Full Reviews Follows . . .

Nature Guidebook Winner.   A Field Guide to Snakes of Florida by Alan Tennant, published by Gulf Publishing Company. 

Longtime herpetologist Alan Tennant skillfully combines scientific data with straightforward comments and observations to make this book an invaluable resource tool for identifying and appreciating Florida's remarkable snake population.  A well crafted and organized guidebook, it has understandable text and crisp, easy-to-use color photographs of every snake described in the book. 

Wonderfully readable and well-researched, this is a month-to-month guide to the rhythms of nature in Colorado.  It includes wildflower blooming charts, bird arrival times, a naturalist's where-to-go directory, and entertaining facts about the state's flora and fauna. 

Nature and the Environment Winner.  The Columbia: Sustaining a Modern Resource by Tim Palmer, published by The Mountaineers. 

Tim Palmer, in one of his finest works on rivers, celebrates the beauty and natural resources of the Columbia.  Taking readers from one tributary to another across the vast and varied Pacific Northwest landscape, he describes the river's watershed, the intricate pattern of development, and its dwindling forests and salmon runs.  He details what is wrong but also offers hope that responsible politics can redirect society toward a sustainable future. 

Nature and the Environment (Honorable Mention).  The Arctic Wolf: Ten Years with the Pack by David Mech, published by Voyageur Press. 

Written by one of the world's foremost authorities on wolves, this book is about Mech's work with a pack of Arctic wolves which he first began to study in 1986.  It is as much a fascinating personal account as it is a classic field study.  Moreover, it's a stylish and elegant book, lavishly illustrated with color photography. 

Outdoor Adventure Guidebook Winner.  Colorado's Continental Divide Trail by Tom Lorang Jones.  Photographs by John Fielder.  Published by Westcliffe Publishers. 

This guidebook covers the 759-mile stretch of the Continental Divide Trail through the state of Colorado and includes trail descriptions, history, conservation information, and route finding hints.  It's an outstanding resource for hikers and mountain bikers.  From brilliant color photography to colorful maps and graphics to insightful writing, this is a model guidebook. 

Instructional Book Winner.  Knots and Ropes for Climbers, by Duane Raleigh. Illustrated by Mike Clelland.  Published by Stackpole Books. 

Knots and Ropes is not a fancy book.  It's less than 100 pages in length and there's no color photography.  But it is the book's plain and simple approach which makes it so appealing and useful.  Duane Raleigh's text along with Mike Clelland's clever, but clear and understandable illustrations, remove the mystery surrounding climbing knots and makes tying them a snap. 

Track of the Tiger is a compelling and masterfully designed book with rich, stunning photography by some of the world's best nature photographers.  Nine essays, edited by eminent biologist, Maurice Hornocker, bring alive this magnificent and legendary animal, the largest of the world's cats. 

Conservationists and venerable Pacific Northwest guidebook writers, Ira Spring and Harvey Manning describe 100 of the best hikes in Washington.  This is a beautifully arranged book, with exquisite color photography and a new and promising type of map graphic giving readers a visual representation of trail lay-out. 

In this well-researched and well-written biography, western whitewater pioneer Buzz Holmstrom, famous for his 1937 thousand-mile solo run down the Colorado River, comes to life.  Near its conclusion, the book answers one of the great mysteries of the whitewater world:  how and why did Holmstrom die on the Grand Ronde river in Oregon?  This is a wonderful story about rivers and wooden boats, humility, solitude, and one man's lone struggle in a difficult and changing world. 

Outdoor Literature Winner. Postcards from the Ledge: Collected Mountaineering Writings of Greg Child by Greg Child, published by The Mountaineers. 

Postcards from the Ledge establishes Greg Child as one of most talented and versatile writers of the mountaineering genre.  A competent and experienced climber, he is an astute and objective observer.   He is humorous and serious, and as adept at elegant descriptions of the high moments of life in the  mountains as he is describing the sordid and repulsive side of the sport. 

This book, first written in the 1950s and still in print, is authored by the grand dame of the wilderness movement, Margaret Murie.  Margaret has helped generations of men and women understand the need to preserve wild landscapes.  In Two in the Far North, she describes her life in Alaska:  her growing up in Anchorage and her adventurous trips into the Alaska wilderness with her husband and biologist, Olaus.  It is a wonderful read and a true American wilderness classic. 

Freedom of the Hills is the classic English-language text on mountaineering and the best selling climbing instruction book of all time.  First published in 1960 and now on its sixth edition, this authoritative and expansive book has evolved with the times, while maintaining its high and exacting standards.  It is an essential part of any outdoor library.