River in Ruin: The Story of the Carmel River

The thin ribbon of the Carmel River is just thirty-six miles long and no wider in most places than a child can throw a stone. It is the primary water supply for the ever-burgeoning presence of tourists, agriculture, and industry on California's Monterey Peninsula. It is also one of the top ten endangered rivers in North America. The river's story, which dramatically unfolds in this book, is an epic tale of exploitation, development, and often unwitting degradation reaching back to the first appearance of Europeans on the pristine peninsula.
River in Ruin is a precise weaving of water history--local and larger--and a natural, social, and environmental narrative of the Carmel River. Ray A. March traces the river's misuse from 1879 and details how ever more successful promotions of Monterey demanded more and more water, leading to one dam after another. As a result the river was disastrously depleted, cluttered with concrete rubble, and inhospitable to the fish prized by visitors and residents alike.
March's book is a cautionary tale about squandering precious water resources--about the ultimate cost of a ruined river and the slim but urgent hope of bringing it back to life.

Author: Ray a. March
Publisher: Bison Books
Published: 04/01/2012
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 8.87h x 5.87w x 0.81d
ISBN: 9780803238343

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2012
Publishers Weekly 02/27/2012 pg. 77
Library Journal 03/15/2012 pg. 129
Shelf Awareness 04/06/2012
Choice 09/01/2012

About the Author
Ray A. March, the author of several nonfiction books, is a career journalist and cofounder and editor of the Modoc Independent News. He is also the cofounder of Modoc Forum, a nonprofit perpetuating an awareness of rural life through literature and the arts.