Transcripts For CSPAN2 Author 20240703

Arts commission, and the Mississippi Institute of arts and letters. Is an artist, champion of the arts. Hes a coowner of half books and cat island coffeehouse in gulfport. Thank you very much, and welcome to our session this morning on nature and the environment. For most of my life my entry to American History was to the biographies of our founding fathers, washington, jefferson, rightclick, and then threw to lincoln, frederick douglass, Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Luther king, shirley chisholm, henrietta lacks, james baldwin, dwight eisenhower, among manyrs others. But within two years ago i was fortunate enough to read jack davis the bald eagle. And then whole new world open to me. I missed the little upon which our country was founded, and without which there would be no United States of america, our Natural Resources, land, water, flora and fauna. And how we struggle to gain and profit from it. The stories in the lies that jack davis, patrick dean, rien fertel and deanus king bring us are indispensable to an understanding of our society, our culture and our future. The story of our Natural Resources as recounted by these four authors bring a heartbeat and the context to our American History. Indepth, dramatic and deeply immersed in the delicate splendor of the natural world, these books we will discuss over the next hour exploring humanities connection to nature, the history of conservation and the heroes who have paved the way. Please enjoy a panel discussion. I will introduce our four authors first and i will hold up their books. Jack davis is the pulitzer prizewinning author of the goals, the making of an american see, and everglades properties, Marjory Stoneman douglas and the American Environmental century. Professor of environmental history of the university of florida, he lives in florida and new hampshire, and he is here today to discuss his book, his fine book, the bald eagle. Patrick dean writes of the outdoors and the environment picky has worked as a teacher, political media director and is presently the executive director of a rail trail nonprofit. As an avid trail runner, howler and mountain biker he lives with his wife and dogs on the Cumberland Plateau in tennessee. Is the author of when to do have about the summit of denali. And hes also here today to discuss his latest book, natures messenger, his adventures in the new world. Rien fertel is a writer and teacher lives in new orleans. Hes an author of three previous books, driveby truckers southern rock r opera, the one true barbecue, fire, smoke and the pit masters who cooks the whole hog. And imagining the creole city, the rise of literary culture in 19th century new orleans. Rien is here today to talk about his book on the Brown Pelican. And our fourth author is dean king, an awardwinning author oi ten nonfiction books including skeletons on the sahara, and bound, patrick obrien, a life revealed, and the feud. His writing has appeared in garden and guns, National Geographic adventure, outside, new York Magazine and the new york times. He is the chief storyteller in two History Channel documentaries and a producer of a series hatfield and mccoy is. White lightning. He isnp internationally known speakers have has appeared on npr stalk the nation, abc world news tonight, pbs american experience,ie bpc radio and also tedx here dean nasr today to speak about his book, guardians of the valley, john muir and the friendship that saved yosemite. Please welcome our four authors. [applause] i would like to start, we will have a discussion among the authors, and as we approach the end of this hour we will take questions and here and for e questions there is ad microphoe and a podium in the center of the room. So please, as we get closer around the 40 minute mark, step up their and wait patiently and we will take your question. First though i would like to start and ask each of our guests to just give a three or four minute overview of their book, premise of the book and just talk in general a little bit aboutn, it. Rien, i would like to start with you. Tell us a bit about Brown Pelican, i found it, how into it. Sure. Ha i think what will become evident over our short time together, if it is not always evident, is that compelling stories about nature and the environment, require compelling characters. And by characters, i mean people. People. We are all telling storiesli abt people and how they have operated, how they have lived within what theyy think of as nature and the environment. And thats not to say that the Brown Pelican, the subject of my new book, is not a compelling character in and of itself. If you live along the gulf coast, if you live a long the more southerly end of the atlantic or pacific, you likely love the Brown Pelican, like i do. You love watching it dive bomb from 60 plus feet from on high to catch fish. Its so graceful. Its also so awkward that pouch just kind of not only dangles but it wobbles as it walks. It is an awesome bird. But the story i feel is a story of peoplesth relationship with this bird. It is a Human History of the Brown Pelican. The character that leads off the book is one who was popping onto a lot of us i imagine in this audience today, thats Walter Anderson, the Famous Artist who was originally born in new orleans where i live now, of course lived out the majority of his life along