BOOK 



MARKET 



"take along" for a fall weekend 

 on the Outer Banks. 



• Lake Mattamuskeet: 

 New Holland and Hyde 

 County, by Lewis C. Forrest, 

 The A?radia Publishing 

 Company, Charleston, SC 

 29401. 128 pages. Paperback, 

 $18.99, ISBN0-7385-0771-5. 



Lake Mattamuskeet — 

 North Carolina's largest natural 

 freshwater lake — is the subject 

 of both science and legend. In 

 his new book, Lewis C. Forrest 

 tells a little of both to under- 

 score the lake's role in history, 

 culture, economy and ecology. 



Forrest, executive director 

 of The Mattamuskeet Founda- 

 tion, has devoted thousands of 

 volunteer hours researching the 

 lake's history. Drawing on a collection of 

 more than 36,000 pages of historical 

 documents and period photographs, Forrest 

 focuses on 1909 to 1934 — a period when 

 the lake was drained by the Mattamuskeet 

 Drainage District in an attempt to claim its 

 bed for agricultural and residential use. 



The project attracted the attention of 

 engineers from across America and abroad, 

 and led to the construction of huge floating 

 dipper dredges to excavate the canals, the 

 introduction of the railroad, and the 

 creation of the world's largest pumping 

 plant — now Mattamuskeet Lodge. The 

 project changed hands several times. In 

 1926, pumps drained the lake a third and 

 final time. 



The drainage project ended with the 

 sale of the lake to the U.S. government in 

 1934, when it became known as the 

 Mattamuskeet Migratory Waterfowl 

 Refuge. The Civilian Conservation Corps 

 (CCC), a work program during the Great 

 Depression, converted the old pumping 

 plant into the lodge and observation tower. 

 The building served as a hunting lodge 

 until 1974 and was placed on the National 

 Historic Registry in 1980. The lodge now is 



a field station for East Carolina University 

 and the Partnership for the Sounds. 



Today, the lake makes up most of the 

 Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge 

 and is a favorite wintering spot for 

 migratory birds on the Atlantic Flyway. 

 Thousands of tundra swan winter on the 

 50,000-acre lake — a phenomenon marked 

 each year with the celebration of Swan 

 Days on the first weekend of December. 

 The book is a must for those attending this 

 event, scheduled for Dec. 2-3. (See Coastal 

 Tidings.) 



• Into the Sea by Brenda Z. Guiberson, 

 illustrated by Ali.x Berenzy. Henry Holt and 

 Company, Inc., 115 West 18th Street, New 

 York, NY 10011. 30 pages. Hardcover, 

 $15.95 ISBN 0-8050-2263-5. 



This book about sea turtles is listed as 

 juvenile literature. But the story and the 

 illustrations are so compelling, adults will 

 find it irresistible. Simply put, Into the Sea 

 follows the life journey of a sea turtle from 

 its hatching on a moonlit beach, through its 

 years in the sea, and its return to land to lay 

 its eggs. The turtle's survival skills are 

 tested as she encounters colorful — and 



often threatening — creatures 

 in the vast ocean environment. 



Through an accurate 

 portrayal of this endangered 

 animal, readers learn about the 

 beauty and pitfalls of life at 

 sea, and the role instinct plays 

 in guiding the behavior of this 

 sea giant. Guiberson writes: 



"At three hundred pounds, 

 the turtle is a fully grown adult. 

 Soon eggs begin to form in her 

 body, and she finds a current 

 that seems familiar to her and 

 follows it back across the 

 ocean." 



After more than 20 years 

 in the sea, the turtle has 

 returned to land. Waiting until 

 nighttime, she pulls her body 

 across the sandy beach, and 

 works to exhaustion to prepare 

 a sandy chamber for her eggs — about one 

 hundred of them. 



And then, in words and pictures, the 

 reader witnesses the cycle repeating itself: 

 "She leaves the sandy nest behind her. If 

 nothing destroys the eggs, her babies will 

 hatch in two months. Perhaps one or two 

 will get past the crabs and the sea birds, the 

 fish and the fishing nets, and like their 

 mother, will return to lay eggs on the same 

 sandy beach before making their way back 

 into the sea." 



Youngsters will want to keep Into the 

 Sea on their shelves for a long time. It is a 

 blend of a good read, good science and 

 good art. 



North Carolina beaches are nesting 

 sites for leatherback, loggerhead and green 

 turtles. Nest sites are marked by the 

 National Park Service rangers and other 

 conservationists to protect them from 

 human intervention. Some beach areas may 

 be closed at times when hatchlings are 

 attempting to reach the ocean. The Network 

 for Endangered Sea Turtles (NEST) keeps 

 track of daily sea turtle activity for all 

 North Carolina beaches. Observations may 

 be reported by calling 252/441-8622. □ 



COASTWATCH 25 



