Jerry Dennis

Jerry Dennis didn’t start out trying to be guardian of the Great Lakes. Or of the rivers, lakes, forests, and wildlife. All he ever wanted to do “was write books and tell some entertaining stories,” he says. But after 10 books and countless articles and essays about nature in Michigan, Dennis has become just that. “When you spend years immersed in a subject and put your heart into writing and discover that we’re in danger of losing or destroying [it], you can’t help but become vocal in its defense,” he says.

Raised in northern Michigan, Dennis explored the state — with fishing pole in hand — to inspire “more books than [he] has time to write.” He grew up on the inland lakes. “Albert Camus said we spend our lives trying to recapture what we learned as children, when our souls first opened to the world. Mine first opened to water,” he says. Dennis writes about water and environmental issues “in an effort to get other people to care about them, too.”

Natural resources are in danger, but there is hope, Dennis says. “From people of all ages and races and political persuasions, the main message I’ve heard is this: ‘We care about leaving the planet healthy for our kids and their kids.'”