Island Press began with a simple idea: knowledge is power—the power to imagine a better future and find ways for getting us there. Founded in 1984, Island Press’ mission is to provide the best ideas and information to those seeking to understand and protect the environment and create solutions to its complex problems.
We elevate voices of change, shine a spotlight on crucial issues, and focus attention on sustainable solutions.
Our network of authors includes E.O. Wilson, Paul Ehrlich, Sylvia Earle, Gretchen Daily, Jan Gehl, Daniel Pauly, and many others. By working closely with experts like these, Island Press has developed a comprehensive and growing body of knowledge—vital resources for all those working to protect the environment and create healthy communities.
In this brilliant portrait of the oceans' unlikely hero, H. Bruce Franklin shows how menhaden have shaped America's national'and natural'history, and why reckless overfishing now threatens their place in both. Since Native Americans began using menhaden as fertilizer, this amazing fish has greased the wheels of U.S. agriculture and industry. ......
Winner of The Wildlife Society's 2009 Wildlife Publication Award for outstanding edited book
As human populations around the world continue to expand, reconciling nature conservation with human needs and aspirations is imperative. The emergence in recent decades of the academic field of human dimensions of fish and wildlife ......
Measuring the Lands, Waters, and Living Resources of the United States
Revised and updated periodically, The State of the Nation's Ecosystems is widely recognized as America's most comprehensive report on the condition of our lands, waters, and living resources. Like the acclaimed first edition, this second edition provides nonpartisan, scientifically reliable information for policymakers, scientists, ......
Around the world, ecotourism has been hailed as a panacea: a way to fund conservation and scientific research, protect fragile ecosystems, benefit communities, promote development in poor countries, instill environmental awareness and a social conscience in the travel industry, satisfy and educate discriminating tourists, and, some claim, ......
A growing body of evidence shows that agricultural landscapes can be managed not only to produce crops but also to support biodiversity and promote ecosystem health. Innovative farmers and scientists, as well as indigenous land managers, are developing diverse types of ecoagriculturea landscapes to generate cobenefits for production, ......
Salvage logging'removing trees from a forested area in the wake of a catastrophic event such as a wildfire or hurricane'is highly controversial. Policymakers and those with an economic interest in harvesting trees typically argue that damaged areas should be logged so as to avoid wastinga resources, while many forest ecologists contend that ......
An Integrative Scientific Approach to River Repair
Across much of the industrialized world, rivers that were physically transformed and ecologically ruined to facilitate industrial and agricultural development are now the focus of restoration and rehabilitation efforts. River Futures discusses the emergence of this new era of river repair and documents a comprehensive biophysical ......
The status of many carnivore populations is of growing concern to scientists and conservationists, making the need for data pertaining to carnivore distribution, abundance, and habitat use ever more pressing. Recent developments in noninvasivea research techniques'those that minimize disturbance to the animal being studied'have resulted in a ......
Impact fees are one-time charges that are applied to new residential developments by local governments that are seeking funds to pay for the construction or expansion of public facilities, such as water and sewer systems, schools, libraries, and parks and recreation facilities. In the face of taxpayer revolts against increases in ......
