Book award winner David Haskell makes observations in the square meter of Cumberland Plateau forest that is the subject of his book.Sewanee biology professor David Haskell carefully has been researching Cumberland Plateau forests through one square meter of ground.
And this week he learned the book he wrote about his work, “The Forest Unseen,” has won a 2012 National Outdoor Book Award.
Haskell, 43, called the award an honor.
“I had wanted for years to write a book telling the story of the forest. Much has been written about forests, but most of it is buried in science journals. My hope was using literature to connect people to the outdoors,” he said.
Haskell spent a year — much of it on his belly — watching and cataloging his tiny plot of forest in Shakerag Hollow on the Cumberland Plateau campus of the University of the South to tell the story of what happens in the wild woodlands. The book won in the natural history category.