San Antonio College Library

Ecologists, geographers, and other scientists and researchers assess the cumulative effects of human activity on the Rocky Mountain region's ecological health, consider changes wrought by past human use, and project what the future holds based on current economic and social trends. They describe the region's biogeography, paleoenvironmental setting, and historical climate, then trace the region's history of use from an ecological perspective. Case...

"Few Americans at the end of the Mexican War in 1848 dreamed of the vast mineral potential of the country they had wrested from their southern neighbor," writes Duane A. Smith, author of Rocky Mountain Mining Camps. "Few would have believed that within a generation this land would be crisscrossed by prospectors in search of gold and silver, that valuable deposits would be found, and that permanent settlement would rapidly follow." Yet, from the first...

This program describes the tectonic forces behind the creation of the Rocky Mountains and offers evidence that the ancient mountains - still young, in geological terms - are still growing.

"Comprehensive, detailed, and scientifically up to date, The Rockies: A Natural History is the most complete natural history of the full mountain range. Extending from northern British Columbia to the Mexican border, the Rocky Mountains are familiar to everyone in North America. Yet few people appreciate the true diversity of these mountains, which rise from hot, dusty plains to icy alpine tundra and form a 2800-kilometer (1700-mile) wall that links...

"As climate change encroaches, animals and plants around the globe are having their habitats pulled out from under them. At the same time, human development has made islands out of even our largest nature reserves, stranding the biodiversity that lives within them. The Spine of the Continent introduces readers to the most ambitious wildlife conservation effort ever undertaken: to create linked protected areas extending from the Yukon to Mexico, the...

Robert Root describes his experiences retracing Isabella Bird's three-month journey in the Colorado Territory in 1873, shares information about her life and work, local history, and nature writing, and reflects on the thoughts of other writers, as well as his response to them.

This is a fascinating look at the mountain passes (the great gates) of the Rockies, starting in northern New Mexico and continuing north for 2,000 miles into Canada. Sprague starts his history of these passes in the 16th century, with the Spaniards, and continues through 1830 by which time, he says, all the passes had been discovered. The 21 chapters of this book give the history of at least 21 major mountain passes and the explorers who found them...