SOME OF THE names used in this book are fictitious. All of the people are real.
Much gratitude goes to:
Carolyn Servid and Dorik Mechau of the Island Institute for offering me a writing residency in Sitka, Alaska, for the month of April 2003, where I began this little book. The librarians of Kettleson Public Library and Sheldon-Jackson College Library in Sitka. The good, open-armed people of Sitka for their kindness to us.
The University of Mississippi and John and Renée Grisham for the writer residency (2003–2004) that allowed me time and space to devote myself to writing, where I finished this project. The fabulous town of Oxford, Mississippi—all the genius and friendship and imagination and help its people offered.
Larry Thompson for dedication to the Pinhook Osceola and Greater Okefenokee project, and for all the ways he participated in the making of this book. William Metz for being a top-notch guide and proponent of the wildland corridor.
Christa Frangiamore for a conversation that led to the subject of Pinhook.
Raven Burchard, Chip Campbell, Judy Hancock, Larry D. Harris, Milton Hopkins, Kyle Jones, Phil Nieswander, Cindy Thompson, Chris Trowell, Frankie Snow, and Breeze VerDant for research on Pinhook and other information vital to this book.
The people of the environs of Taylor, Florida, for all the stories they told me.
The United States Forest Service for buying Pinhook Swamp and giving it back to all of us. All other government agencies who are assisting.
Activists, biologists, and citizens who have worked to make sure the O2O happens, including and not limited to: Edwin Abbey, Gene Bernofsky, Rex Boner, Phyllis Bowen, Linda Bremer, Carol Browner, Chip Campbell, Joy Campbell, Don Cohrs, Sam Collier, Maurice Coman, Jim Cox, Jeremy Dixon, Gary Drury, George Foley, Manley Fuller, Judy Hancock, Larry D. Harris, Richard Hilsenbeck, Marian Hilliard, Karen Howard, Kyle Jones, Randy Kautz, Jo Knight, Steve Knight, Jim Lyle, Josh Marks, Bill McQuilkin, William Metz, Phil Nieswander, Reed Noss, Don Perkuchin, Andrew Schock, Becky Shortland, Bob Simons, Larry Thompson, Chris Trowell, Genna and Roger Wangsness, David White, Stephen Williams, Sheila Willis, George Willson, and John Winn. Members and funders of the POGO Coalition.
To Suzan Satterfield and Turner South, for their beautiful production of The Pinhook Swamp Puzzle, which aired on the show The Natural South. Also Becky Buzogany, Allen Facemire, and Walter James.
Catherine Paige West, who let me read her master’s thesis, which she completed while at the University of Georgia, on Pinhook: “Wilderness Defined by Human Action: Understanding the Relationship Between Culture, Praxis and Nature.”
John Harris of the Monandnock Institute in New Hampshire, and his wife, Susie, who gave my family a place to stay during the crucial days of revising the manuscript.
Margo Baldwin, Collette Leonard, Erin Hanrahan, and the other good people of Chelsea Green Publishing, who want a wilder future for America.
The able editing of Robin Dutcher, Robin Catalano, and Laura Jorstad. Thank you.
Molly O’Halloran, an excellent cartographer.
Dave Borland, poet, ecologist, and good friend, for keen thinking about these pages.
The people of the Wildlands Project (reconnect, restore, rewild), who are “designing and helping create systems of interconnected wilderness areas that can sustain the diversity of life.” John Davis, Mary Byrd Davis, Dave Foreman, Steve Gatewood, Reed Noss, Doug Scott, and Michael Soulé. Tom Butler, Jennifer Esser, Josh Brown, and Kevin Cross of Wild Earth Journal.
Musicians Steve Hulse, who produced The Natural Sounds of Georgia, and Anna Puccinelli, whose brother, Francis, introduced himself at the Oxford Conference for the Book and later sent me recordings of Anna’s lovely piano compositions—their music has accompanied me through many a solitary hour of writing.
Leigh Feldman, never a double agent.
Franklin Ray and Lee Ada Branch Ray, who gave me life.
Silas, my true, and Susan, my constant. All my friends.
Raven, beloved, whose hand I can always feel at my back, like the wind lightly urging me onward.
And of course the wild places and their wild inhabitants, which continue to sustain, comfort, inspire, and fascinate me.
This book is in memory of Judy Hancock, who devoted her life to a more livable, wilder world, and who never abandoned that vision. Judy, a resident of Lake City, Florida, and a fierce activist, was one of the Pinhook Corridor’s truest friends. She died in 2004.