Kurzbeschreibung
In Elko County, sagebrush is always within view if merely in one s peripheral vision. The sagebrush landscape is a beautiful but harsh landscape,a land little known and less understood. It is also a landscape in trouble. Over 500,000 acres of ground burned in 2007 and one million acres in 2006. Nevada has seen six bad fire seasons since 1999, burning an average of one million acres each year. In 1999, the Great Basin lost 1.7 million acres and the western United States has 100 million acres facing much the same problems. Sagebrush Heart describes the sagebrush landscape and the problems faced by Elko County in protecting and rehabilitating this landscape. It is written for the people who have sagebrush in their peripheral vision, readers who either live in, or travel through, this distinctive landscape. The book begins in the past by describing this landscape and its natural history, including highly adapted plants and animals, native peoples and geology. It turns to the present to describe the current conditions, much of it based on the decline of sagebrush and those animals dependent on sagebrush. It depicts the increase in cheatgrass and the changes in range fires. The book looks to the future as it describes the hopes, new ideas, and collaborative efforts of federal agencies, ranchers, miners and local groups to save this fragile ecosystem. Carefully researched facts are checked by experts in the particular subject. The writing is positive, with no desire to bash anyone or assign blame. It focuses on successes rather than failures. Its central message is the sagebrush steppe and the Nevada people addressing its ecological problems. Chapters: Introduction Elko County This Land in Earlier Times Its Sagebrush Heart What is Wrong with Great Basin Streams? The Newe Living on this Land Sage-grouse and Sagebrush Pronghorn Antelope; Sagebrush Sentinels Controversial Wild Horses The Buildup to Today s Catastrophic Wildfires Battling Wildfires Healthy Streams Change What Is Working in Elko County Thoughts on the Future About the Author
