Working Wilderness: The Malpai Borderlands Group and the Future of the Western Range
By Nathan Sayre (Rio Nuevo Publishers / $24.95)
In this beautifully photographed book, Nathan Sayre chronicles the Malpai Borderlands Group, a landowner-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting almost 1 million acres of open space along the Arizona and New Mexico borders with Mexico. While re-examining common conceptions of wilderness, Sayre identifies the challenges of keeping a patchwork of traditional ranching lands viable both ecologically and economically. The group’s successes rest in finding the “radical center” between the historically opposed views of ranchers and environmentalists and by using science to assess conservation tools such as easements and prescribed burns. A sense of community, trust and, most important, a love of open space, serve as the common ground uniting the group with organizations like the Conservancy.
—Michael McCauley
