Refuge : An Unnatural History of Family and Place

In the spring of 1983 Terry Tempest Williams learned that her mother was dying of cancer. That same season, The Great Salt Lake began to rise to record heights, threatening the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the herons, owls, and snowy egrets that Williams, a poet and naturalist, had come to gauge her life by. One event was nature at its most random, the other a by-product of rogue technology: Terry's mother, and Terry herself, had been exposed to the fallout of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s. As it interweaves these narratives of dying and accommodation, Refuge transforms tragedy into a document of renewal and spiritual grace, resulting in a work that has become a classic. The Author Describes Her Mormon Upbringing, Juxtaposing These Reminiscences With Discussions Of The Flooding Of A Wildlife Bird Sanctuary And Its Effect On That Ecosystem, And Her Family's Legacy Of Cancer. Burrowing Owls: Lake Level: 4204.70' -- Whimbrels: Lake Level: 4203.25' -- Snowy Egrets: Lake Level: 4204.05' -- Barn Swallows: Lake Level: 4204.75' -- Peregrine Falcon: Lake Level: 4205.40' -- Wilson's Phalarope: Lake Level: 4206.15' -- California Gulls: Lake Level: 4207.75' -- Ravens: Lake Level: 4209.10' -- Pink Flamingos: Lake Level: 4208.00' -- Snow Buntings: Lake Level: 4209.15' -- White Pelicans: Lake Level: 4209.90' -- Yellow-headed Blackbirds: Lake Level: 4209.55' -- Redheads: Lake Level: 4208.50' -- Killdeer: Lake Level: 4208.40' -- Whistling Swan: Lake Level: 4208.35' -- Great Horned Owl: Lake Level: 4208.45' -- Roadrunner: Lake Level: 4210.90' -- Magpies: Lake Level: 4211.30' -- Long-billed Curlews: Lake Level: 4211.65' -- Western Tanager: Lake Level: 4211.85' -- Gray Jays: Lake Level: 4211.40' -- Meadowlarks: Lake Level: 4211.00' -- Storm Petrel: Lake Level: 4210.85' -- Greater Yellowlegs: Lake Level: 4210.80' -- Canada Geese: Lake Level: 4210.95' -- Bald Eagles: Lake Level: 4211.10' -- Red-shafted Flicker: Lake Level: 4211.15' -- Dark-eyed Junco: Lake Level: 4211.20' -- Sanderlings: Lake Level: 4211.35' -- Birds-of-paradise: Lake Level: 4211.65' -- Pintails, Mallards, And Teals: Lake Level: 4211.85' -- Bitterns: Lake Level: 4210.20' -- Snowy Plovers: Lake Level: 4209.10' -- Great Blue Heron: Lake Level: 4207.05' -- Screech Owls: Lake Level: 4206.00' -- Avocets And Stilts: Lake Level: 4204.70' -- The Clan Of One-breasted Women: Epilogue -- Birds Associated With Great Salt Lake. Terry Tempest Williams. Originally Published: New York : Pantheon Books, 1991. I recall an experiment from school: we filled a cup with water-the surface area of the contents was only a few square inches.