With a vivid narrative and stunning photography, this beautifully produced coffee-table book showcases the natural beauty of North America’s Rocky Mountain Front and the human stories that are intimately connected to its profound, and ever-changing, sense of place.

People in Alberta, Montana and around the world travel through the foothills to reach more iconic destinations such as Banff, Kananaskis, Waterton and Glacier national parks. The foothills, however, are a unique destination on their own and have helped define both Alberta and Montana, serving as the backdrop for much of both regions' history, and forming a rich cultural and natural landscape. Earth and Sky reveals, in text and image, the grandeur and beauty of this unique international frontier.

This richly illustrated book features 200 black and white and colour images together with short essays on natural history, geology, cultural background and the region’s communities, as well as the threats and solutions to development and social challenges found along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front and Alberta’s Eastern Slopes. Many of these essays are written in the first person, highlighting the author’s deep passion for and relationship with this place, with special emphasis on the transboundary importance of this landscape and the history and geography it shares between Canada and the United States.

Stephen Legault is a full-time conservation activist, writer, photographer, and organizational development consultant. He is the author of a number of historical and environmentally themed mysteries, including The End of the Line and The Third Riel Conspiracy, featuring Durrant Wallace, a sergeant with the North West Mounted Police in the late 1800s; The Slickrock Paradox, a Red Rock Canyon Mystery set in Utah's Canyonlands region; and The Vanishing Track and The Glacier Gallows, the most recent mysteries featuring Cole Blackwater, an environmentalist who finds himself solving crimes. Stephen is also the author of Carry Tiger to Mountain: The Tao of Activism and Leadership, which he wrote based on his experience using the Tao Te Ching as a guide to his lifelong work to protect wilderness and wildlife, and Running Toward Stillness, a meditation on Buddhist spiritual practice, running, and parenthood. He is currently working on new books of photography, essays on spirituality, and more mystery novels. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, with his wife, Jenn, and two children, Rio and Silas. Visit Stephen online at stephenlegault.com and follow him on Twitter at @StephenLegault.

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