Northwoods Alliance is happy to send you a book for $26 minimum donation, to cover the $20 value, sales tax (consigned through Big Bear Outpost) and shipping. Simply note Memoir with your payment on the Donations page. Each book comes with a thin slice of local wood to use as a book mark (bookmark shown is hemlock).
What others say about From Barbells to Spruce Grouse
“I’m truly humbled reading this account of Joe Hovel’s life. Equal parts logger, log-home builder, activist, lay lawyer, philosopher, truth-teller, risk-taker, visionary, dealmaker, woodsman, and warrior, he’s the bulldog we all wish we were when it comes to fighting for the land and water we love. He’s taken stands over and over again to conserve ecologically important parcels of land, in the process bringing together communities to take on what often appears impossible, and make it possible. I’d never want to be on the wrong side of a dogfight with Joe, because he’s tenacious - no one ’s going to outwork him. But he’s a peacemaker, too, always proceeding with an incredible heart and deep faith in just causes. He has lived the motto of “whatever it takes,” and we all should be profoundly grateful for who he is and what he’s accomplished.”
John Bates, Northwoods author and naturalist
“Joe Hovel chronicles his life-long love affair with the land. It validates that with tenacity, hard work, and activism one person can truly make a difference---and improve the health of the land.”
Mike Dombeck, PhD, Retired UW System Fellow and Professor of Global Conservation, UW Stevens Point and former Chief of the US Forest Service
“When Joe Hovel retired from building exuberantly creative log houses he furthered his attention-his astonishing energy-to a series of forestry and conservation handbooks. Now, here he is with a vigorously combative memoir in which he unfolds a life full of ecological engagement and conservation related trials and achievements. Whoever thinks a college degree or political office is necessary to affect meaningful change needs to study Hovel’s life. What’s next Joe?”
Paul Gilk, Author on rural Wisconsin culture, county board member and conservationist
“At a time when a country as rich and powerful as the United States cannot keep its commitments to fight climate change, Joe Hovel’s work reminds us that we can all work for the environment every day on our own terms in many different ways. These are great stories, even in a Wisconsin tradition of great stories. I read them thinking “if Paul Bunyan had been an environmentalist we wouldn’t be where we are now in the great Northwoods.” The Wisconsin legacy of John Muir and Aldo Leopold is now unfolding in a multitude of ways. The fight for the environment is on many fronts and multi-dimensional – and Joe Hovel surely takes us through some of these struggles. The lesson for all of us is that we can all do this: find a place where you can matter and go to work.”
Sidney Harring, attorney, law professor, member board of directors Protect the Adirondacks
“When my father founded Earth Day in 1970, he envisioned a generation of grassroots activists and engaged citizens being necessary to maintain human health in greater harmony with the natural world upon which all depend. In Joe Hovel’s memoir, we learn that individual action and persistence can play a critical role in the Earth Day philosophy while leading a full, meaningful, value driven life. I recommend this reading to all those who care about the natural world, as an inspiration to do your part. There is joy and beauty to be found together knowing we can make a difference. Joe’s memoir helps illuminate that path in meaningful ways.
Tia Nelson