America’s Wild Read – An Online Book Club For Wildlife and Nature Enthusiasts

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched an exciting new project this week called WILD READ, a virtual book club meant to inspire people to connect with the outdoors and nature, all while enjoying a book. As an English major and nature nerd, it’s an initiative that I can definitely get behind.

As their first project, WILD READ will feature noted ecologist E.O. Wilson’s first novel, Anthill, the story of a boy whose Huck Finn-inspired summer in rural Alabama teaches him deeper understandings of nature and its most ruthless predators, humans.

Readers will also share insights on two related essays: Thinking Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold, an early founder of the land conservation movement, and Once and Future Land Ethic, by Dr. Curt Meine, senior fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

Right now readers are invited to sign up and introduce yourselves online.  Discussions of the essays and Anthill will begin on May 1, 2011, and May 15, 2011, respectively.

They are having conservation writers Curt Meine and Will Stolzenburg (author of Where the Wild Things Were) serve as online moderators. I’m also honored to be moderating a section of the book (Week 6, chapters 15-18).

So, join us! Share your comments and become connected to people and wild places across the nation with the launch the WILD READ.