MENDOCINO REFUGE
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“A captivating homage to a wilderness sanctuary marked, but not spoiled, by human presence.” 
— Kirkus Reviews

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“Woods in Morning Light,”
​photograph of Lake Leonard by Robert B. Taylor, 2013
184 pages, cultural and natural history, 200 black-and-white and color illustrations, ​including historic and contemporary photographs and maps.
Brovarney deftly mixes regional history, ecology, and character studies of people who shaped and were shaped by the land, writing in lucid … prose dotted with flights of vivid lyricism."                — Kirkus Reviews

GET THE BOOK

Phone
Mendocino Book Company, Ukiah
Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah
Online/In Store
Gallery Bookshop, Mendocino
Historical Society of Mendocino Co.Ukiah
The Book Juggler, Willits 
In Store
Guest House Museum & Lost Coast Found, Ft Bragg
Four-Eyed Frog Books, Gualala

COMMUNITY COMMENTS

“Like a mystery with so many threads coming together.”
—Yvonne Kramer
​

“A treasure.” —Wendy Jackson

“I loved your book and will be reading it again.”
​—Joe Scriven
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How It All Began

A chance encounter ... a trunk of historic photographs … a cache of letters—the stuff of history inspires Mendocino Refuge: Lake Leonard & Reeves Canyon. Historian Dot Brovarney unpacks the trunk and much more. This engaging book introduces a cast of tough-as-leather characters who have peopled this rugged canyon and colored its history. Mendocino Refuge tells a multifaceted story of this wild place on California’s North Coast through its human inhabitants and the plants and animals who share it.
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Hazel Putnam’s trunk holds memories of her life in Reeves Canyon, 2022. Tom Liden, photographer. Trunk loan courtesy of the Peter Wagner family.
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Ancient Redwoods in Reeves Canyon

Hazel’s family among the big trees near their canyon cabin, c. 1920.

Native Pomo stories and traditions reflect a regenerative relationship with the land.​

Annie Burke, c. 1940. Pomo basketweaver and educator, mother of Elsie Allen. Robert J. Lee Photograph Collection, Historical Society of Mendocino County, Ukiah, CA
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Settlers brought a different approach to living on the land.

Redwoods Above Reeves Mill, 1888. Theophilus D’Estrella, photographer. Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House, Ukiah, CA ​

Two intrepid women among the canyon’s hardy year-round residents.

Una Boyle and Zoe in the hills, 1948.
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    Hazel Putnam (nee´ Dickinson) after the hunt, 19-teens.
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Copyright 2024
​Dot Brovarney
​Contact the author-publisher:
​
[email protected]
Published by Landcestry
​
www.landcestry.com
HIS036140 /CALIFORNIA / SETTLEMENT /INDIGENOUS / LAND CONSERVATION
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