Reveals the environmental and historical pressures shaping an essential stretch of land and water in the American West

A Reed Shaken with the Wind tells the story of the Bear River Marsh, freshwater and sheltered grasslands on the northeast end of the Great Salt Lake with a complex past. Despite being one of Utah’s most renowned hunting and birdwatching locations, the marsh today holds only a shadow of its former ecological vitality.

Tracing the marsh from its creation during the last ice age to its current status as an imperiled national wildlife refuge, Andrew Hedges draws on geology, ecology, archaeology, wildlife biology, and water resource management to explore the natural and human forces that shaped the marsh and contributed to its decline. Covering Indigenous relationships with land, market economies’ impacts, and the intersection of ecology, science, and politics in establishing the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, this volume deepens discussions of humanity’s place in the environment and efforts to restore balance with our planet.

Andrew H. Hedges is professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He is editor of two volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers Journals series and The Brigham Young Journals, Volume 1.