Otero Mesa

Gregory McNamee is a widely published author, editor, and photographer who lives in Tucson, Arizona. His many books include Moveable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food. Stephen Strom has spent nearly forty years as a research astronomer, most recently serving on the staff of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson. His photographs have been widely exhibited, and he has collaborated on several books, including Tseyi (Deep in the Rock): Reflections on Canyon de Chelly, coauthored with Navajo poet Laura Tohe. Following a career in private industry and journalism, Stephen Capra has worked for wilderness conservation since 1988. He has been executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance since 2004.

It is a strange and empty place, a place whose contours suggest that those who do not know it are best to leave it alone, as those who do know it will do in all events. And, as with all strange and empty places in this increasingly crowded, increasingly monocultural world, Otero Mesa is an important island in our geography of hope, a place that warrants concern and protection. Rightly, for it is very much under threat. - Gregory McNamee in Otero Mesa