Wheatgrass Mechanism: Science and Imagination in the Western Canadian Landscape

by Don Gayton

Don Gayton's collection of beautifully written and passionate essays has earned him many enthusiastic fans since its first publication in 1990. In The Wheatgrass Mechanism, he writes about the industrialization of our western landscapes and the exploitation of our resources, and tells how the North American prairie has become the most extensively altered biome on the planet. He brings a scientist's understanding to our common landscapes and explores them in a language that is supple and evocative for the lay reader. There is a strong environmental message in The Wheatgrass Mechanism, but this is not just another "how-to-save-the-planet" book. Gayton goes beyond simple analysis and concern into the realms of culture and myth, attempting to strike a balance between science and imagination that will help us restore our bonds with the Earth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Ecology

156 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1992

About the author

Don’s writing is inspired by unique and wide-ranging life experience. Growing up on the US west coast, he attends a multi-racial high school in Seattle, followed by a hitchhiking stint around Europe. After two years of university he joins the US Peace Corps, working with peasant farmers in rural Colombia. Returning to the US in the late Sixties, he joins student protest movements against the war in Vietnam. Finishing an undergraduate degree, he works on cattle ranches in eastern Washington. Persisting in his opposition to the Vietnam war and the draft, Gayton and his young family immigrate to Canada, beginning a new life in Saskatchewan. After finishing his Master's degree at the U of S, Don works with small farmers on the Indian Reserves.
In 1990 Don and his family move to Nelson, BC, where he works as a range manager for the BC Forest Service. During this time he deepens his lifelong association with grasslands, and acquires a new interest in fire ecology. After retiring and moving to Summerland, in the BC Okanagan, Don starts a new career as a consulting ecologist.
Don's first novel, Columbia Son, will be published in summer 2026.