The Kootenays, a region of rivers, lakes and mountains in southeastern British Columbia, is home to the kokanee. This landlocked sibling of the sockeye salmon is an extravagant gift from the Pacific Ocean, an elusive flash of molten silver, a lustful reproductive torrent of fire-engine red, a marvel of interior adaptation, an icon of regional culture, and a pawn of industry. In Kokanee: The Redfish and the Kootenay Bioregion, writer and ecologist Don Gayton tells the kokanee's story, from the cataclysmic Ice Age events that gave birth to the species through its heyday as a sporting fish, to current threats to its existence. The story of the kokanee is the story of the delicate balance between land and water, and between people and nature. Kokanee: The Redfish and the Kootenay Bioregion is number 9 in the Transmontanus series.

An ecologist and writer, Don Gayton was raised in California and Washington. He is the author of two award–winning books of non–fiction. His first book was The Wheatgrass Mechanism: Science and Imagination in the Western Canadian Landscape (Fifth House, 1990). Landscapes of the Interior: A Re–exploration of Nature and the Human Spirit (New Society Publishers, 1996), won the National Outdoor Book Award, Outdoor Literature Category, in the United States, and was shortlisted for a BC Book Award. He has also written for Equinox, Canadian Geographic, Harrowsmith, NeWest Review, Books in Canada, Rangelands, Mercator–s World, and Bugle. He lives in Nelson, BC with his family.

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