Elizabeth Hightower Allen introduces the anthology First & Wildest: The Gila Wilderness at 100. (March 2022) Now available for preorder: [ Ссылка ]

In the summer of 1922, Aldo Leopold traveled on horseback up into the headwaters of New Mexico's Gila River and proposed to his bosses at the Forest Service that 500,000 acres of that rough country be set aside as roadless wilderness. Thus was born America's first—the world's first—designated wilderness. A century later, writer-activists come together to celebrate this vast, rugged landscape, the Yellowstone of the Southwest.

“The Gila Wilderness is both a landmark in conservation history and a living, evolving place. First and Wildest is an elegant, impassioned, and timely tribute to its remarkable
past and present.”
—MICHELLE NIJHUIS, author of Beloved Beasts

“Thorough, profound, multifaceted. Whether you call this place the Pueblo ancestral home or the Apache’s Northern Stronghold or the Mexicans’ stolen territory or the Anglos’ wilderness, it’s a range and a river that gives humans eternal gifts. Explore it here—then protect it forever.”
—MARK SUNDEEN, author of The Unsettlers

“The Gila Wilderness occupies a seminal place in the history of conservation and the philosophy of land use. And now, as this awesome kingdom of rugged real estate approaches one hundred years of age as a preserve, here is an eloquent, lyrical, and exceedingly well-timed paean—a chorus of diverse voices, united in their love for this important and sometimes overlooked gem of the American Southwest.”
—HAMPTON SIDES, New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder

“A century ago, the prehistoric beauty and rugged diversity of the Gila region of southwest New Mexico inspired a US Forest Service ranger to propose the creation of the Gila Wilderness, the first such designation in the United States. That ranger was the great naturalist Aldo Leopold, and as this engaging collection of writing shows, he was not alone among people stretching from ten thousand years ago till today to be deeply moved by the Gila’s specialness or deeply alarmed by its fragility.”
—ROBERT WILSON, editor, The American Scholar

“What a timely gift. Each essay, poem, and article contains lessons from those who know the Gila best, including the voices of many who have been excluded from dominant conservation conversations for far too long. First & Wildest: The Gila Wilderness at 100 is a resource for every backpack, bookshelf, and bedside table.”
—CAITLIN GRANN, Garcia Street Books

CONTRIBUTORS
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Tom Udall
Elizabeth Hightower Allen
Eve West Bessier
Aldo Leopold
Joe Saenz
Jakob W. Sedig
Priscilla Solis Ybarra
Philip Connors
Sharman Apt Russell
Renata Golden
Michael P. Berman
M. H. Dutch Salmon
Laura Paskus
Beto O'Rourke
Priyanka Kumar
Leeanna T. Torres
Martin Heinrich
Karl Malcolm
Pam Houston
Ella Jaz Kirk
Gabe Vasquez
Martha Schumann Cooper
JJ Amaworo Wilson

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