The State of Water: Understanding California's Most Precious Resource

Obi Kaufmann, author of the best-selling California Field Atlas, turns his artful yet analytical attention to the Golden State's single most complex and controversial resource: water. In this new book, full-color maps unravel the braided knot of California's water infrastructure and ecosystems, exposing a history of unlimited growth in spite of finite natural resources—a history that has led to its current precarious circumstances. Yet this built world depends upon the biosphere, and in The State of Water Kaufmann argues that environmental conservation and restoration efforts are necessary not only for ethical reasons but also as a matter of human survival. Offering nine perspectives to illustrate the most pressing challenges facing California's water infrastructure, from dams to species revitalization, Kaufmann reveals pragmatic yet inspiring solutions to how water in the West can continue to support agriculture, municipalities, and the environment. Interspersed throughout with trail paintings of animals that might yet survive under a caring and careful water ethic, Kaufmann shows how California can usher in a new era of responsible water conservation, and—perhaps most importantly—how we may do so together.

• The California Field Atlas
• The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California
• The California Field Atlas Note Card Set: Raptors
• The California Field Atlas Note Card Set: Mammals
• California Plants: A Guide to Our Iconic Flora
• The Curious World of Seaweed
• West of the West: Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers in the Golden State
• The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada (California Academy of Sciences)
• The Book of Building Fires: How to Master the Art of the Perfect Fire (Survival Books for Adults, Camping Books, Survival Guide Book)
• This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption are Ruining the American West