Southwestern Nature Writing Series

Vol. 3: Return of the Gar

Published: March, 2015  Pages: 288  Features: 61 b&w illus. Bib.

Listen to Return of the Gar featuring Return of the Gar author Mark Spitzer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services researcher Lindsey Lewis, and University of Central Arkansas biologist Reid Adams discuss the often misunderstood alligator gar. more... about Return of the Gar

Vol. 2: Zen of the Plains: Experiencing Wild Western Places

Published: May, 2014  Pages: 288  Features: 40 b&w photos. 5 maps. Notes. Bib. Index.

Although spare, sweeping landscapes may appear “empty,” plains and prairies afford a rich, unique aesthetic experience—one of quiet sunrises and dramatic storms, hidden treasures and abundant wildlife, infinite horizons and omnipresent wind, all worthy of contemplation and celebration. In this series of narratives, photographs, and hand-drawn maps, Tyra Olstad blends scholarly research with first-hand observation to explore topics such as wildness and wilderness, travel and tourism, preservation and conservation, expectations and acceptance, and even dreams and reality in the context of parks, prairies, and wild, open places. In so doing, she invites readers to reconsider the meaning of “emptiness” and ask larger, deeper questions such as: how do people experience the world? How do we shape places and how do places shape us? Above all, what does it mean to experience that exhilarating effect known as Zen of the plains? more... about Zen of the Plains: Experiencing Wild Western Places

Vol. 1: Morning Comes to Elk Mountain: Dispatches from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Published: October, 2013  Pages: 272  Features: 15 b&w photos. 20 color photos. 1 map. Index.

Announcing the first book in the Southwestern Nature Writing Series. This series is intended to include books in the narrative tradition of John Graves’ Goodbye to a River that reflect a modern sensibility and awareness of the environmental issues facing the region as well as considering questions of environmental justice, ecological restoration, and sustainable communities. more... about Morning Comes to Elk Mountain: Dispatches from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge