Knowing Pecos: A Small History of a Big Place

"No other national park unit in the nation can tell the story of human history in North America as Pecos can; and no other park can do so with the aid of such an attractive landscape... Everywhere I went in the park, I ran into beauty and intrigue. From the friendly cottonwoods along the river to the rolling meadows and rugged eastside, Pecos sheltered an abundance of natural charm. Better yet, nearly every enchantment concealed a secret: the foundations of an abandoned home in a pasture, the remains of an old mill in a grove of river trees, stubbornly mute petroglyphs tucked among cliffs, piles of historic trash blocking dry washes and bits of broken pottery everywhere. We often joked that the whole park was one big archaeological site, and we were not far wrong. Beauty and history are interwoven at Pecos and their inseparability made every day an adventure..." From Knowing Pecos by Courtney White A former archaeologist and Sierra Club activist, Courtney dropped out of the 'conflict industry' in 1997 to co-found The Quivira Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to building bridges between ranchers, conservationists, public land managers, scientists and others. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Farming, Acres Magazine, Rangelands, the Natural Resources Journal and Solutions. His essay The Working Wilderness: a Call for a Land Health Movement" was published by Wendell Berry in 2005 in his collection of essays titled The Way of Ignorance. In 2008, Island Press published Courtney's book Revolution on the Range: the Rise of a New Ranch in the American West. More of Courtney's work can be found on his web site: www.awestthatworks.com He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his family and a backyard full of chickens.