WorldView Magazine: Environment
Fierce Advocate for the Land
A remembrance of Paul Johnson By Jake Arce Paul Johnson understood what it means to tend the earth. He was a farmer and a state and national leader in the movement to conserve soil and water. As chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, he led the agency to produce a national report card on the state of America’s private lands. He called it “A Geography of Hope.” Johnson joined the Peace Corps in 1962, serving in one of the first groups in Ghana. After returning to the United States in 1964, he completed studies in natural development, earning...
An Enormous and Panicked Bird
From Owls of the Eastern Ice By Jonathan Slaght Photo: Blakiston’s Fish Owl chick in Primorye, Russia. Photo by Jonathan Slaght A revelatory tale from biologist Jonathan Slaght. Among the many accolades for Owls of the Eastern Ice: It was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Times of London best nature book of the year. It appeared on numerous best books of the year lists, from NPR to the Wall Street Journal. Slaght was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Russia’s Far East 1999–2002. I SAW MY FIRST Blakiston’s fish owl in the Russian province of Primorye, a coastal talon of land hooking south...
