Nature's Keepers: The Remarkable Story of How the Nature Conservancy Became the Largest Environmental Group in the World
This generally admiring portrait of the Nature Conservancy, the organization that preserves genetic material and uniquely functioning ecological systems, emphasizes the inner workings of the organization, focusing on nine personalities within its ranks. Journalist Birchard outlines the history of the group from its birth pangs in 1950 to the 2003 natural-gas scandal that led to a series of stories in theWashington Post. Most of the profiles are of upper management, including ecologist Robert Jenkins, who changed the conservancy's directive to a qualitative, rather than a quantitative approach; president Patrick Noonan, who made corporate America an environmental partner; and Gregory Low, who encouraged the organization to work on "landscape-scale" operations. The narrative isn't entirely linear, as many of those profiled overlapped in service; manager John Sawhill, for example, is profiled in two separate places within the book. Ultimately, Birchard, by combining interviews, meeting minutes, speech transcripts, and reports, does a remarkable job of providing a coherent picture of "the largest environmental organization in the world."Rebecca MakselCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved