This is the second book in a series by Dunmire and Tierney, exploring native plant uses. The book emphasises prehistoric uses of plants in the Four Corners area; focusing on Mesa Verde National Park, Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Aztec Ruins, Hovenweep, and other major sites of the region once occupied by the Navajo, Ute, Paiute, Hopi, and Apache people. Dunmire and Tierney are able to eloquently illustrate: the importance of the people-plant relationship that has existed throughout the ages among native people; and how ancient traditional uses of these plants inform contemporary uses today. Through vignettes of background information drawn from lore and cultural traditions and interviews with tribal elders, "Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners" describes uses for edible, medicinal, and dye plants, as well as plants used for making baskets, tools, and shelters. Complementing these essays are profiles of fifty new trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and grasses common to traditional Native America.
I'm a married (wife, Vangie) career National Park Service Naturalist (Yosemite, Isle Royale, Yellowstone, etc.) who retired in 1985 as Supertintendent of Carsbad Caverns NP, became a biologist for The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico, and finally a full-time author. Co-authored books include "Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province" (1995), "Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners" (1997), and "Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies" (2007). My principal book to date is "Gardens of New Spain: How Mediterranean Plants and Foods Changed America" (University of Texas Press, 2004).
And now I'm completing the writing of both "New Mexico' Living Landscapes: For the Traveler" (Museum of New Mexico Press, March, 2012) and "New Mexico's Spanish Livestock Heritage" (University of New Mexico Press, fall, 2012). Two books in one year! How's that for an 81-year old?
Oh, yes - in college (U.C. Berkeley) I was an active rock climber and mountaineer, and in 1954 was a member of America's first climbing expedition to the Himalayas when eight of us attempted (but ultimately failed) to climb Makalu - at 27,790', the world's fourth highest summit.
