Discussion of suggested reading material on the natural and social history of Puget Sound prairies.
Summary
In March, 2017 Master’s student Loretta Fisher, from the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, asked the CPOP Listserv for reading suggestions on the natural and social history of the Puget Sound prairie ecosystem. She was already familiar with The Natural History of Puget Sound Country by Arthur R. Kruckeberg (1995), and more the recent Land Use, Environment, and Social Change by Richard White (2015).
Multiple reading suggestions were provided from CPOP Listserv members. For a view of all of America’s prairies, Mark Wilson suggested Grassland: the history, biology, politics and promise of the American prairie by Richard Manning (1997). Karl Anderson, who moved to the Puget Sound area 23 years ago, suggested the well-known “Pojar” book Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon, first published in 1994. In addition to some plant identification centered books, which include details about historic uses and social history of the plants, other suggestions included The Prairie Keepers by Marcy Houle, Restoring the Pacific Northwest by Dean Apostol and Marcia Sinclair, and The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest by Jack Nisbet.