the coast of mississippi. If we know him we know it as the painter, the artist whose works are highly valued on the art market. I like to see him at a seam in this book is also a documentarian. He lived many years, many decades on several Barrier Islands turkey would camp out on along the coast of first louisiana, then mississippi, painting wildlife,wi sketching wildlife but also documenting in a series of journals what he was saying. His favorite thing, i i wouldy his favorite bird, was the Brown Pelican. He loved to describe Brown Pelicans in all their glory. He talks about living like the Brown Pelicans and sleeping among the Brown Pelicans and building nests like the Brown Pelicans and fishing and bathing like the Brown Pelican. He loved this bird. End, the extinction of the brn pelican in the gulf of mexico, the Brown Pelican was extinct along the coasts of and the greater gulf coast, the upper gulf coast by 1960. And he was documenting he was writing about this. He didnt quite understand it. He had guesses. We very soon, knew it was due to pesticides like ddt. And so its Walter Anderson that launches this book. I talk about why we have brown in louisiana and along the gulf coast today. Its largely due t due to a crazy plan, it was almost hollywoodesque. You know, it was a plan so crazy it had the work. It came down to a pair of alligator scientists who didnt know a thing about birds and they were tasked with rescuing and bringing back the Brown Pelican to louisiana. This involved years of birdnapping across state lines and days to birdnap. A baby pelican, the exact day to release the teenage pelican what to feed that baby turning into a teenage pelican over months. Wild scheme. It worked. And i grew up in the 1980s talking to my parents and other people from older generations now. They didnt see Brown Pelicans. But as soon as i could understand and identify what that bird was, you know, im lucky to have Brown Pelicans in my life. Now we have around 10,000 breeding pairs estimated of Brown Pelicans in the upper gulf of mexico, a very healthy population. And thats due to two things. One, that strange plan that worked, but also, the interestingly enough, the bp oil spill and the bp oil spill left the state of louisiana and many nonprofits. The state and federal governments with a lot of money to restore the Barrier Islands of louisiana. These Barrier Islands were being washed away. Many had already been washed under the seas of the gulf and through many, many millions of dollars we have over the past decade plus, we have been restoring these islands which are major bird habitats. And i was able to visit many of the islands which are off limits to tourists. I was able to go with some pelican scientists and take part in documenting the revival of this bird species. So thats my book. Kind of book ended by the stories, with many, i think, compelling characters within. Rien, thank you. Patrick, tell us about mark. As rien said, you know, characters and Interesting Times can definitely drive a narrative like the ones were going to talk about today and mark catesby, certainly at the time. From rien at the present with some extinctions and resuscitations and recoveries, to mark, who landed in charleston in 1722 at a time when almost no one in Great Britain had any idea what an ivorybilled woodpecker looked like or a magnolia tree or an american bull frog and hes largely responsible for the fact that many saw those images for the first time. His masterpiece, the Natural History of the carolinas, between 17311746 is the landmark in Natural History and books about Natural History and the story of how he got to america, what he did while he was here and his going back and creating this masterpiece. Its pretty much the story of my book. Hes a landmark ecologist, i think well have time to talk about today. He was exceptional for many reasons, had many firsts to his name and i think hes definitely worth talking about, especially since he has sort of found himself in the shadow of that audubon guy. So looking forward to talking about it today. You have a wonderful book. Give us the premise and tell us about it. Guardians is, i think, the essential story of john muer. When i started looking at writing about him, immigrated 1849 year of the gold rush to wisconsin and he had a very sprawling, rich, interesting life. A lot of the details have sort of been forgotten. He was actually in manufacturing. He made shovel handles out of wood and we forget that he had this real practical side, but i wanted to figure out what i thought the core narrative there was. Why should we remember him, why is he important . And that all was born out of a trip i had to Yosemite National park, that view from Inspiration Point that did it just so magnificent. I realized i wanted to be there and talk about it and it turns out that muer and his editor, Robert Underwood johnson. When you get into the muer story, you find out that these two guys came together and i would say arguably maybe the most dynamic writer, editor, duo in u. S. English, you know, literature, they were able to johnson as the editor of century magazine able to say to muer, you write me two articles about Yosemite Valley and the National Park you envision. Im going to publish them in century magazine and take them to washington d. C. And put them on the desk of every congressman. He was skeptical of politics at the