University of Chicago Press pays extra attention to our landscape and waterways these days with two impressive new books.

The first, "The Vanishing Present: Wisconsin's Changing Lands, Waters and Wildlife," edited by Donald M. Waller -- a botany and environmental studies professor at UW-Madison -- and Thomas P. Rooney -- an assistant prof in biological sciences at Wright State -- is published in hardcover this month.

Over the course of 32 essays covering more than 500 pages, a range of scholars, naturalists and experts examines how the hand of man has altered and continues to alter Wisconsin's wetlands, forests, prairies and other natural features.

Sure, many of the chapters have titles like "How Have Wisconsin's Lichen Communities Changed?", but this hefty tome is really an accessible survey of the state of our state's natural places and resources. So, don't let the footnotes scare you away, follow Waller and Rooney as they dig deep into the Wisconsin soil.

Much more visually engaging and immediately alluring is Eddee Daniel's "Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed," published in large-format paperback this month.

Daniel, who collaborates with Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, has been a photography teacher for more than a quarter of a century, so it should come as little surprise that this exploration and meditation on the Menomonee River is heavily illustrated with color photos that bring this book alive.

Anyone familiar with the concrete-banked torrent we see under the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct or the stretch of river running through the former industrial wasteland of the Menomonee Valley will be surprised to see Daniel's images of wildlife, prairies and woods that are part of the river's reality before it arrives here.

Of course, Daniel looks at the river's woes and foes, and he also catalogs the great successes that preservationists and environmentalists have made in working to make the Menomonee a clean haven for wildlife and human life, too.

"The Vanishing Present" carries a $40 cover price, while "Urban Wilderness" retails for $27.50.