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Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World
What if saving our home planet starts with giving other species space to roam? How can we re-shape our human-built landscapes to serve both people and wildlife?
These are the questions that Hillary Rosner attempts to answer in Roam, an urgent quest to figure out how to stitch our fragmented planet back together. It’s about the people trying to reconstruct landscapes where animals can once again move freely, as they did for millennia. It’s about reconnecting Earth so that wild species and natural systems have room to adapt and thrive. It's about seeing wildlife as the guides we need to lead us to adapt to climate change.
Humans have always altered the landscapes around us; in some ways it’s part of what defines us as a species. But since the middle of the last century, we’ve changed the Earth on an overwhelming scale. Our infrastructure, our hunger for resources, our methods of farming and traveling and living—all these have rendered our planet inhospitable for the other species that live here. As a result, all over the globe, animals are stranded—by roads, fences, drainage systems, industrial farms, cities. They simply cannot move around to access their daily needs. Yet as climate change reshapes the planet in its own ways, many creatures will, increasingly, have to move in order to survive.
This book illustrates a massive and underreported how a completely human-centered view of the world has impacted the ability of other species to move around.
But it’s also about solutions and How we can forge new links between landscapes that have become isolated pieces. How we can stitch ecosystems back together, so that the processes still work, and the systems can evolve as they need to. How we can build a world in which humans recognize their interconnectedness with the rest of the planet, and view other species with empathy and compassion.
These are the questions that Hillary Rosner attempts to answer in Roam, an urgent quest to figure out how to stitch our fragmented planet back together. It’s about the people trying to reconstruct landscapes where animals can once again move freely, as they did for millennia. It’s about reconnecting Earth so that wild species and natural systems have room to adapt and thrive. It's about seeing wildlife as the guides we need to lead us to adapt to climate change.
Humans have always altered the landscapes around us; in some ways it’s part of what defines us as a species. But since the middle of the last century, we’ve changed the Earth on an overwhelming scale. Our infrastructure, our hunger for resources, our methods of farming and traveling and living—all these have rendered our planet inhospitable for the other species that live here. As a result, all over the globe, animals are stranded—by roads, fences, drainage systems, industrial farms, cities. They simply cannot move around to access their daily needs. Yet as climate change reshapes the planet in its own ways, many creatures will, increasingly, have to move in order to survive.
This book illustrates a massive and underreported how a completely human-centered view of the world has impacted the ability of other species to move around.
But it’s also about solutions and How we can forge new links between landscapes that have become isolated pieces. How we can stitch ecosystems back together, so that the processes still work, and the systems can evolve as they need to. How we can build a world in which humans recognize their interconnectedness with the rest of the planet, and view other species with empathy and compassion.
Hardcover
Published October 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 16, 2026
Most people are probably familiar with the destruction caused by migrating elephants when their pathways are replaced by villages, or with the sad photos of dead animals on freeways cutting through prairies or woodlands. But there are many more ways that animals once free to roam their environment are increasingly penned into smaller and smaller areas with no corridors between them. As a result, the overall numbers and the diversity of animal species are in dangerous decline.
This book is a deep dive into the issue of how different types of human activity are disrupting the ability of wild animals to move around their native habitats to feed, mate, and raise their young, and how dedicated groups of individuals are doing their best to prevent or remedy the problems caused by these activities. Different problems are illustrated by examples drawn from areas around North and South America, Europe, and Africa; they include road and rail construction, drainage of rivers to provide land for building, fences that are erected to keep the animals out but are never taken down even after decades and even after they are no longer needed, replacement of natural environments by pesticide-heavy monoculture, and industrial pollution that contaminates everything in sight and is never cleared up. And all these problems are being exacerbated by climate change, which compels animals to migrate when their habitat becomes too hot, too dry, or flooded.
The book also follows some of the people trying to help fix these problems - scientists, naturalists, dedicated volunteers, some working for govenrments and some for nonprofits. They've been doing extraordinary work to help create wildlife-friendly environments, from building land bridges to diverting rivers to rewilding landscapes to educating local communities. Their work has made a real difference in many cases, but there's always the feeling that some of these efforts are only temporary. While the book encourages the reader to see some hope for the future as a result of all this effort, the sheer size of the problem and the short-term-focused attitudes of industry and government create a barrier to change that seems almost insurmountable. I hope this book, along with others on the same topic, will encourage people to insist that governments start acting for the good of all of us.
