UntitledTown Book and Author Festival 2019

Our Living Ancestors: The History and Ecology of Old-Growth Forests in Wisconsin (and Where to Find Them)

Old-growth forests touch the soul of many people. Despite the remarkable emotional appeal and scientific value of old-growth forests, only 0.3% of Wisconsin’s old-growth forests remain. Nevertheless, these scattered, small parcels still retain their ability to amaze hikers with their diversity, complexity, and beauty.
This book directs visitors to the 50 best old-growth sites left in Wisconsin. Each site has clear directions, a listing of ownership, size, and age, and a description of its ecological features, with perhaps a story of why it was saved. A map and photo(s) illustrates each site. An additional shorter chapter includes the “50 Best-of-the-Rest.”
The book is for a general audience, but its wealth of rigorously-researched and profusely-illustrated data may also serve as a general reference for professional ecologists and conservationists.

Lakes Superior and Michigan have long played a vital role in shaping our state's history, culture and economy. For forty years, the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program has collaborated with governments and nonprofit organizations to preserve and protect this crucial resource, and, since 2002, has promoted public awareness of issues affecting the lakes in its annual Wisconsin Great Lakes Chronicle. Great Lakes Chronicle: Essays on Coastal Wisconsin brings together more than one hundred articles by coastal management practitioners, providing a broad perspective on issues affecting Wisconsin's Great Lakes shorelines, and advocating for the wise and balanced use of our coastal environment for the benefit of people now and in the future.

The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife with native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer.

In her presentation Nurturing Habitat for Wildlife, author Nancy Lawson will expand on the message in her book and address practical ways to put humane gardening philosophies into action. Why do we call some insects “beneficial” while others are “pests”? Why are some plants considered “desirable” while others are “weeds”? In this myth-busting talk, learn how common growing methods divide the natural world into false dichotomies and perpetuate misconceptions about the wild species living among us.

Nancy Lawson has been brought to UntitledTown through the generous sponsorship of The Wild Ones - Green Bay Chapter, Green Bay Botanical Garden, and NEW Master Gardener Association.

Split Rock Review celebrates the release of Waters Deep, an anthology of Great Lakes poetry, co-edited by Crystal S. Gibbins and Michelle Menting. Come listen to a diverse group of contributing poets read from Waters Deep and discuss how they’ve been inspired by the Great Lakes and the woods, watersheds, hills, bluffs, iron and copper ranges, snow belts, rustbelts, and communities that surround them. From layers of history and human culture to natural landscapes and built environments, the voices, perspectives, and styles of the poets featured in Waters Deep are as varied and powerful as the lakes themselves. A Q&A session will follow the reading.

The poetry collections by Crystal S. Gibbins and Michelle Menting explore and complicate the traditions of nature poetry. The poets will read from their books, and as editors of the place-based magazine Split Rock Review, offer what they look for in submissions of contemporary nature poetry during the Anthropocene.