To Save a River

To Save a River magnificently documents the natural history and preservation of Maine's Ducktrap River. Through eighty spectacular images, beautifully reproduced in tritone, environmental photographer Dennis C. Shultz captures the pristine glory of one of only eight remaining rivers in the United States that are home to wild Atlantic salmon populations. Shultz's photographs, made throughout the seasons over a three-year period, offer readers a unique perspective of the river and serve to dramatize the results of ongoing conservation efforts by the Ducktrap Coalition. In just seven years, the Coalition has conserved eighty-one percent of the land along the river, ensuring not only the survival of the salmon population but also the preservation of their watershed.

In his accompanying essay, Scott Dickerson, Executive Director of the Coastal Mountains Land Trust, which oversees the Ducktrap Coalition, describes the innovative process through which major portions of the 36-square-mile Ducktrap watershed have been preserved. His fascinating text illuminates the success of this conservation program in terms of its long-term benefits to the Atlantic salmon and to the region's fragile ecosystem as a whole.