Comments on: For Love of a River: The Minnesota

By: Ted Suss, Minnesota River advocate

Ted Suss, Minnesota River advocate — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:43:30 +0000

An informative mix of some of the oldest geological formations on earth, long-lost tallgrass prairie, the basin’s original inhabitants, profiles of modern-day advocates who worked, and still work, to reclaim the river, all framed by one couple’s tale of paddling the length of the Minnesota River. If you love rivers, if you love nature and the outdoors, if you are concerned about the environment, you will love this book.

By: Steve Woods, Executive Director (retired), Freshwater Society

Steve Woods, Executive Director (retired), Freshwater Society — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:43:11 +0000

Darby Nelson flits effortlessly back and forth through time in this accessible biography of the Minnesota River. True, the river has suffered a host of cumulative transgressions–its flow has doubled over his lifespan, for example–but Darby shows where the beauty is and can be again. The geology, botany, history, and agronomy he describes so clearly make the basin come alive.

By: Forrest Peterson, Communication & Outreach, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:42:51 +0000

If you are proud of your state, but not well-acquainted with its namesake river, in For Love of a River: The Minnesota, Darby Nelson will take you on a paddle pictured in words, all delightful, illuminating and reminiscent of Sigurd Olson’s prose about Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

By: Kimberly Musser, Associate Director of the Water Resources Center at Minnesota State University at Mankato

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:42:24 +0000

Darby Nelson returns to his childhood home where he developed a love for the land and people of the Minnesota River Valley. Weaving together natural and cultural history, he reveals a complex tale of ecological and water quality transformation and highlights stories of inspirational people working together to effect change and build momentum for restoration. For Love of a River: The Minnesota makes a heartfelt and compelling plea to experience the river’s beauty for ourselves and join in the effort to improve it for future generations.

By: Tim Palmer, author of America’s Great River Journeys and Rivers of America.

Tim Palmer, author of America’s Great River Journeys and Rivers of America. — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:41:20 +0000

This great river of the American heartland now has its voice through a seasoned storyteller and scientist who has immersed himself in its currents and backwaters. Darby Nelson has inspired me to see more, learn more, and paddle more on a river that deserves our care in a new era of stewardship that this book tells us is possible, desirable, and essential. For Love of a River: The Minnesota is an important contribution to the literature of land and water in the Midwest.