Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land.

PINHOOK: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land JANISSE RAY

One of the last vestiges of the American wilderness is the swamp that connects the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuse in southern Georgia with the Osceola National Forest in northern Florida. The area is called Pinhook Swamp, With water too plant tangled for the passage of boats, this beautiful landscape is a source of mystery. The once-fragmented swamp was reconnected after the federal government purchased Pinhook's 170,000 acres in 1988. TO Ray, an environmental activist, the swamp represents something larger than itself: an example of how wildlife responds when threatened by human activity. Pinhook's story includes past and present wildlife such as woodpeckers, red wolves, black bears, and panthers. The author details both the logging and strip mining that despoiled the area and the conservation work by organizations such as the Audubon Society and the Florida Wildlife Federation. Ray's story reveals how some people have made it their lives' work to preserve Pinhook. Chelsea Green Pub., 2005, 155 p., paperback, $12.00.