Audubon Guide to the National Wildlife Refuges: Southwest: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas - Softcover

Daniel Gibson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312207778 ISBN 13: 9780312207779

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2000

Synopsis

The roots of the current National Wildlife Refuge System were formed in 1903 by Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted to keep our most important habitats "forever wild". Devoted primarily to protecting wildlife, wetlands, and open spaces, refuges offer unrivaled opportunities for visitors to observe and learn about our natural world.There are now more than 500 refuge areas in the United States, comprising more than 90 million acres. Habitats protected by refuges include virgin forests, tidal marshes, prairies, deserts, and tundra; species that flourish on refuges include the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon, the American alligator, the American bison, mountain lions, bats, beavers, bears, sea turtles, and hundreds of others, including more than 60 endangered species.With more than 19 million copies sold to date and more than 105 titles now in print, the National Audubon Society's book program includes the National Audubon Society Field Guides (Knopf) and National Audubon Society First Field Guides (Scholastic). The mission of the Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity. The National Wildlife Refuges are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

About this title

Review

The southwestern United States--in this case, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas--harbors several dozen federally administered wildlife refuges, 31 of them open to the public and profiled in this guidebook. Some of the refuges, such as New Mexico's heavily visited Bosque del Apache, are stopovers for great numbers of birds (in this instance, more than 17,000 sandhill cranes alone) and residences for diverse plants and animals. Others, such as Texas's 3,500-acre Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, are devoted (but, of course, not limited) to a single endangered species. Natural-history writer Daniel Gibson gives a thorough description of the region's wildlife refuges and of the wildlife they shelter, providing a guide that nature-minded visitors will want to have on hand when visiting the desert country. --Gregory McNamee

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312207778
• ISBN 13: 9780312207779
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224