Otero Mesa: Preserving America's Wildest Grassland

by Gregory McNamee

Full-color images by renowned photographers Stephen Strom and Stephen Capra unite with text by prizewinning nature and geography writer Gregory McNamee to document the subtle landscape of 1.2 million acres of remote Chihuahuan Desert grassland in southern New Mexico. Home to many species of wildlife and native plants, Otero Mesa is a place of extraordinary beauty and ecological significance faced with the increasing threat of oil and gas development...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082634397X
• ISBN13: 9780826343970
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Otero Mesa: Preserving America's Wildest Grassland

Well written book with beautiful photos about saving and protecting the areas of New Mexico that we love. Great read!

Recommended for all personal, community, and academic library Environmental Studies reference collec

Grasslands continue to disappear throughout the U.S. to the determine of the ecosystems and habitats where they are an essential part of a healthy and self-sustaining environment. "Otero Mesa: Preserving America's Widest Grassland" focuses upon one specific grassland with an impressively informative text by Gregory McNamee, an enlightening foreword by Governor Bill Richardson, and impressive photographs by Stephen Strom and Stephen Capra. This seminal work of meticulous scholarship brings to light the vast beauty of Otero Mesa and its alarming present day reality. Otero Mesa is in danger of becoming a drilling haven to one hundred new oil wells which will pollute the environment, decimate and contaminate groundwater and endanger the wildlife. Presented in four compelling chapters: The View from an Aplomado; The View from a Missile; Oil and Otero Mesa; and the Fate of the Land, "Otero Mesa" is certain to enlighten the non-specialist general reader and environmental activist who recognizes the value of wide open spaces and the habitat that occupies it, and clean water so necessary to plant, animal, and human life. The fate of Otero Mesa is still unknown as the case fighting to preserve it rests in the federal courts awaiting a decision. A clarion call, "Otero Mesa" is urgently recommended for all personal, community, and academic library Environmental Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.