Greetings to all from the Black Range Museum Bookshelf! In our Gift Shop we carry about 100 titles to offer for an interesting selection to feed your curiosity. Just a note …in keeping with our desire to conserve natural resources as well as keep costs down for you and us, some of our books are second hand but in good condition.
With the 100th Anniversary of the first Wilderness Area in the world, our own Gila, many events are planned for this spring and summer. Aldo Leopold first came up with the idea of Wilderness as an area to be set aside and protected as a landscape level scale, naturally functioning community. He had tremendous impact on developing the science of Wildlife Management as practiced throughout most of the world today. In addition, he wrote beautifully of his experiences, observations, and thoughts on the land, natural processes, species, and the human role in that community. We have several books that may pique your interest, so come visit your museum!
A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. 1949. Aldo Leopold. The classic book of beautifully written essays from a master storyteller expressing the foundational concept of the Land Ethic. This is Leopold’s most beloved and powerful contribution to understanding the human role in long-term survival, or destruction, of ecosystems and perhaps the human spirit.
Aldo Leopold’s Southwest. 1990. D. Brown and N. Carmony, (eds). Many of Aldo Leopold’s ideas germinated based on experiences and observations made during his tenure with the U. S. Forest Service in the American Southwest, particularly in New Mexico. These are his collected essays from that time. His ideas profoundly impacted wildlife management, ecology, and the value of wilderness areas.
First and Wildest: The Gila Wilderness at 100. 2022. E. Allen, (ed). In 1922 Aldo Leopold conceived of the idea of a large tract of wild land allowed to maintain and manage itself, for the long-term benefit of the land, the community of living species therein, as well as human experience. And then, somehow, he persuaded the U. S. Forest Service to go along with that! The Gila Wilderness, first in the world, resulted. This book celebrates the 100th birthday of that event in 2024 through a collection of essays, articles, and commentary from an array of scientists, politicians, land managers, and writers’ perspectives on what that extraordinary idea has become.
Aldo Leopold: A Fierce Green Fire. 2005. M. Lorbiecki. This book presents a well-researched, intriguing biography of Aldo Leopold’s life and development of his ecological concepts. Lots of photographs, illustrations, and engagement by his family, friends and colleagues warmly round out the facts.
Song for the River, 2018. P. Connors. Water and fire. These are the natural forces that have always shaped the Gila Wilderness landscape and communities through ecological time, however the scale and impacts to human lives are usually brief and personal. These events may be tragic, instructive, or even inspirational, but are always significant in the individuals’ experience
Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout. 2012. P. Connors. Exceptional, award-winning book recounting 10 (and still going!) years as a fire lookout in the Gila National Forest and Aldo Leopold Wilderness above Hillsboro and Kingston. Observations on the natural world and the human place in it sing through this well-written book about a singular place just a few miles up the road!
Hiking New Mexico Aldo Leopold Wilderness. 2002. B. Cunningham and P. Cunningham. A detailed Falcon Guide to hiking, camping, and visiting the wilderness area in the southern Black Range mountains named for the man who invented the idea. Includes sections of the Continental Divide trail
Hiking the New Mexico Gila Wilderness. 2017. B. Cunningham and P. Cunningham. A detailed Falcon Guide to hiking, camping, and visiting the world’s first wilderness including sections of the rugged Continental Divide Trail.
Gila Descending. 2009. M. Salmon. Dutch Salmon traveled 200 miles from the headwaters of the Gila River in New Mexico down the last undammed river in the southwest, by foot and watercraft, accompanied by his cat and dog. A fisherman, hunter, and fierce advocate of the wild.
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Field Guides – we also offer a variety of field guides to plants and wildlife of the area
Nice book choices.