California's Changing Landscapes: Diversity and Conservation of California Vegetation
A lushly illustrated, compelling guide to the vegetation of California, from the sequoia to the Joshua tree, from curly dock to the creosote bush. The authors, three botanists and one anthropologist, first give a geological history of the state and then move to considerations of wetlands, the coastal forests (including the redwoods), the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada, and the deserts. They follow with a lengthy examination of Native American conservation practices and several scenarios for California's future. Continued development, such as California has witnessed throughout this century, would be a disaster; regulated development, which is what is going on now, would be only somewhat less disastrous. They favor global planning in which environmental considerations come first, as well as a cessation in population growth.John Mort