Island Press author Michael Branch is Professor of Literature and Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has published five books many articles and essays, including recent environmental creative nonfiction in Utne Reader, Orion, Ecotone, Isotope, Hawk and Handsaw, Places, and Whole Terrain. New installments in his essay and podcast series, Rants from the Hill, appear monthly at hcn.org and iTunes.