Tending the Wild by M. Kat Anderson

This book explores the environmental stewardship practices performed by indigenous Americans for millennia prior to the colonization of North America and extensively details traditional environmental practices, such as burning, pruning, tilling, and sowing. Anderson shares stories told by the descendants of indigenous environmental stewards, and explains how California was shaped into its sea of beautiful and fruitful landscapes. This book reframes the narrative of the “pristine and untouched” nature of places like Yosemite and the Central Valley, demonstrating how humans over long stretches of time have been able to give to the land as it gives to us.  

Paperback, 558 pages, University of California Press, 9” x 5 ¾”.