Supplement to "Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America". Contains detailed information in tabular form on the annual historical harvest levels for all furbearer species. Pre-20th century data is arranged by fur trading company or by geographical area. 20th century data are arranged by political jurisdiction. Includes data for Yukon & NWT.

Table of contents

John F.

The general interest and attention paid to the use of the renewable natural resources of the world have increased greatly during the last decades. This is due to the environmental dilemma into which mankind has got itself by the total disregard of ecological facts and laws, the underprizing of natural resources and the overemphasis on economic develop ment, coupled with unimpeded rapid population growth and the preponderance of material istic consumption-oriented attitudes. The management and use of natural resources such as forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes were formerly considered purely in a financial context, whereas latterly, a consciousness of their social function and the indirect economic benefits which can be derived from them has developed. Thus, as regards these traditional resources, multi-use concepts comprising eco nomically oriented utilisation as well as recreational, educational and social use have be come widely accepted. Conservation of natural resources for sustainable consumptive as well as non-consumptive uses has been recognised as a key element for maintaining eco nomic development all over the world. Fortunately, the industrialised countries have started to apply this principle themselves and in their technical and financial aid to the developing Third World countries. This is manifest from policy documents such as the World Bank Policy on Development of Wild Lands, issued in 1987.

“Unexpectedly delightful reading—there is much to learn from the buck-toothed rodents of yore” (National Post). Beavers, those icons of industriousness, have been gnawing down trees, building dams, shaping the land, and creating critical habitat in North America for at least a million years. Once one of the continent’s most ubiquitous mammals, they ranged from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Rio Grande to the edge of the northern tundra. Wherever there was wood and water, there were beavers—sixty million, or more—and wherever there were beavers, there were intricate natural communities that depended on their activities. Then the European fur traders arrived. Once They Were Hats examines humanity’s fifteen-thousand–year relationship with Castor canadensis, and the beaver’s even older relationship with North American landscapes and ecosystems. From the waterlogged environs of the Beaver Capital of Canada to the wilderness cabin that controversial conservationist Grey Owl shared with pet beavers; from a bustling workshop where craftsmen make beaver-felt cowboy hats using century-old tools to a tidal marsh where an almost-lost link between beavers and salmon was recently found, it’s a journey of discovery to find out what happened after we nearly wiped this essential animal off the map, and how we can learn to live with beavers now that they’re returning. “Fascinating and smartly written.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Authoritative yet easy to use, Handbook of Mammals of the South-Central States will be a close companion of field biologists and a ready reference for the naturally curious. Containing a wealth of information about mammalian wildlife in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, the book describes in detail ninety-five native mammals and eight introduced species that live in that region. The south-central United States is both diverse and complex ecologically, including within its range coastal and inland swamps, mountain peaks, forests, grasslands, sand dunes, and rich agricultural lands. In the books' introduction, the authors describe those environments--their physiography, drainage patterns, climates ,soils and vegetation--and explain how they determine which species can exist there. They also discuss other facts--such as geographical history, competition between species, and the effects of man--that determine which species actually do occur in a particular area. The authors furnish a checklist of the 103 mammals, arranged in phylogenetic sequence, with keys to identifying the orders, families, and species. An up-to-date account of each species follows, supplying details about the animal's distribution throughout the seven states; its physical description, including seize, color pattern, and features distinguishing it from related species; and its natural history, including preferred habitat, diet, activity patterns, resting or nesting sites, reproduction, and population densities. A photograph, distribution map, and list of selected references complete each account. Handbook of Mammals of the South-Central States is the first comprehensive guide to focus on this region's mammalian fauna. Students will appreciate its accessible format, glossary of terms, index to scientific and vernacular names of the mammals, and selected bibliography. Amateurs and professional naturalists alike will rely on it to identify mammals in the field, laboratory, and classroom.

The word raccoon is drawn from the Native American Algonquian language. Their term arakun roughly translates to “he who scratches with his hands.” Anyone who has found a raccoon rummaging around in a once securely closed trash container can attest to how skillful raccoons are with their front paws. In fact, they have four times as many sensory receptors in their forepaw skin as they do in their hindpaws, a ratio similar to that of human hands and feet. Samuel Zeveloff explores this trait and much more in his accessible natural history of raccoons. Written with the general reader in mind, Raccoons presents detailed information on raccoon evolution, physical characteristics, social behavior, habitats, food habits, reproduction, and conservation, as well as their relationship with humans and many other topics. The section on distribution and subspecies focuses on the raccoon’s current range expansion, and the material on their cultural significance demonstrates this mammal’s unique status in different North American cultures.

Presented here is the final and most coherent section of a sweeping classic work in environmental history, The Unending Frontier. The World Hunt focuses on the commercial hunting of wildlife and its profound global impact on the environment and the early modern world economy. Tracing the massive expansion of the European quest for animal products, The World Hunt explores the fur trade in North America and Russia, cod fishing in the North Atlantic, and whaling and sealing on the world’s oceans and coastlands.

Walker's vision, the text smoothly combines in-depth scholarship with a popular, readable style to preserve and enhance what the Washington Post called a "landmark of zoological literature."