About Boreal Wilderland
COMING AUGUST 18, 2026
Twenty (or more) boreal forest expeditions over more than twenty years, captured by 35 artists and six natural history experts - an in-depth portrait of the largest, intact terrestrial ecosystem on the planet.
10% of proceeds will go to the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center
The boreal forest, a vast northern wilderness that encircles the globe, is three times the size of the Amazon, has the photosynthetic output of over a trillion trees, and is within a day’s drive of major urban centers such as New York City, Chicago, Toronto, and Moscow. Yet most people have no idea that wilderness on this scale still exists.
In Boreal Wilderland, acclaimed wildlife artist and naturalist Rob Mullen presents a rich portrait of this immense, breathtaking biome. With vivid prose and stunning artwork, Boreal Wilderland reveals a place that is ecologically essential to the planet’s climate, wildlife, and freshwater systems. Home to hundreds of Indigenous communities since time immemorial, the boreal forest is also awe-inspiring in its beauty.
The paintings, sketches, and photographs that fill the book were drawn from twenty trips by Mullen’s Wilderness River Expedition Art Fellowship (WREAF), mostly by canoe, from Labrador to Alaska. Gruelling, mind-expanding, funny, and often dangerous, these journeys are the source of the book’s many adventure stories. In addition, six natural history experts offer unique scientific insight into this magnificent ecosystem.
Boreal Wilderland is more than just a travelogue or an art book. It is an in-depth look at the forest’s natural and human history. This extraordinary volume offers a rich visual archive and a compelling call to see the boreal forest for what it truly is: the wild heart of our planet.
"It’s not an overstatement to say that much of our planet’s future depends on what happens in this terrain, and it’s never been more powerfully depicted than in these pages."
Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun
"Multiple decades in the making, Rob Mullen and his colleagues present a comprehensive and visually extravagant ode to the most extensive and still intact forest/water ecosystem on our planet."
John W. Fitzpatrick, PhD, director emeritus of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
"Rob Mullen’s Boreal Wilderland is a masterful blend of camera and canvas, and science and resourcefulness, encompassing our rich boreal treasure."
Michael Peake, award-winning photojournalist and former governor of the Hide-Away Canoe Club
From the expeditions of the
Wilderness River Expedition Art Fellowship (WREAF)
Director Rob Mullen
A program of the
Center for Circumpolar Studies
Director Dr. Steven Young
and The Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center
Director and archaeologist Dr. William Fitzhugh
Archaeologist/ethnologist Dr. Stephen Loring
at the National Museum of Natural History
10% of proceeds will go to the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center
