From mating horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay to goldenclub and orchids at Web's Mill Bog, the authors reveal Garden State nature at its best. 99 illustrations. 3 maps.

National parks have always been an emotive and iconic symbol, ever since the first parks of the modern era were created in the mid-nineteenth century. This book, based on original research, delves deeply into their character and significance, and the larger context in which they developed. The book celebrates the deserved attractiveness of the parks as wilderness or 'spectacle' to millions of visitors, but also emphasises how there was nothing inevitable, self-sustaining or without cost in their magnificence and accessibility. Those early parks were a powerful unifying force as national 'playgrounds', especially as motor transport democratised their use. However they also provoked bitter conflict in their dispossession of local communities and perhaps deliberate segregation of people from scenery and wildlife. That first century of national parks, which concluded with the significant break of the Second World War and the subsequent development of more international approaches to conservation, left an uncertain legacy. It was a fragile foundation from which to build what became an integral part of today's conservation movement.

Find out what's going on any day of the year, anywhere across the globe! The world’s date book since 1957, Chase's is the definitive, authoritative, day-by-day resource of what the world is celebrating and commemorating. From national days to celebrity birthdays, from historical anniversaries to astronomical phenomena, from award ceremonies and sporting events to religious festivals and carnivals, Chase's is the must-have reference used by experts and professionals—a one-stop shop with 12,500 entries for everything that is happening now or is worth remembering from the past. Completely updated for 2020, Chase's also features extensive appendices as well as a companion website that puts the power of Chase's at the user's fingertips. 2020--a leap year--is packed with special events and observances, including National days and public holidays of every nation on Earth The total solar eclipse The 100th anniversary of US women's suffrage (19th Amendment passed) The 75th anniversary of the end of WWII and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The 250th birth anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven The 100th birth anniversary of Ray Bradbury The 50th anniversary of the Beatles' break up The Tokyo Olympic Games Scores of new special days, weeks and months, such as International Go-Kart Week, National Goat Yoga Month or National Catch and Release Day Birthdays of new world leaders, office holders, and breakout stars And much more! All from the reference book that Publishers Weekly calls "one of the most impressive reference volumes in the world."

Concrete floors and concrete walls, buildings that pierce the sky, taxicabs and subway corridors, a steady din of noise. These things, along with a virtually unrivaled collection of museums, galleries, performance venues, media outlets, international corporations, and stock exchanges make New York City not only the cultural and financial capital of the United States, but one of the largest and most impressive urban conglomerations in the world. With distinctions like these, is it possible to imagine the city as any more than this? City at the Water's Edge invites readers to do just that. Betsy McCully, a long-time urban dweller, argues that this city of lights is much more than a human-made metropolis. It has a rich natural history that is every bit as fascinating as the glitzy veneer that has been built atop it. Through twenty years of nature exploration, McCully has come to know New York as part of the Lower Hudson Bioregion-a place of salt marshes and estuaries, sand dunes and barrier islands, glacially sculpted ridges and kettle holes, rivers and streams, woodlands and outwash plains. Here she tells the story of New York that began before the first humans settled in the region twelve thousand years ago, and long before immigrants ever arrived at Ellis Island. The timeline that she recounts is one that extends backward half a billion years; it plumbs the depths of Manhattan's geological history and forecasts a possible future of global warming, with rising seas lapping at the base of the Empire State Building. Counter to popular views that see the city as a marvel of human ingenuity diametrically opposed to nature, this unique account shows how the region has served as an evolving habitat for a diversity of species, including our own. The author chronicles the growth of the city at the expense of the environment, but leaves the reader with a vision of a future city as a human habitat that is brought into balance with nature.