The Marsh Builders: The Fight for Clean Water, Wetlands, and Wildlife

249 Pages·2018·16.16 MB·English

by  Sharon Levy

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The Marsh Builders
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The Marsh Builders
The Fight for Clean Water,
Wetlands, and Wildlife
SHARON LEVY
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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Sharon Levy 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Levy, Sharon, 1959– author.
Title: The marsh builders : the fight for clean water, wetlands, and wildlife / Sharon Levy.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017059445 | ISBN 9780190246402
Subjects: LCSH: Wetland restoration—United States. | Water—Purification—Biological treatment. |
Sewage—Purification—Biological treatment.
Classification: LCC QH541.5.M3 L44 2018 | DDC 577.68—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017059445
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Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
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For Maya, growing strong
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1. Cholera’s Frontiers 1
2. Tides of Change 11
3. The Microbe Solution 24
4. Emperor Joseph’s Roots 42
5. Strangled Waters: First Wave 60
6. Fighting the Big Sewage Machine 81
7. The United States of Vanished Wetlands 95
8. Revolution 118
9. Do- It- Yourself Wetlands 131
10. Strangled Waters: Second Wave 145
11. Wild Things 167
12. Of Time and the Wetland 186
13. The Tide Rises 200
14. The Fight This Time 212
Index 223
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the course of researching this book, I’ve been fortunate to spend time with a
small army of fascinating people. I can’t list them all, but I’d like to offer thanks to
Dan Hauser, Wesley Chesbro, Alexandra Stillman (née Fairless), Bob Gearheart,
Frank Klopp, Bill Bertain, and the late Dan Ihara: the founders of Humboldt
County’s wastewater rebellion of the 1970s.
As the book grew more global, I spoke with people farther afield. I’m grateful to
Marion Joseph, Phyllis Faber, Bill Mitsch, Grace Brush, and George Tchobanoglous
for sharing their knowledge and experience.
Edie Butler and Carly Marino, librarians at Humboldt State University’s
Humboldt Room, have helped tremendously with locating documents and
photographs.
Leslie Scopes Anderson generously shared her time and her beautiful wildlife
photographs.
Thanks to Jeremy Lewis, my patient editor at Oxford University Press.
Parts of Chapters 7 and 10 originally appeared in Undark. Chapter 11 is based
on articles that first appeared in the journal BioScience.
Last and always, love and gratitude to Hugh.