Overview

The Wild Excellence provides a personal look at an extraordinary landscape. Living on the edge of Yellowstone National Park, Leslie Patten weaves myth and science with history. She vividly relates her experiences as she digs out her clogged spring system, hikes and explores, copes with weather and isolation, and grows an intimate relationship with a place that her heart recognized on first sight as home. The author's curiosity leads her to investigate ancient Shoshone Indian sheep traps, help on a local wolf study, as well as learn about her wildlife neighbors--grizzly bears, elk and deer, coyotes and badgers. Patten speaks with scientists, land managers, archeologists and ordinary folk. In the doing, Patten poses valid questions about how we inhabit this earth, about the role of big expanses of wild land with intact populations of predators and other wildlife, and about what is really important in our lives.

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9780692117446

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Reviews

There are times when the best reporting on national parks comes from voices just beyond the legal boundary...Patten is one of those voices. --Doug Peacock From her humble six-acre patch among the pines, Patten has experienced more land-use and wildlife issues than most Westerners encounter in a lifetime. Patten digs into everything, from archaeological preservation to trapping to wolf and grizzly management, probing the bones of each with a thoughtful calm born of research and experience. Her prose is fresh, clean and occasionally profound... -High Country News Leslie Patten has penned a masterful book of our natural world. Don't miss the opportunity to enter it. -Jann Webb, Founder of Legend of Lamar Valley Facebook page and community Leslie Patten combines equal parts passion, reason, adventure, and personal insight to create a glimpse into the spectacular natural treasure she has chosen as her home. She picks her way through both the challenges and opportunities we all face in conserving and managing the wonders of Greater Yellowstone with a keen mind, a full heart, and a delightful flair for storytelling. -- Charles R. Preston, PhD, Senior and Founding Curator, Draper Natural History Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Patten is remarkably careful about describing the research while also imbuing that science with an honest sense of the complexity in such a system, as well as a personal dimension. -- Arthur Middleton PhD, Coordinator Absaroka Elk Ecology Project Leslie Patten's gripping account of her deep journey into wilderness is funny, hopeful, and profound. At a time when humanity is starting to reap a bitter harvest from its abuse of the environment, she shows us how to have richer and more sustainable lives through our own relationship with the wild excellence, wherever we find it. A wonderful book. -- Rick Hanson, Ph.D, Author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

"There are times when the best reporting on national parks comes from voices just beyond the legal boundary...Patten is one of those voices. --Doug Peacock From her humble six-acre patch among the pines, Patten has experienced more land-use and wildlife issues than most Westerners encounter in a lifetime. Patten digs into everything, from archaeological preservation to trapping to wolf and grizzly management, probing the bones of each with a thoughtful calm born of research and experience. Her prose is fresh, clean and occasionally profound... -High Country News Leslie Patten has penned a masterful book of our natural world. Don't miss the opportunity to enter it. -Jann Webb, Founder of Legend of Lamar Valley Facebook page and community Leslie Patten combines equal parts passion, reason, adventure, and personal insight to create a glimpse into the spectacular natural treasure she has chosen as her home. She picks her way through both the challenges and opportunities we all face in conserving and managing the wonders of Greater Yellowstone with a keen mind, a full heart, and a delightful flair for storytelling. -- Charles R. Preston, PhD, Senior and Founding Curator, Draper Natural History Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. ""Patten is remarkably careful about describing the research while also imbuing that science with an honest sense of the complexity in such a system, as well as a personal dimension."" -- Arthur Middleton PhD, Coordinator Absaroka Elk Ecology Project Leslie Patten's gripping account of her deep journey into wilderness is funny, hopeful, and profound. At a time when humanity is starting to reap a bitter harvest from its abuse of the environment, she shows us how to have richer and more sustainable lives through our own relationship with the ""wild excellence,"" wherever we find it. A wonderful book. -- Rick Hanson, Ph.D, Author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom"

Author Information

Leslie Patten grew up in Hollywood, completing her schooling in Northern California at UC Santa Cruz. For the next thirty years, she honed her knowledge of the ecology of the Bay Area, especially in the field of practical botany. This included growing produce and flower gardens, designing landscapes, keeping bees, and studying native plant ecosystems. Over time her naturalist training broadened to include preparing wildlife specimens of museum quality, assisting on spotted owl, wolf, elk and grizzly bear studies, as well as wildlife tracking. Her knowledge of tracking, wildlife, and native plants of the West greatly enhances her ability to create successful designs and wildlife gardens. Her garden design work has been featured in many tours, including the prestigious Garden Conservancy and Mill Valley Outdoor Art and Garden Center. Following her passion to spend more time in wild areas with the full array of wildlife, she now splits her time between her remote cabin next to Yellowstone National Park and the Bay Area. Her ongoing blog can be seen at www.thehumanfootprint.wordpress.com. Her business website with photos of many jobs can be viewed at www.ecoscapes.net.

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