It would be impossible for me to adequately express the deep gratitude that I have for all the people in all the countries who have facilitated my work and provided me with friendship, advice, and shelter. The list is endless, and while the faces and smiles of all are still clearly with me, the names of some have escaped me. To all of you I do not name here, please know that I sincerely appreciate all of your kindness.
For fieldwork in Mexico, I would like to acknowledge the help of Arturo Gómez-Pompa, Enrique Pardo-Tejeda, Lauro López Mata, Rodolfo Dirzo, Daniel Piñero, Silvia Purata, Patricia Gerez Fernández, Guillermo Castilleja, Jorge López-Portillo, José Antonio Sierra-Huelsz, Teodile Urbina, Guadalupe Williams Linera, Gonzalo Castillo-Campos, Andrew Vovides, Mariana Hernández-Apolinar, Myrna Ambrosio, Tarin Toledo, Caterina Illsley, Berry Brosi, Hugo Galletti, Alfonso Arqüelles, Pilar Morales, Jorge Soberón, and Margarita Soto. My work in Peruvian Amazonia was assisted by Umberto Pacaya, José Lopez-Parodi, Armando Vázquez, Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez, Noe Ferry, Rodolfo Vázquez, and Al Gentry. Syamsuni Arman, Wim Giesen, Carol Colfer, Kuswata Kartawinata, Ernst and Hedda Kuester, Pak Afong, Pak Po’on, Ibu and Pak Wim Schouten, Cam Webb, Jim Jarvie, and Li Siang provided invaluable assistance in West Kalimantan. Hank Cauley, Kevin O’Regan, John Barry, and Dembai Auragi played key roles in the Papua New Guinea project. Tony Cunningham offered valuable insights into the impenetrable forests of Uganda. Toby McGrath, Antônio José Mota Bentes, and Dan Nepstad took care of all the logistics in Brazil; Xue Dayuan, Yang Chenhua, Yin Jin, ZhiYao Lu, and Yu Yong Fu provided support in China; and Thibault Ledecq, Bansa Thammavong, Neak Phearoom, Bounchanh Mekaloun, Ou Ratanak, Khou Eang Hourt, Le Viet Tam, Ninh Khac Ban, Biu Van Thanh, and Jack Regalado were key collaborators in the rattan project in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. For the work in Myanmar, I am indebted to Than Myint, Saw Htun, Alan Rabinowitz, Josh Ginsburg, Colin Poole, Rob Tizard, Myint Maung, Saw Lwin, Tin Maung Ohn, Kyaw Lwin, Tun Shaung, Zaw Lin, Myint Myint Oo, Kyaw Zay Ya, Kyaw Zin Aung, Myint Thien, Naw May Lay Thant, Gumring Jungkum, Kyaw Thin Latt, Yinhtan Syin Bay, and Sein Day Li.
My fieldwork has been generously supported by several foundations and institutions. In particular, I would like to thank the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for funding research in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Vietnam; the Overbrook Foundation for supporting my conservation efforts in Mexico and Brazil; the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society for sponsoring fieldwork in Myanmar and Vietnam; the U.S. Agency for International Development Environment Program for funding some of my work in Indonesia; the National Science Foundation for funding conservation planning in the Indo-Burma region; blue moon fund, and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for supporting the community-based resource management in Myanmar and Madagascar; IKEA for funding the sustainable use of rattan in Laos and Cambodia, and the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at Columbia University for supporting projects in Papua New Guinea and Myanmar.
I gratefully acknowledge numerous local institutions that have hosted me and provided logistical support: Instituto Nacional de Investigación Sobre Recursos Bioticos, Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, A.C., and Instituto de Ecología in Mexico; Instituto de Investigaciones de al Amazonia Peruana in Peru; Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amâzonia in Brazil; Minzu University in China; the World Wide Fund for Nature Greater Mekong Program in Laos and Cambodia; the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology; the Wildlife Conservation Society Myanmar Program; and Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia.
For academic training, employment, and scientific collaboration, sincere thanks to the Forestry School at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Hank Chamberlain, Tim Ku, and Charles Lee; the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Tom Siccama, Mark Ashton, Rob Mendelsohn, Garth Voigt, Michael Dove, and especially my doctoral committee: F. H. Bormann, Barry Tomlinson, and Arturo Gómez-Pompa; the New York Botanical Garden, Ghillean T. Prance, Christine Padoch, Michael J. Balick, and Andrew Henderson; and the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Science at Columbia University.
A special thank you to Jion Susan Postal of the Empty Hand Zen Center for showing me a new way of looking at things. A warm nod to Mu and Susan Murphy Roshi at Zen Open Circle.
The majority of this book was written during a four-week writing fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in northern Italy; bows of gratitude to Pilar Palacia and her staff. Jean E. Thomson Black at Yale University Press and Brian Boom and Michael Brown at NYBG Press provided encouragement, editorial support (and otherwise), and sage advice throughout the publication process; the careful edits of Susan Laity at Yale University Press greatly improved the manuscript. Thank you to both of these fine institutions for working together to turn my manuscript into a book—and for being an important part of my life for so many years. Elizabeth Kiernan of the New York Botanical Garden GIS Laboratory helped produce the maps.
And, finally, warm thanks and big hugs to Elysa Hammond, for her continual support and for letting me go all over the world and interact with people and plants; and to Case, Luke, and Amy for making me proud.