As the author of Engineering Eden, Jordan Fisher Smith delved into a 1975 trial precipitated by a young man being eaten by a grizzly bear. The case raised the broader question of, when nature has been disrupted by human beings, how do we go about repairing it without making it worse? When writing the book, Smith drew upon his 21 years of experience as a park and wilderness ranger in California, Wyoming, Idaho, and Alaska. His articles have appeared in TIME.com, Men’s Journal, Discover and others, and been nominated for awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Smith is the author of Nature Noir, which was a Wall Street Journal summer reading selection, San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of 2005 pick, and an Audubon Magazine Editor’s Choice. He was a principal cast member and narrator of the film “Under Our Skin,” which was shortlisted for the 2010 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and appears in a 2014 sequel “Under Our Skin 2: Emergence.”