William K. Stevens

A nice find. Uses the example of oak savanna restoration in the Chicago area as a starting point for introducing the reader to the idea of why different landscapes are important to save. Many people now are familiar with prairie restorations and tend to think savannas are just a prairie with a few more trees. However, there are bird and insect species which specialize, and require, this tree/open mix.
Much of the book describes the work of Steve Packard in beginning restoration work, mainly under the auspices of The Nature Conservancy, and the team of volunteers he gathered for ongoing involvement which turned out to be vital for restoring savanna patches. It appears Chicago, despite being a large metropolis, had areas of "parks" which were large enough to maintain some rare plants and that, once invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle were removed, more savanna plants sprouted from seeds in the soil just waiting for the right conditions. Of course not every place was so fortunate--some had been overused so that wild seeds needed to be hand gathered elsewhere and sown. Some mention was made of restoration efforts in other parts of the country--California, Arizona,Florida, for example--but the real focus really is on Illinois.
The book would be useful for people wanting to develop volunteer workers, as it tells what worked and what didn't in how the volunteer groups were developed and managed. He ties in E O Wilson's term "biophilia" to discuss why involvement with nature was so appealing to people. This book didn't tell me much that was new about ecology, so I skimmed over some of those sections, but learning about the specific Illinois project was something I could learn from. I wish he had provided an index, as he made occasional reference to other leaders I was familiar with, e.g. Wisconsinites Curtis, Aldo Leopold, Alan Haney. The appendix included a list of plants (thankfully including Latin names with the common), references, and contact list for volunteering (out of date by now, but gives an indication of where to search). The line drawings were beautiful section illustrations.… (altro)