The homelands of the Pueblo people - New Mexico's Pajarito Plateau and middle Rio Grande Valley - are home as well to an abundantly diverse plant community that is virtually unrivalled in western North America. Plant biologist and former US Park Service ecologist Dunmire and botanist/anthropologist Tierney have written a book that combines a high degree of scholarship with a delightfully accessible trail-guide approach to the traditional uses of wild plants in the Pueblo world. This is an important book about the region's plant life and its vital interplay with cultures. Its sturdy laminated paper cover and cloth spine provide ideal backpack durability but will equally satisfy the armchair naturalist and weekend anthropology enthusiast. Colour landscape photographs and individual line drawings of sixty profiled plants blend to create a book that is visually rich and absorbing while educational and useful.
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.