This book is a deep dive into the issue of how different types of human activity are disrupting the ability of wild animals to move around their native habitats to feed, mate, and raise their young, and how dedicated groups of individuals are doing their best to prevent or remedy the problems caused by these activities. Different problems are illustrated by examples drawn from areas around North and South America, Europe, and Africa; they include road and rail construction, drainage of rivers to provide land for building, fences that are erected to keep the animals out but are never taken down even after decades and even after they are no longer needed, replacement of natural environments by pesticide-heavy monoculture, and industrial pollution that contaminates everything in sight and is never cleared up. And all these problems are being exacerbated by climate change, which compels animals to migrate when their habitat becomes too hot, too dry, or flooded.
The book also follows some of the people trying to help fix these problems - scientists, naturalists, dedicated volunteers, some working for govenrments and some for nonprofits. They've been doing extraordinary work to help create wildlife-friendly environments, from building land bridges to diverting rivers to rewilding landscapes to educating local communities. Their work has made a real difference in many cases, but there's always the feeling that some of these efforts are only temporary. While the book encourages the reader to see some hope for the future as a result of all this effort, the sheer size of the problem and the short-term-focused attitudes of industry and government create a barrier to change that seems almost insurmountable. I hope this book, along with others on the same topic, will encourage people to insist that governments start acting for the good of all of us.
November 19, 2025
This book could not have been published at a more critical time and as an issue that’s near and dear to my heart and my work, I found it insightful, informative, and well thought out.
The reality of the world we navigate and the routes we use to achieve that navigation are, whether we think about it or not, a boon to us while simultaneously being a detriment to nearly ever other species on the planet. Across a landscape that’s both increasingly fragmented and decreasingly suitable for wildlife, Roam is as much an eye-opening tome of information as it is a call to action.
Rosner approaches the issue of fragmentation and connectivity not from a single direction but from multiple view points across myriad different landscapes of varying ecological character and ancillary stakeholders, all impacted in various ways by the problems our wildlife and wild places face today.
Roam does a good job at exploring the issues of habitat connectivity inclusive of the human dimensions folded into solving those problems, and tackles issues that may not be as obvious as, say, a mountain lion has trouble crossing a highway. For example chapters address avian corridors and aquatic connectivity, issue that may not readily spring to mind since we may not see breaks in aquatic ecosystems as easily as we do a freeway bisecting a migration corridor and the fact that birds, you know, fly.
Overall I would absolutely recommend this book. As a wildlife professional who navigates issues related to habitat connectivity or dealing directly with fragmentation, Roam offered fresh perspectives and new things to consider. I think for the casual reader interested in how we impact wildlife movement and the ways in which that’s being mitigated, this book would be one to include at the top of the list of related works that illustrate the immediacy of the issue and the scope of the wildlife impacted.
The reality of the world we navigate and the routes we use to achieve that navigation are, whether we think about it or not, a boon to us while simultaneously being a detriment to nearly ever other species on the planet. Across a landscape that’s both increasingly fragmented and decreasingly suitable for wildlife, Roam is as much an eye-opening tome of information as it is a call to action.
Rosner approaches the issue of fragmentation and connectivity not from a single direction but from multiple view points across myriad different landscapes of varying ecological character and ancillary stakeholders, all impacted in various ways by the problems our wildlife and wild places face today.
Roam does a good job at exploring the issues of habitat connectivity inclusive of the human dimensions folded into solving those problems, and tackles issues that may not be as obvious as, say, a mountain lion has trouble crossing a highway. For example chapters address avian corridors and aquatic connectivity, issue that may not readily spring to mind since we may not see breaks in aquatic ecosystems as easily as we do a freeway bisecting a migration corridor and the fact that birds, you know, fly.
Overall I would absolutely recommend this book. As a wildlife professional who navigates issues related to habitat connectivity or dealing directly with fragmentation, Roam offered fresh perspectives and new things to consider. I think for the casual reader interested in how we impact wildlife movement and the ways in which that’s being mitigated, this book would be one to include at the top of the list of related works that illustrate the immediacy of the issue and the scope of the wildlife impacted.
January 7, 2026
Roam is an urgent, compassionate, and deeply illuminating exploration of what it means to share a planet and what must change if we hope to survive together.
