North America's Great Lakes country has experienced centuries of upheaval. Its landscapes are utterly changed from what they were five hundred years ago. The region's superabundant fish and wildlife and its magnificent forests and prairies astonished European newcomers who called it an earthly paradise but then ushered in an era of disease, warfare, resource depletion, and land development that transformed it forever. The Once and Future Great Lakes Country is a history of environmental change in the Great Lakes region, looking as far back as the last ice age, and also reflecting on modern trajectories of change, many of them positive. John Riley chronicles how the region serves as a continental crossroads, one that experienced massive declines in its wildlife and native plants in the centuries after European contact, and has begun to see increased nature protection and re-wilding in recent decades. Yet climate change, globalization, invasive species, and urban sprawl are today exerting new pressures on the region’s ecology. Covering a vast geography encompassing two Canadian provinces and nine American states, The Once and Future Great Lakes Country provides both a detailed ecological history and a broad panorama of this vast region. It blends the voices of early visitors with the hopes of citizens now.

John L. Riley is chief science advisor, Nature Conservancy of Canada. He has had careers as a botanist, geologist, ecologist, and conservation professional with the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Geological Survey, and Ontario Nature. He lives in Mono, Ontario.

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“A fascinating and convincing picture of the extent to which the Great Lakes and their environments are linked to world events, often to their detriment.” Literary Review of Canada

"John Riley has written the book I once thought I might write ... His knowledge, practical experience, and determination make this a singular work that combines historical scholarship, scientific understanding, and subtle, low-key advocacy." Ramsay Cook,

“In his ode to his beloved Great Lakes Country, John Riley employs a compelling combination of knowledge and passion, knitting together the region’s histories of human endeavour and ecological change. Riley’s comprehensive and hopeful narrative connects t

"For many years I've known that John Riley is one of Canada's finest naturalists and a skilled and thoughtful writer. Now, after reading The Once and Future Great Lakes Country, I know that he is also an exceptional historian. As a long-time lover of the

“As both an ecological and human history, John Riley’s compelling book reveals far more about the Great Lakes Country and its peoples than readers will ever have imagined. His research and lifetime of conservation are manifest in the richness of historica

“This important book comes at a crucial time for our culture and beyond that, for our planet. The vivid story-telling paints a picture of our history and geography that is fresh and often surprising. This is a compelling and complex message of what we hav

"John Riley has written the book I once thought I might write ... His knowledge, practical experience, and determination make this a singular work that combines historical scholarship, scientific understanding, and subtle, low-key advocacy." Ramsay Cook, from the Preface