild plants that can be used to promote health and healing, use for emergency first-aid care, or to maintain wellness. More than fifty plant species are described with information on habitat and distribution as well as general information on how each one can be used as medicine. This natural history of some of Alaska’s medicinal plants is not intended to serve the purpose of a self-care manual of medicine, but rather be useful to persons in cities, on farms, and in the wilderness, whether they are in Alaska for recreation, hunting, fishing. or work. Others, inadvertently stranded as a result of an accident or disaster, may find themselves in need of help from healing plants. Dr. Eleanor G. Viereck presents useful and fascinating information about trees, flowers, and shrubs accompanied by accurately rendered line drawing of the vegetation. There are additional notes on history and folklore, poisonous species that can be easily confused with useful ones, and Dr. Viereck's experience with the plants. She tells where to find each plant and discusses plant collecting in general and how to brew healthful herb teas. An illustrated glossary, cross-references of therapeutic uses of specific plants, and a thorough bibliography completes this valuable contribution to plant lore.