From Powells.com
Hot new releases and under-the-radar gems for adults and kids.
Staff Pick
From sapling germination to salmon run cycles, Freeman’s humble explanations of each step of the Tarboo Creek restoration are tenderly lyrical. More importantly, his dedication to this cause reminds us why every piece of the natural earth is worth protecting and preserving. Recommended By Aubrey W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A meditation on living a more natural life.
When the Freeman family decided to restore a damaged creek in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula — to transform it from a drainage ditch into a stream that could again nurture salmon — they knew the task would be formidable and the rewards plentiful.
In Saving Tarboo Creek, Scott Freeman artfully blends his family’s story with powerful universal lessons about how we can all live more constructive, fulfilling, and natural lives by engaging with the land rather than exploiting it. Equal parts heartfelt and empowering, this book explores how we can all make a difference one choice at a time.
In the proud tradition of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, Saving Tarboo Creek is both a timely tribute to our land and a bold challenge to protect it. Adding to the legacy, Leopold’s granddaughter Susan, the matriarch of the Freeman family, created this book’s illustrations.
Review
“A moving account of a beautiful project. We need stories of healing in this tough moment; this is a particularly fine one.” Bill McKibben, author of Radio Free Vermont
Review
“As Aldo Leopold so eloquently expressed, healing the damage done to land can be a family’s labor of love. In keeping with the Leopold legacy, Susan Leopold Freeman and Scott Freeman share with readers their family’s evocative restoration journey. They weave together art and ecology as they reflect deeply on what it means today to live well and ethically on this earth.” Cristina Eisenberg, chief scientist at Earthwatch Institute, author of The Carnivore Way
Review
“Scott Freeman demonstrates a healer’s touch with his pen, just as his extended family of helpers does with the Tarboo Creek property. But what really stands out here is their willingness to put in the work, over the course of generations, then patiently step back and watch what happens to a planet much in need of special care.” Jack Nisbet, author of Sources of the River, The Collector, and Ancient Places
Review
“Freeman explains in clear, nonjudgmental prose what is lost when farmland and forests are cleared for ‘development,’ and the losses are great....Thought-provoking and unsettling, this highly readable book is made lovely by homey drawings sprinkled throughout.” Booklist
About the Author
Scott Freeman teaches biology courses at the University of Washington, where he received a Distinguished Teaching Award. He worked in environmental education and international conservation before completing a PhD in evolutionary biology at the University of Washington and conducting post-doctoral work at Princeton University as Sloan Fellow.
Scott Freeman on PowellsBooks.Blog
My path to writing
Saving Tarboo Creek was long and meandering. Some of the first tentative steps occurred in college, when I helped with some prairie restoration projects in Minnesota. I broke into a trot when I met Susan Leopold, during a summer when we both had fellowships to work at the Leopold Memorial Reserve in Wisconsin...
Read More»