Of Rock and Rivers: Seeking a Sense of Place in the American West »

Ellen Wohl is Professor of Geology at Colorado State University and the author of Disconnected Rivers and Virtual Rivers, as well as Rain Forest into Desert.

"Ellen Wohl has created a masterful and lyrical natural history of the Rocky Mountain West. She writes with a naturalist's attention to detail, an artist's eye for color, a geologist's long view of change, and an activist's passion. Wohl brings a fresh perspective to fundamental issues—grazing, fire, water, restoration, the limits of resilience—and reminds us of the crucial 'connectedness of humans and landscape'."—Stephen Trimble, author of Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America

"Ellen Wohl tells stories of the West beyond myth, stories of her own and her students' explorations of the land's dynamic past-into-present. How Americans have settled and used western lands owes much to myths of superabundance and inexhaustibility of a seemingly pristine world. The reality is dynamic change that too often has resulted in contamination and depletion."—Lauret E. Savoy, coeditor of Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology and The Colors of Nature

List of Illustrations Preface

Part 1. Discovering the West

The Western Reserve A Sense of Space River Days: Paradise Found River Days: Paradise Lost The Delicate Strength of Rock The Western Rampart Where the Winds Live

Part 2.
Inheriting the Past

Colorado Burning Let It Snow!
Equifinality What Is Natural?
The Disillusioned Angler Poisoning the Well

Epilogue: Adventures in the Still Unknown
Interior of North America Bibliographic Sources and Further Reading
Index