Akiko Busch
Yale University Press
It's no coincidence that I found Akiko Busch's book "The Incidental Steward" at the library around the time I visited a park and found myself counting Canadian geese on the creek (Canada goose) and noticed the parks have been plagued with tent caterpillars and cottonwood pollen. While I'm making these discoveries in Washington State, Busch has joined up with conservationists and "incidental stewards" in the environs of the Hudson River and valley.
Every region deals with "non-native" species of plants and animals from English ivy and Scotch broom in the Pacific Northwest to Loosestrife and mile-a-minute vine in the northeast United States. In the US, we have also seen the destruction of trees caused by insects (beetles) imported by accident from Asia.
And while we strive to protect and preserve the legacy of the wild salmon in the region where I reside, Busch, conservationists, and volunteers do counts of migrating eels, herring, and eagles in the Hudson River Valley. Busch writes with hope and she often waxes poetry while discussing serious topics in her collection of essays. She reminds us that all nature-lovers are incidental stewards counting the number of migrating butterflies and observing the changes on rivers and other waterways, meadows and mountains. Having spent nearly four years living in a river valley in Washington State and now living in a city that values green space, I appreciate Busch's observations and her writing talent.
http://www.yalebooks.com