WILDERNESS BROTHERS: Prospecting, Horse Packing, & Homesteading
The author is Professor Emeritus at Idaho State University where he taught courses in ecology and conducted research on stream ecosystems. His work has been published extensively in ecological journals. He also has a long abiding interest in “homesteading,” in both the historical and modern contexts, as an expression of self sufficiency and a means of ecological sustainability. He and his wife Judy operate a small farm based on modern (low environmental impact) homesteading principles and for over ten years he taught a university course based on their experiences. Wilderness Brothers stems from the author’s interest in the self-reliant lifestyle of the pioneer homesteaders and the familiarity gained from many years of research in the Frank Church River-of-No-Return Wilderness. Although this is his first venture in writing outside of ecological science, he was guided by the fact that sound historical research involves many of the same processes, procedures, and intellectual challenges.