WHAT'S ON OUR SHELVES?

Collected by Alison M Jones for NWNL, the many books in our  library catalog  are by scientists, photographers, mapmakers, naturalists, politicians, painters and others. Their publications present local, regional and global water resources, wide ranges of biodiversity and indigenous cultures within our watershed ecosystems.

Created by Lydia Symens for NWNL, this ESRI ties together our book library and our image library to present an intriguing visual story on the critical importance and power of the written word, research and imagery when bound together. NWNL has relied on these publications to support our efforts to share watershed values and threats -- and thus the critical need for sustainable management solutions.

"A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time—proof that humans can work magic." -- Carl Sagan

The interactive map below indicates the global scope of our NWNL library. A wide diversity of challenges are found in our NWNL case-study watersheds: North America's Columbia, Mississippi and Raritan River Basins, and Africa's Nile, Mara and Omo River Basins. This map also points to our four regionally-represented themes further spotlighted by NWNL: Ancient Rome's water-delivery system, California’s Megadrought, Kenya's spring-fed Amboseli-Tsavo Ecosystem and India's western Ganges River Basin tributaries. While this is not the full extent of our coverage, as you will see further into this ESRI, it does highlight the geographic emphasis of NWNL and its six case-study watersheds.

"Africa's Ark" is a global treasure: from Rothschild giraffes turning acacia trees into topiaries to flocks of ostrich fluttering across the savanna. The Nile, Omo and Mara Rivers and their ecosystems are critical in supporting habitat ranges, including the Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem, often called the "Eighth Wonder of the World." In such sanctuaries, charismatic megafauna and feline predators help other lesser-known fauna and flora flourish. For instance, endangered elephants dig waterholes that quench the thirst of many less iconic but equally important species. Humans also have critical roles to play. Before it is too late, we must set aside conservancies to save headwater forests, swamps, and savannahs. We must create corridors to connect habitats increasingly isolated by impinging human populations and threatened by to the impacts of climate change. We must guard that which we could otherwise extinguish.

The flow of North American rivers carries many cultural histories. In documenting watersheds of today's United States, NWNL has been privileged to interview stewards of Che Elum, Chinook, Choctaw, Colville, Nez Perce, Ponca, Santee Sioux, Wanapum, Umatilla and Yakima Nations. In today's Canada, NWNL has interviewed members of Kootenay, Ktunaxa, Okanagan and Shuswap First Nations. NWNL has also visited sacred grounds of the Lenape in today's New Jersey; as well as remnants of ancient Mississippian Cultures at Emerald Mound in today's Illinois and Cahokia Mounds in today's Mississippi; and Mississippi Delta islands including the now rapidly-sinking Isle de Jean Charles. 

Thankfully, many authors represented on our shelves have documented rivers beyond our NWNL focus. Those listed in books on our shelves discuss issues representative of many waterways and are well worth studying, such as Dave Showalter's recent documentation of the Colorado River being drained by too many entities. Other authors in this section delve into complex urban issues that can involve tangled, old and weak infrastructure, overused by growing populations and exacerbated by intense weather crises such as Superstorm Sandy that hit New York City, New Jersey's shore and Raritan Bay in 2012. There are other less visible problems, such as New Jersey's carcinogenic pollution of Toms River, exposed by Dan Fagin. Many authors have done the hard work of documenting the beauty, value, troubles and restoration of valuable watersheds - such as the dam removals on Washington's Elwha River chronicled by Linda Mapes and witnessed by NWNL in 2011. 

A grand diversity of knowledge, experience, reality, optimism and problem solving is found on our shelves! Both old and new viewpoints are critical to understanding the importance of our watersheds and freshwater resources. Those values must be processed before we can remedy the current threats. Perhaps the most successful approach to conservation of our watersheds and quality of our water is that we work together to preserve the many sources of fresh water. How do we pull together to successfully protect our most vital natural resource - rather than in opposite directions? Hopefully, one solution is found in this sharing of viewpoints NWNL has collected. We have created a long list of resources expressing opinions and experiences of others that we hope will lead to more innovation in protecting our watershed ecosystems and freshwater resources.

NWNL hopes you will use  What's On Our Shelves catalog  to help enlighten whatever environmental or watershed issues you may be investigating. This compendium is a great tool to share with whomever else might find it helpful as we move closer to ensuring clean water for all forever. In so doing, you will support our NWNL Mission to help raise awareness of watershed values, threats and solutions as well as freshwater availability, quality and usage. Please contact us at pm@nowater-nolife.org for any additional information or questions found in the catalog. Finally, NWNL thanks all those whose suggestions helped build this well-used archive!

Thank you from the NWNL Team,

Alison, Lydia, Lulu, & Cleo

With a special thank you to Miguel & Patches for proofreading.