WINGS FOR MY FLIGHT: THE PEREGRINE FALCONS OF CHIMNEY ROCK. By Marcy Cottrell Houle.

Marcy Cottrell Houle spent four and a half months atop a mountian peak watching a family of highly endangered wild peregrine falcons. Their survival in the face of an unforgiving Mother Nature, an ever expanding human sprawl, and the local townspeople's hostility makes dramatic and moving reading--certain to become a classic of fine nature writing.

In 1975 there were perhaps eight pairs of wild peregrine falcons in all of the Rocky Mountains. One known nesting site was at Chimney Rock in Colorado's San Juan National Forest. Employed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, newly fledged biologist Houle was excited by her assignment to study the birds during their nesting season. But elation turned to dismay when she learned that the Forest Service, under its multiple-use policy, had plans to make Chimney Rock and its Anasazi ruins a tourist center to rival Mesa Verde. The arrival of a second biologist provided assistance with the study and a psychological boost. Houle here records her and her partner's observations of the peregrines (a father and two young males), harrassment by workmen, the resentment of local people and the disruption of their work by tourists. Her engaging story is an example of conflicting environmental and economicok? interests.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A college-trained biologist, Houle spent four summers living on a beautiful Colorado mountain--an Anasazi Indian site-- and studying a family of endangered peregrine falcons. While her notes on the family life of these magnificent birds are authoritative and interesting, Houle also recounts the human story of the hostility, danger, sexism, misunderstanding, acceptance, and, ultimately, love that she encountered from the local people. Because commercial development of the nest area had been halted due to the Endangered Species Act, there had been acute tension between Houle, living alone in primitive conditions, and most of the townspeople. In the end she won many converts. Her book is well crafted and compelling, a dramatization of the classic conflict between the legitimate interests of conservationists and developers. Highly recommended on several levels, as science, sociology, or a story.
- Henry T. Armistead, Thomas Jefferson Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.