by Steven I. Apfelbaum

Foreword by Nina Leopold Bradley
Beacon Press
distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 978-0-8070-8582-0
$25.95 Hardcover
Available mid-January 2009
Nature / Conservation / Environmental Studies
Farm located in Wisconsin

NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE is also an Indie Next List Notable selection for February 2009.

Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!  Click here for the directory of our member bookstores.

 MBA Bookseller Information

For more information about this book, please contact your Houghton Mifflin Harcourt rep, Fujii Associates rep, or Beacon Press.

If you would like to inquire about publicity and events for author Steven Apfelbaum, please contact Beacon Press:  Caitlin Meyer, Publicity, cmeyer@beacon.org. For sales or marketing questions, contact Tom Hallock, Associate Publisher, Director of Sales & Marketing, thallock@beacon.org.

MBA Booksellers: Earn up to $75 in rebates for promoting this book!  See the marketing information and rebate form below.

Downloads

• Midwest Connections Rebate Form (PDF)
• Full color sign/flyer (PDF)
• B&W Print Ad (PDF)
• Author photo – Credit: Applied Ecological Services (JPG)
• Book photo (JPG)
• Additional JPG files of photos (ZIP file)
  Featuring author and conservationist Steven Apfelbaum’s Stone Prairie Farm. For use these photos in displays or newsletters, if you wish.
• Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials

About the Book

“In 1981, a few years out of graduate school, Steven I. Apfelbaum went shopping for a farm, though he had little interest in growing crops. Mr. Apfelbaum is an ecologist, and his intention was not to tame the land on Stone Prairie Farm, the 80-acre property in southern Wisconsin that he eventually bought, but to restore it to the wild prairie and wetland it once was. In NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE, he earnestly chronicles that process, from the initial baffled reactions of his corn-growing neighbors, to mishaps with rats and snakes that invite themselves into his house, and the seed-sowing that leads to the return of native creatures and wildflowers. At times, Mr. Apfelbaum’s desire for a Walden-like life can make him seem rigid (his shivering family has to beg him to remodel their drafty old farmhouse). But in a strip-mall world, his insistent stewardship of the land is also inspiring.”  — The New York Times

“In his account, both personal and visionary, of the restoration of his eighty-acre farm, Steven Apfelbaum makes a passionate plea for the respect and conservation of our ecosystems. Listen to him. In a time when twelve-thousand-year-old landscapes can be bulldozed in a matter of hours, it is essential to take to take his words to heart.”
- Jane Brox, author of Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm

“Living with the land, and not just simply on it, has never been more imperative – and Steven Apfelbaum is the perfect guide to that new symbiosis. NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE is part memoir, part road map for a more sustainable future, drawn from Apfelbaum’s three decades of hard-won experience restoring the ecological links on his Wisconsin farm.”
- Scott Weidensaul, author of Of a Feather and Return to Wild America

“This page-turner for nature lovers will captivate readers… who will appreciate its mingling of environmental theory, policy prescription and vivid personal anecdote.”
- Publishers Weekly, October 20, 2008

“In A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold struggled to define a ‘land ethic.’ In NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE, Steven Apfelbaum documents the struggle to put it into practice, and explores the application and implications of becoming part of the land community. Although the reader will see some parallels among the plethora of ‘back to the land’ books, none come even close to the insight provided in the pages of NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE. With the keen eye of a naturalist and the pragmatic perspective of a practitioner, Apfelbaum has picked up where Leopold left off, and carries the reader to the next level of land ethics. ”
- Dr. Alan Haney, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, co-editor of Ecosystem Management

From an internationally recognized restoration ecologist, the twenty-first-century sequel to the best-selling classic A Sand County Almanac

Renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold once wrote, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it does otherwise.” Years after his passing, his land ethic as embodied in these words is a centerpiece for the modern conservation and ecological restoration movement in America and around the world.

Few have taken Leopold’s vision more to heart than Steven Apfelbaum, who has, over the last thirty years, transformed his 80-acre Stone Prairie Farm in Wisconsin into a biologically diverse ecosystem of prairie, wetland, spring-fed brook, and savanna. NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE: Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm is the story of that transformation as well as of the work of the firm Apfelbaum started, first restoring neighboring farms, then neighboring states, and now land in countries around the world.

NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE breathes with a refreshing air of ecological possibility, drawing from the author’s personal story of how he has, with help, succeeded in turning back the clock on development to give nature-and humanity-a second chance at sustaining healthy ecosystems. Apfelbaum’s story demonstrates how humans might play a starring role in healing the planet by implementing Leopold’s land ethic, one farm, lot, or brown field at a time.

“Apfelbaum and his partner Susan proceed, after measurable success on their farm, to help their neighbors, then the people in their local watershed, and finally the community in which they live.  Perhaps I rejoice for my father who wrote, ‘A land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it.’”
- Nina Leopold Bradley, daughter of Aldo Leopold, from the foreword to NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE

STEVEN I. APFELBAUM is the founder, president, and senior ecologist of Applied Ecological Services, an internationally renowned restoration services company.  He is among the best-known leaders in the world in ecological system restoration, conservation development, and the restoration of hydrology.  He lives with his partner Susan Lehnhardt on Stone Prairie Farm in Juda, Wisconson.

Midwest Connections Marketing Plans

• $75 in REBATES from MBA for display photos, ads, features in your newsletters, e-newsletters, and on your store website – print out the REBATE FORM above and follow instructions
• Contact the publisher to inquire about bookstore events, book club or reading group appearances, and/or phoners with the author.
• Banner ads for the book on the MBA website
• Flyer/sign PDF file and other materials provided by the publisher
• Reading copies of NATURE’S SECOND CHANCE available from Beacon Press and MBA – contact the MBA office if you need a book.
• An inspiring study of environmental restoration, perfect for community discussions and book groups interested in conservation and environmental studies.
• Print ad you can run in your local paper – earn a rebate from MBA for your ad!

Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!  Click here for the directory of our member bookstores.