Wild Ohio program in Bowling Green

Sometime in 2007, I decided to do a book that highlighted Ohio's natural heritage: The best of the best of our wild places. I wanted it to be heavy on imagery, as pictures can speak a thousand words. With that in mind, I approached photographer Gary Meszaros, one of the best lensmen/naturalists in the business. To my delight, Gary agreed to the collaboration, and in June of 2009 our book was released.

It features 40 of the creme de la creme of Ohio's natural areas. Each site is accompanied by descriptive text, and includes several of Gary's stunning images. In total, the book includes a vast array of flora and fauna found in Ohio, including scads of little known and very rare species. We were pleased with the end product, and Kent State University Press's expert layout and design. The book's artistic director chose the Luna for the cover, which was a beautiful idea.

On Saturday, January 25th, I'll be giving a program that follows the book for the Bowling Green (Ohio) Parks and Recreation Department's Kuebeck Nature Forum on Nature and Environment. I was flattered to be invited to be the inaugural speaker in this series, and will do my best to live up to this honor. We'll take a pictorial trip through some of the greatest places in Ohio, featuring many of our coolest critters and most interesting plants. Since Bowling Green lies in the shadow of the Oak Openings, I'll certainly dip into that region, which harbors more rare plants that any other comparably sized place in the state.

Hope to see you there, and CLICK HERE for all of the details.