Author Talk with Donna L. Erickson

Country Bookshelf is excited to welcome Donna L. Erickson to discuss her new book, , on October 23 at 6pm.

Tickets are not required for this event, but RSVPs are appreciated. Please get a FREE general admission ticket by selecting "Get Tickets" at the bottom of this page.

Books can be purchased at the event or ordered in advance or by calling Country Bookshelf at (406) 587-0166 during our regular business hours.

The event at a glance:

• On October 23, please arrive early to secure your seat. Seating is general admission, first come, first served.

• At 6:00pm, the event program featuring Donna L. Erickson will begin. The author will take audience questions following the program.

• After the talk, Donna L. Erickson will sign books.

• Can't attend in person? Order a signed copy of on our website or by calling (406) 587-0166. Signing requests will need to be placed 24 hours before the event.

About Rooted at the Edge: Ranching Where the Old West and New West Collide

Rooted at the Edge paints a portrait of a ranching community in a threatened landscape steeped in history, conflict, and beauty. In this narrative nonfiction work, Donna L. Erickson explores the hilly skirt of ground at the northern boundary of Missoula, Montana, separating the town from the wilderness beyond. The North Hills region represents the critical—and often highly personal—issues at play at the edge of many western towns.

The urban-rural fringe is both valuable and vulnerable. Across the West rural lifestyles are increasingly compromised by suburbanization, economic hardship, and family dynamics; a way of life and a way of work are vanishing. Ranchland may be simultaneously cherished by a family for the life its members have made there and coveted by urban neighbors for open space. Community residents may love a place for its scenery and wildlife habitat while others wish it converted to a commercial parking lot. Complex ecological relationships can be bulldozed in a single afternoon. And the threats of climate change and shifting populations compromise the edge even more.

In the tension between love and loss, Erickson wrote this story of a landscape’s soft contours, piney ridges, shady draws, and grassy slopes, and its potential disappearance under an expanding city. Rooted at the Edge conveys, in a way that statistics cannot, what’s at stake when ranches at the urban fringe are threatened.

Donna L. Erickson is a consultant on open-space conservation in the Rocky Mountain West and was an associate professor of landscape architecture and planning at the University of Michigan for sixteen years. Erickson has published extensively in design, planning, and conservation journals and is the author of MetroGreen: Connecting Open Space in North American Cities.

Accessibility Information:

• The event will take place on the first floor of Country Bookshelf.

• All doorways have a width greater than 32 inches with the narrowest being our front door at 35 inches.

• The speakers will be using a microphone at this event.

• Please email c3RhZmYgfCBjb3VudHJ5Ym9va3NoZWxmICEgY29t if you have any specific accessibility needs and we will do our best to serve you!

• Do you or someone you know provide ASL interpretation? Country Bookshelf is seeking an interpreter to call on for future events. Please send information to c3RhZmYgfCBjb3VudHJ5Ym9va3NoZWxmICEgY29t if there is interest!

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