READING
"The Reluctant Metropolis --The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles" by William Fulton, is a portrait of the city's evolution depicted in five parts: power, structure, land, money, and consequences. Fulton, a journalist and urban planner, tells the inside stories of Los Angeles' growth and change over the past 20 years. 395 pages, 1997, Solano Press Books, Point Arena, CA, 1-800-931-9373. $29.95 hardcover.

"The Seven States of California: A Natural and Human History" by Philip L. Fradkin describes how the state's landscape has helped to shape its destiny. The author traveled 200,000 miles in an old Volkswagen to collect anecdotes and local history for the book. It focuses on seven areas of the state's landscape: the Sierra Nevada around Donner Pass, the North Coast of Humboldt County, the Central Valley from Modesto to Merced, the volcanic area from Mount Shasta to Tule Lake, the Mojave Desert from Mono Lake through Death Valley, the San Andreas Fault from the Carrizo Plain to Sonoma County, and a slice of Los Angeles County. 474 pages, 1997, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. $14.95 paperback.

"Creating a Forestry for the Twenty-first Century: The Science of Ecosystem Management" by Kathryn A. Kohm and Jerry F. Franklin, with a forward by former U.S. Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas, examines the current state of forestry and its relation to the emergent field of ecosystem management. Drawing upon the expertise of scientists, the book provides an up-to-date synthesis of the principles of ecosystem management and their implications for forest policy. Contains 16-page center section with color photographs illustrating ecosystem management, 576 pages, 1996, Island Press, Covelo, CA. $50 hardcover, $30 paperback. Telephone: 1-800-828-1302.

"Seasonal Guide to the Natural Year" for Northern California, by Bill McMillon provides an unusual month-by-month guide to year-around natural events in the northern half of the state. The reader finds out where and when to see such natural spectacles as migrating whales, waterfalls, spawning sharks, pupping harbor seals, and fall colors in the Gold Rush country. There also are photographs and plenty of maps showing the locations. 342 pages, 1995, Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO. $15.95 paperback. Telephone: 1-800-992-2908.

ON-LINE
California Biodiversity News - All Issues
http://www.ceres.ca.gov/biodiversity

Watershed Information Technology System (WITS)
http://www.ceres.ca.gov/watershed

Water and Wildland Expertise in the University of California System
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/exp

VIDEO
"GIS: Geographic Information Systems, Improving Local Decision-making," commissioned by the California Biodiversity Council, describes how GIS assists local governments in land-use planning. Available at no charge. Write to California Biodiversity Council, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 1920 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. Fax: 916:227:2672, e-mail: (joanne_cemo@fire.ca.gov).