Living Near the Water: Environmental Design for Shoreline Properties

Pleasance Crawford is a Canadian landscape and garden-history researcher
and writer and the co-author of Garden Voices: Two Centuries of Canadian
Garden Writing.

This book began as a study, commissioned by Parks Canada for the Rideau
Canal shoreline, that was carried out at the University of Guelph School
of Landscape Architecture. While the published book retains references
to the Rideau waterway and Eastern Ontario, it is intended for users and
owners of land along “any lake-river system in northeastern North
America.”

Readers are provided with a wealth of information: succinct
descriptions of prevailing landscape types and vegetative associations;
good suggestions for preserving or restoring, natural beauty of lake-
and riverside settings; and helpful examples of how to site man-made
structures with minimal environmental and visual impact. The book
concludes with annotated lists of native plants and an extensive
bibliography.

Unfortunately, poor organization makes the riches within hard to find.
The minimalist table of contents excludes subheadings, and there is no
compensatory index to provide direction. A cluttered interior design
further impedes the reader’s progress.