Islands of Hope

North American wildlife is under siege. First came the hunters, who spread across the continent killing animals for food and clothing and because they were dangerous. Then came the developers, who continue to chip away at our wilderness at a rate of over a million acres per year. It wasn't until 1903 that the first North American sanctuary specifically aimed at protecting animals was established. Today, the continent is peppered with thousands of public and private refuges -- green islands of hope for wildlife. These sanctuaries have saved species like whooping cranes and trumpeter swans from extinction and allowed others like American bison and Canada geese to recover in number. Islands of Hope visits ten preserves in four North American countries. At Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, Phillip Manning examines the dependence of one of nature's farthest-traveled animals -- the red knot -- on one of its oldest and slowest -- the horseshoe crab. At El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve, he tells of the impossible migration of a creature that weighs one-fiftieth of an ounce -- and the equally captivating story of the human effort that tracked the eastern monarch to its wintering ground in Mexico. At the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, he describes the effort to bring back not only North America's largest land animal -- the American bison -- but also an entire landscape as it existed hundreds of years ago. At Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, he tells of the pronghorn antelope and its stalker, the coyote, and the dilemma faced by those humans who would manage -- or not manage -- relations between the two. Behind Manning's fascinating accounts lies the serious purpose of learningwhat makes these ten preserves successful. Islands of Hope investigates the animals and ecosystems that the sanctuaries protect; it talks with people who run the preserves to discover how they use conservation laws and the science of ecology in their work; it examines how refuges are created; and it explores the threats still facing North America's sanctuaries.