A Naturalist's Years in the Rocky Mountains


Book Description

Twenty elegant essays examine animal behavior--from hummingbirds to bumblebees, thatcher ants to wrens, owls to woodrats to wasps.







Martha Maxwell, Rocky Mountain Naturalist


Book Description

?See, there she is!? cried one visitor to the Centennial Exposition. ?Just think! She killed all them animals,? echoed another. ?There, that?s her!? All during the hot Philadelphia summer of 1876, throngs of people pushed and shoved their way into the Kansas-Colorado Building, eager to catch a glimpse of the small, dark-haired woman responsible for creating the extraordinary display of bears, deer, and other mammals cavorting over a Rocky Mountain landscape. Curious, skeptical, friendly?on and on they came, until the policemen stationed at the doors were hard-pressed to maintain control. The fairgoers were intent on seeing for themselves the ?modern Diana? who had come all the way from the wilds of Colorado. Maxine Benson?s finely crafted biography of Martha Maxwell illuminates the little-known but important career of a remarkable woman. Naturalist, taxidermist, museologist, artist?Maxwell pioneered in a number of fields new for women. Born in Pennsylvania in 1831 and educated in the Midwest, she traveled to the gold fields of Colorado with her husband in 1860. A chance encounter with a German taxidermist determined her lifework, and Maxwell soon devoted her boundless energy to hunting and mounting all forms of Rocky Mountain wildlife, which she displayed in unusual habitat settings in her museum in Boulder and later in Denver. Her spreading fame led to an invitation to exhibit her collection at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where she achieved international renown. As Maxwell?s major scientific and artistic contributions to natural history taxidermy and display were recognized, her influence carried to the Smithsonian Institution. Separated from her husband and alienated from her daughter, however, she became increasingly unhappy as her professional accomplishments grew. Her tragic and lonely death in 1881 revealed something of the price she paid for daring to be different. Like that of other accomplished women of her era, Maxwell?s fame did not keep pace with the significant influence she had on her profession. Thanks to Maxine Benson, Martha Maxwell now takes her rightful place in the history of the West and of the nation.







Enos Mills' Colorado


Book Description

Rocky Mountain National Park owes its existence to the tenacity and vision of Enos Mills. The straightforward stories Mills told of his wilderness adventures with snowslides, wild beasts, and even wilder weather are exciting and fun. James Pickering, a foremost expert on the life and writing on Enos Mills, has collected the stories that truly express Mills' experiences in Colorado. The reader is transported to the turn of the 19th century as Enos Mills guides them through the Rocky Mountain wilderness.For the first quarter of the twentieth century, the names Enos Mills and Estes Park were virtually synonymous. Together with annotations to aid in locating places and identifying Mills' references and allusions, James Pickering presents Enos Mills to a current generation of readers through Mills' own essays.James H. Pickering, a longtime summer resident of Estes Park, is a professor of English at the University of Houston, where he has also served as dean, provost, and president. He has published seventeen books on Colorado and the West, including This Blue Hollow: Estes Park, the Early Years, 1859-1915.




The Light in High Places


Book Description

Hutto is living in a tent at twelve thousand feet, where blizzards occur in July and where human wants become irrelevant and human needs can become a matter of life and death—to study the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. The population of these rare alpine sheep is in decline. The lambs are dying in unprecedented numbers. Hutto’s job is to find out why. For months at a time, he follows the bighorn herds, meets mountain lions and bears, weathers injury and storms, and beautifully observes the incredible splendor of the Rocky Mountains. Hutto has a deep connection to Wyoming, having managed a large cattle ranch in his past. He weaves Wyoming’s history of the cowboy, mountain ecology, and the lives of the bighorn sheep into a beautiful flowing narrative. Ultimately, he discovers that the lambs are dying of cystic fibrosis due to selenium deficiency, which is caused by acid rain—a grim ecological disaster caused by human pollution. Here is a new twist on a cautionary tale, and a new voice, eloquently expressing the urgency that we mend our ways.




The Rocky Mountain National Park


Book Description

Brochure includes information on Rocky Mountain Parks Transportation Company tours through the Park.




National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Rocky Mountain States


Book Description

The most comprehensive field guide available to the Rocky Mountain region--a portable, essential companion for visitors and residents alike--from the go-to reference source for over 18 million nature lovers. This compact volume contains: An easy-to-use field guide for identifying 1,000 of the state's wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, mammals, and much more; A complete overview of the Rocky Mountain region's natural history, covering geology, wildlife habitats, ecology, fossils, rocks and minerals, clouds and weather patterns, and the night sky; An extensive sampling of the area's best parks, preserves, mountains, forests, and wildlife sanctuaries, with detailed descriptions and visitor information for 50 sites and notes on dozens of others. The guide is packed with visual information -- the 1,500 full-color images include more than 1,300 photographs, 11 maps, and 16 night-sky charts, as well as more than 100 drawings explaining everything from geological processes to the basic features of different plants and animals. For everyone who lives or spends time in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming, there can be no finer guide to the area's natural surroundings than the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Rocky Mountain States.




Rocky Mountain Natural History


Book Description

Author Daniel Mathews provides in-depth scientific information on the natural world found between Grand Teton, Wyoming, and Jasper, Alberta. From conifers to lichens, grizzly bears to salamanders, and cutthroat trout to pine beetles this guidebooks provides a thorough reference for hikers, backpackers, and armchair naturalists. Beautifully illustrated with color photographs and line drawings, Mathews covers a thousand species of plants, animals, fish, birds, and insects found in the northern Rocky Mountains.




Wild Light


Book Description