Catherine Schmitt is the author of A Coastal Companion: A Year in the Gulf of Maine from Cape Cod to Canada and The President's Salmon: Restoring the King of Fish and its Home Waters. She writes frequently for newspapers, magazines, and literary journals. Her writing is informed by her background in environmental science and field experience in rivers, lakes, forests, wetlands, and beaches throughout the Northeastern U.S. Schmitt is communications director for the Sea Grant Program at the University of Maine.