Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally-celebrated nature writer, seed saver, conservation biologist and sustainable agriculture activist who has been called "the father of the local food movement" by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, Carleton College and Unity College. Gary is also an orchard-keeper, wild forager and Ecumenical Franciscan brother in his hometown of Patagonia, Arizona near the Mexican border. For his writing and collaborative conservation work, he has been honored with a MacArthur "genius" award, a Southwest Book Award, the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, the Vavilov Medal, and lifetime achievement awards from the Quivira Coalition and Society for Ethnobiology.
Nice short guidebook to what is now Saguaro National Park and its signature plant. Nabhan writes well and is entertaining too. No doubt some of the details are now out 0f date, but I expect I'll use my copy again for future visits. A great park and a great area.
There's great information in this book about plants and animals in the Tucson Basin. It tells not only about saguaro cacti but about the changing history of their growth in the Tucson Basin, and how the east and west sections of Saguaro National Forest differ. This is particularly interesting as regards Saguaro National Park East and the Rincons. And it gives wonderfully clear information about the very complex geology of the whole Tucson basin.