time and trusted his editor. Sure enough, johnson went down to d. C. And put the stories on the desk and the National Park was created. That was the beginning of their problem, really. What they had done, they had created a National Park around the state park that Abraham Lincoln had formed with the valley during the civil war, but was the beginning of a very rich partnership where they would also help bring about the National Forest system. They would create the sierra club. They would influence Theodore Roosevelt who came camping with muer. So, you get this this is all against the back drop of industrialization from the civil war until the beginning of world war i when muer died. And you knew this sort of clarion voice in the Sierra Nevada trying to protect the mountains and also, the giant sequoias, literally getting moe mowed down. And the United States swept across the country, but the 3,000yearold trees were getting cut down with no realization they wouldnt just pop up again. And thats valuable to remember today when we have woods telling us, we need to Pay Attention to environmental conditions. I also tried to not just cover the history, i tried to put you there with muer. He left great descriptions. He wrote some magnificent stories and so theres a lot of detail. He had hundreds and hundreds of letters with Robert Underwood johnson so im able to work into that relationship and try to bring that alive as well. So, thats really the gist of my book is trying to take you there, make john muer come back alive to make him understand in his nuanced life and not just the National Park, but a living and breathing explorer, adventurer, scientist and inspirational character. Jack, tell us about the bald eagle. Sure. First of all, id like to say that its its a great pleasure to be here at the festival again, and in mississippi as well. I lived in mississippi in the early 90s and my first two books are on mississippi and i still have very good friends that live here in jackson and its i just, it feels like coming home and i live in gainsville, florida now, but it feels like coming home when i come to mississippi. Its always just such a delight and me, in my literary career began here in mississippi. This place has, as you know, i dont have to tell you, such a powerful sense of place. Both, you know, in the physical environment, but also, you know, the cultural environment and so, theres so much that you can, as a writer, theres so much that you can take away from mississippi and its people and its natural surroundings. And so, but as far as the bald eagle, the book is a history of american relationship with the bald eagle, both the species and the symbol. As you know, a very powerful symbol in america, always has been since it was put on the front of the great seal of the United States in 1782. And as rien and my colleagues suggested that, environmental writers see nature as a, you know, animating in the course of Human History. In our work, nature or the nonhuman denizens of nature indeed become characters and, but in this its so fun to write and tell stories about those nonhuman denizens of nature and relationship with humes. But with any great story there is conflict and while americans love the symbol, the bald symbol of their country for a long time for the bald eagle. For a long time they hated the species and pushed it to the brink of extinction twice, but this is a story that also includes is also a wonderful story of restoration and redemption. And you know that 10, 15 years ago we didnt see bald eagles. It was a rare sight. Unless you lived in alaska or northern minnesota, bald eagles were a rare sight. Now we see them all the time and we love this bird and we could not imagine harming that bird now. And every time we see that bird, weve seen that Success Story. We deserve a pat on our backs for doing something right by nature. And so, the bald eagle story is also this great conservation Success Story and as an environmental writer, a part of a genre that tends to focus on the doom and the gloom, i wanted to write a more positive, uplifting story that might help guide us to some degree in the 21st century, as we face some unprecedented environmental challenges and i should say in writing in book, im not just simply with the bald eagle as many, you know, many people have, but i really came to admire this bird and recognize that it was, indeed, the right symbol for the United States. Jack, thank you. Rien, id like to ask you the first question and if you could talk a bit about the establishment of Pelican Island and the two pelicanrelated murders. Referring to the game wardens. Could you talk us through what it is and the dangerous duty that those game wardens had on that island . Yeah, talking about conflict. This is kind of interesting in the history of not only the Brown Pelican, but the larger conservation stories in america. Pelican island is a very small island off the Atlantic Coast of florida near cape ka and a half canaveral and the Brown Pelican throughout florida was being hunted around the turn of the century. In the early 1900s for its feathers, for the plume trade. Out were brightly colored feathers, like, say, the rosie spoon bill a policy pause here in our book tv coverage, our commitment to congress. Lawmakers meeting what is expected to be a brief session. No votes are expected. Live now to the floor of the senate here on cspan2