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
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
Gallery Bookshop, Mendocino
Historical Society of Mendocino County, Ukiah
Kelley House Museum, Mendocino
The Book Juggler, Willits 
In Store
Guest House Museum, Fort Bragg
Four-Eyed Frog Books, Gualala
184 pages, cultural and natural history, 200 black-and-white and color illustrations, ​including historic and contemporary photographs and maps.
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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 2023
​Dot Brovarney
​Contact the author-publisher:
​
Dot@landcestry.com
Published by Landcestry
​
www.landcestry.com
HIS036140 /CALIFORNIA / SETTLEMENT /INDIGENOUS / LAND CONSERVATION
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