State of Change

Laura Cunningham is an artist-naturalist who studied paleontology and biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked field biology jobs for the California Department of Fish and Game, the United States Geological Survey, and various universities, gaining experience with such species as Owens Valley pupfish, salmon and steelhead trout, Yosemite toads, Panamint alligator lizards, and tule elk. Simultaneously, she taught herself the arts of sketching and oil painting and pursued studies of California's historical ecology. She currently works in the conservation nonprofit field. Her studio is next to Death Valley National Park along the Amargosa River.

• Preface to the Revised and Updated EditionAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Broad Valleys, Rolling HillsGolden BearMysteries of Time and ClimateShoreline StoriesThe Inland Marshes: WaterscapesRiver WorldCalifornia GrasslandsThe Oak: A Lifetime That Spans CenturiesFire: Red-Hot Cycles of RenewalWhere Deer and Antelope Played: Cycles You Can SeeGreat Herds: Elk and BisonTop Predators: InteractionsGiants in the Sky: CondorsFirst Fish: SalmonConclusion: RelocalizationNotesBibliographyIndexAbout the AuthorA Note on Type

A California Book Award WinnerA Northern California Book Award WinnerForeword Book of the Year FinalistPraise for A State of Change:"This wonderful book is a vivid reminder of how things began, and also as a vision of the rich and beautiful world we can work toward in our shared future. One of Heyday's best." —Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future and The High Sierra: A Love Story"I wouldn't be the artist-author I am today without A State of Change. I consider Cunningham's work to be an original inspiration for all that I do." —Obi Kaufmann, author of The California Field Atlas and California Inside Out"This brings a lost world straight back to life—and one hopes it will help us work to restore it in the real world." —Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun"When I was in high school, my teacher brought our class to the top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco and read the opening chapter of The Ohlone Way. As the wind blew around us, we re-envisioned the landscape below us. This experience has stuck with me to this day. The research and rich painting of A State of Change takes me even further. This book is a time machine that takes me on a journey into a land that I thought I knew. Now, as I explore, I cannot unsee Laura's paintings. They are like an overlay in my head, helping me see a familiar landscape with a new lens. As an artist, naturalist, and armchair time traveler, I appreciate this kind of depth and genius." —John Muir Laws, author of The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling"Beautiful and enlightening . . . a California classic." —San Francisco Chronicle"Skillful, evocative, and often stunning." —SFGate"A tantalizing, informative, inspiring glimpse into something we all try to imagine: California before all of this." —Robin M. Grossinger, San Francisco Estuary Institute"A State of Change taught me how to look at the landscape around me with different eyes. Thanks to Laura Cunningham’s brilliant interweaving of science and art, I can now imagine what California looked like before colonization. Her vision not only informs how we understand the past, but also what a better future could look like." —Liam O’Donoghue, host of East Bay Yesterday