Hillary Rosner examines one of the most underreported consequences of human development: the fragmentation of the natural world. Roads, fences, cities, industrial agriculture, and infrastructure have carved the planet into isolated pieces, leaving countless species unable to move, adapt, or survive. Rosner makes this crisis tangible by focusing on mobility not just habitat loss, but the loss of connection.
What makes Roam especially powerful is its balance of science, storytelling, and hope. Rosner introduces readers to researchers, conservationists, and communities working to reconnect landscapes through wildlife corridors, redesigned infrastructure, and reimagined land use. These stories ground the science in human effort and ingenuity, showing that repair is not only possible, but already underway.
Rather than centering humans as separate from nature, Roam reframes wildlife as teachers guides showing us how ecosystems function and how resilience depends on movement, diversity, and connection. The writing is clear, empathetic, and quietly persuasive, encouraging readers to see the planet not as a resource to be managed, but as a shared system that must be allowed to breathe.
Roam is both a wake-up call and a blueprint for coexistence. It’s essential reading for anyone concerned about climate change, conservation, and the future of life on Earth.
Hillary Rosner examines one of the most underreported consequences of human development: the fragmentation of the natural world. Roads, fences, cities, industrial agriculture, and infrastructure have carved the planet into isolated pieces, leaving countless species unable to move, adapt, or survive. Rosner makes this crisis tangible by focusing on mobility not just habitat loss, but the loss of connection.
What makes Roam especially powerful is its balance of science, storytelling, and hope. Rosner introduces readers to researchers, conservationists, and communities working to reconnect landscapes through wildlife corridors, redesigned infrastructure, and reimagined land use. These stories ground the science in human effort and ingenuity, showing that repair is not only possible, but already underway.
Rather than centering humans as separate from nature, Roam reframes wildlife as teachers guides showing us how ecosystems function and how resilience depends on movement, diversity, and connection. The writing is clear, empathetic, and quietly persuasive, encouraging readers to see the planet not as a resource to be managed, but as a shared system that must be allowed to breathe.
Roam is both a wake-up call and a blueprint for coexistence. It’s essential reading for anyone concerned about climate change, conservation, and the future of life on Earth.
July 14, 2025
Publishing date: 14.10.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Patagonia for the ARC. My opinions are my own.
Roam has a great premise I would love to learn more about, and I did, but I didn't get the satisfaction I usually get from learning about a subject like this.
In Roam you get:
- Insight into how human infrastructure impacts animals
- How roaming habits have changed and intersect with humans
- What we are currently trying to do to combat said changing habits
- How climate change has impacted both human and animal roaming
I have a few annoyances and gripes with this book. Mainly just two.
The images in the book are mostly stock photos with the watermarks. I understand that getting professional photos isn't cheap or easy, but at least paying to get a watermark free photo could have been done. It just feels a little cheap this way.
I wish the book showed some of the infrastructure we have built and planned to allow animals to roam with humans. Tunnels, natural bridges, etc. Showcasing them a little more.
But overall, this was a fine book. I learnt a little more about an interesting subject, and that's an accomplishment in itself. I just believe the book needs a little more time in the oven. 3 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Patagonia for the ARC. My opinions are my own.
Roam has a great premise I would love to learn more about, and I did, but I didn't get the satisfaction I usually get from learning about a subject like this.
In Roam you get:
- Insight into how human infrastructure impacts animals
- How roaming habits have changed and intersect with humans
- What we are currently trying to do to combat said changing habits
- How climate change has impacted both human and animal roaming
I have a few annoyances and gripes with this book. Mainly just two.
The images in the book are mostly stock photos with the watermarks. I understand that getting professional photos isn't cheap or easy, but at least paying to get a watermark free photo could have been done. It just feels a little cheap this way.
I wish the book showed some of the infrastructure we have built and planned to allow animals to roam with humans. Tunnels, natural bridges, etc. Showcasing them a little more.
But overall, this was a fine book. I learnt a little more about an interesting subject, and that's an accomplishment in itself. I just believe the book needs a little more time in the oven. 3 stars
January 17, 2026
How can we reconnect landscapes so that wild species and natural systems have room to adapt and change? This question stands at the center of this interesting book. The author travels the world to show different challenges and possible solutions. Recommended to people interested in ecology and nature conservation.
Thanks to the publisher, Patagonia, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
Thanks to the publisher, Patagonia, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
March 3, 2026
This book is all about connectivity and creating corridors for all animals to move freely within and between ecosystems. Key to protecting biodiversity. The author includes humans in her analysis, which was insightful.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews