Featuring tributes from award-winning writersIn a city sometimes referred to as “The Big Smoke,” Toronto’s extensive network of sunken rivers, forested vales, and expansive shoreline has been too often overlooked, neglected, or forgotten. However, the last 25 years has seen these distinctive landscapes rediscovered and even embraced as great civic spaces. Commissioned by the City of Toronto to chronicle the wonders of these wilderness parks, renowned photo...

Fear of bears seems almost to be part of what it is to be human. Our species emerged out of the depths of time into a world already populated by these great carnivores. Before we mastered iron and later developed firearms, we had few defences against bears—only watchful caution and elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices to ward off fear.Where human populations grow, bears have traditionally dwindled or disappeared. But when we return to the wild, to places where bears still survive, a...

This book tells the story of the province’s geology and the history of its living creatures. The first edition of Geology of British Columbia,, with its accessible but rigorous science, struck a chord with readers. Since it was first published, theories about plate tectonics and the geological history of British Columbia have evolved, and this new edition reflects the current thinking. This book also features updated content throughout, seven new maps, and a numbe...

Haida Gwaii, ancestral home of the Haida First Nation, was once as inaccessible and mysterious as it was beautiful. The tight cluster of islands off British Columbia’s northwest coast remained virtually untouchable for millennia, allowing its people to develop a distinct and exceptional cultural identity that was known and revered across the region. Today, Haida Gwaii—a name that means “islands of the people” in the Haida language—has piqued the interest of world travellers. Its magnificen...

Full of never-before-seen illustrations, Life Sketches is an inspiring and elegant portrait of Robert Bateman’s life as an artist and of his belief that “Nature is an infinite source of reason, imagination, and invention.”From one of Canada’s most beloved painters comes an intimate, visually stunning memoir of the artist at work.Internationally acclaimed artist Robert Bateman has brought the natural world to vivid life with his unique perspective. ...

Easy Hiking around Vancouver presents sixty-two of seasoned hiker Jean Cousins’ favorite destinations. For quick reference, hikes are arranged in nine geographic regions in and around the Vancouver area. Easy to follow directions take hikers north as far as Pemberton, east to Manning Park and the Fraser Canyon, or south to Mount Baker in Washington State. Trailheads for many hikes can be reached from downtown Vancouver in less than an hour.

Each year, more than a million people visit the spectacular sweep of sand that stretches along Vancouver Island's west coast between Tofino and Ucluelet to watch waves crash ashore on a series of beaches-essentially one long beach separated by small rocky headlands, a shoreline steps away from howling wolves and towering red cedars.In Long Beach Wild: A Celebration of People and Place on Canada's Rugged Western Shore, local resident Adrienne Mason uses her intimate knowled...

The rugged west coast of Vancouver Island offers some of the most spectacular and storied hiking in the Pacific Northwest. Home to the world-famous West Coast Trail, once a lifeline for marooned sailors and still among the most breath-taking yet demanding hikes on the continent, the island’s western shores also feature lesser-known coastal trails for all abilities. From the tidal pools and pocket beaches of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail to the craggy surf-swept shores of Shushartie Bay and...

When we think of wild animals, we don't immediately associate them with the cities we live in. But a closer look soon reveals that we share our urban environment with a great many untamed creatures. Heavily illustrated and full of entertaining and informative facts, City Critters examines how and why so many wild animals choose to live in places that, on first glance at least, seem contrary to their needs. How do those deer, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, coyotes, crows, gulls and geese – no...

The Okanagan attracts thousands of visitors each year to enjoy its beaches and wine, but more and more people are discovering its natural beauty. With desert sands and deep lakes, towering rock cliffs and rich benchlands, cold mountain forests and hot grasslands, the Okanagan has an ecological diversity unequalled in Canada.Roadside Nature Tours through the Okanagan opens with an introduction to the region’s biodiversity, climate, geology, and human histor...

Hiking in the Greater Toronto and the Niagara Peninsula is taken from Hiking in Ontario from Ulysses Green Escapes Guides. This affordable chapter is a great tool to organize your next hiking trip in the Greater Toronto and Niagara Peninsula area. The Toronto and Niagara areas of Ontario wrap around the corner of Lake Ontario, following and extending from the most visible landmark in the area, a ridge of glacier-deposited rock known as the Niagara Escarpment. They extend north as far as th...

Drained by a half-dozen major watersheds, cut by a network of deep ravines and fronting on a Great Lake, Toronto is dominated by water. Like most cities, though, Toronto has mismanaged its water, from the decades-long transformation of the citys creeks into sewersheds to the alteration of Torontos waterfront. Recently, the trend of fettering Torontos water and putting it underground has been countered by persistent citizen-led efforts to recall and restore the citys surface water. In H...