Laughing in the Wilderness: Adventures in the North Woods and Other Stories - Softcover

After completing graduate work in forest ecology, Alan Haney began his professional career at the University of Illinois-Urbana in the Department of Botany. It was in his fourth year that he accepted Steve Apfelbaum as a graduate student. Together, they developed a research project to investigate how forest community structure was influenced by disturbances such as fire, wind, and timber harvests. They have continued to collaborate on research for 40 years. Alan later became chair of the Science Division at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, North Carolina, then Dean of the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point Wisconsin. Alan retired in 2005, but continues to write and do research with Steve and others, especially work in the southern boreal forest, where many of these stories originated.
Steve Apfelbaums interest in nature took flight when, as a high school student, he began volunteering at River Trail Nature Center, Northbrook, Illinois. Nature study, including uses of plants by Native Americans, traditional trapping, hunting, and bird-watching preoccupied his early years. Steve began college at William Harper Junior College, then transferred to University of Illinois-Urbana, where he completed a B.S. in Botany in 1976, and a M.S. in 1978, working with Alan on forest community structure and bird population dynamics. While finishing his schooling, Steve started Applied Ecological Services (AES), Inc., a private corporation specializing in ecological research and ecosystem restoration. Following a few years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in Utah, Steve purchased an old dairy farm in southern Wisconsin in 1980, which he and his wife, Susan, restored to native prairie, and where they continue to live. Meanwhile, AES has grown into an internationally recognized business, headquartered near Brodhead, Wisconsin, with projects throughout North America and around the world.
Rob Dunlavey, a freelance illustrator, was one of six crew members on the first wilderness research expedition that began Alan s and Steve s lifelong research and exploration in the North. Rob, in fact, is featured in A Lucky Tent Site, the essay about an event that tested his lifelong friendship with Steve. Rob has illustrated three books: The Dandelions Tale, by Kevin Sheehan, called luminous and radiant by Kirkus Reviews; Counting Crows, by Kathi Appelt; and Over in the Wetlands, by Caroline Starr Rose. In addition to the work which appears here, Rob is working on a Random House book about baby owls. His illustrations also have been featured in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Business Week, among other publications. Rob has done murals for childrens museums in Miami, Florida, and Bridgehampton, New York; and in the East Hampton [New York] Public Library. His work is exhibited online and in several galleries. Rob, his wife, and two daughters share their suburban Boston home with two insane cats (but no spruce grouse!).