Reinhabiting a Separate Country: A Bioregional Anthology of Northern California

There are countries that can't be found in a World Atlas although they can be seen in a glance out the window, countries whose soft borders remain invisible to governments even though travelers easily sense crossing them. They are the natural countries founded on specific soils and land forms, exposed to particular climate and weather, and populated by native plants and animals which have endured since the last Ice Age. They exist as a live geography more distinct than the nations and states whose borders shift to arbitrarily include or divide them.

One separate natural country is the western edge of North America bounded by the Pacific Ocean, Tehachapi Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and Klamath-Siskiyou Mounts to the Chetco River. It lies almost wholly within California reaching into Oregon only as far as the Chetco. Its one essential feature is the Sierra Nevada. The lushness and diversity of plant life alone distinguish it as a separate country. There is an amazing range of habitats: salt-freesh estuary, dune, coastal, forest, chapparal, volcanic terrain, mountain, etc.

This book is a collection of tape-recorded stories and interviews, poetry, essays, prose, drawings, and photographs from people sharing a separate country in Northern California. Some are thorough natives who should bolt print into your ears. There are reinhabitants exploring ideas and activities for living-in-place, and natural scientists defining and describing the place. Bessie Trip stands as the opening to pass you through. She was asked, 'Tell us a medicine story, Grandma,' and without hesitating she begins saying what comes to mind. Beyond her there's a terrain that opens unexpectedly through the trees while you're climbing to get a view.