The SAN LUIS VALLEY by The University Of Arizona Press
It is a high valley edged by serrated peaks, a remote expanse the size of Connecticut lying, as if forgotten, between two mountain ranges. Here, North America's tallest sand dunes blow against glacier-gouged summits, the Rio Grande begins its long journey from snowflake to saltwater, and vast reaches of desert scrub hide verdant pocket wetlands. Colorado's San Luis Valley is not a place for the timid. Sizzling hot in summer, frigid cold in winter, this huge landscape is humbling in its openness, a place defined by the rhythms of nature, nd by the thrust and parry of male courting female in the ritual dance of sandhill cranes. These majestic birds arrive by the thousands twice a year to feed, rest, and socialize in the valley's wetlands?invisible except from the air, nd their cries temper the constant wind. Susan Tweit lives in the high desert of southern Colorado not far from the valley's dunes and wetlands. With the precision of a scientist and the passion of a poet, she guides readers through this land of sand dunes and sandhill cranes, describing its natural features and tracing its human history from buffalo hunters and conquistadors to Hispanic farming communities and UFO observatories. And in stunning images, photographer Glenn Oakley brings his intimate feel for light and landscape to portraying not only the subtle beauty of this high-desert sanctuary but also the grandeur of the cranes in flight. As an intimate look at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and the San Luis Valley, this book reveals a desert place as seductive and sobering as existence itself.
Tweit, Susan J.: - SUSAN J. TWEIT is an award-winning author whose passionate articulation of humans’ relationship with the “community of the land”—nature and the landscapes we love—has earned her accolades that include a Silver Eddie, the Oscar of magazine awards, for “The Last Refuge” in National Parks magazine, and a spot on the Denver Post’s “Colorado Voices” panel—twice. Her eleven books include Colorado Less Traveled, a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards, and The San Luis Valley: Sand Dunes and Sandhill Cranes, hailed as “a joy to read” by High Country News. Tweit writes a weekly column, “Nature of Life,” for her local paper, the Mountain Mail. She also records and produces this material for broadcast on KHEN-FM, her local community radio, and as podcasts on her Web site, susanjtweit.com.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780816524242 |
| ISBN 10 | 0816524246 |
| Title | The SAN LUIS VALLEY |
| Author | The University Of Arizona Press |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | University of Arizona Press |
| Year published | 2005-09-30 |
| Number of pages | 96 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |