Guadalupe Mountains National Park : an environmental history of the Southwest borderlands / Jeffrey P. Shepherd.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shepherd, Jeffrey P., 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nature--Effect of human beings on--Texas--Guadalupe Mountains National Park--History.

Nature.

Landscape changes--Texas--Guadalupe Mountains National Park--History.

Landscape changes.

National parks and reserves--Texas.

National parks and reserves.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Tex.)--History.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Tex.).

Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Tex.)--Environmental conditions--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (244 pages)

Place of Publication:

Amherst ; Boston : University of Massachusetts Press, [2019]

Summary:

"The Guadalupe Mountains stand nearly 9,000 feet tall, spanning the far western fringe of Texas, the border of New Mexico, and the meeting point of the Southern Plains and Chihuahuan Desert. Long an iconic landmark of the Trans-Pecos region, the Guadalupe Mountains have played a critical role for the people in this beautiful corner of the Southwest borderlands. In the late 1960s, the area was finally designated a national park. Drawing upon published sources, oral histories, and previously unused archival documents, Jeffrey P. Shepherd situates the Guadalupe Mountains and the national park in the context of epic tales of Spanish exploration, westward expansion, Native survival, immigrant settlement, the conservation movement, early tourism, and regional economic development. As Americans cope with climate change, polarized political rhetoric, and suburban sprawl, public spaces such as Guadalupe Mountains National Park remind us about our ties to nature and our historical relationships with the environment"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Geology and environment

Pre-Columbian indigenous worlds

Indigenous peoples, Spain, and Mexico

War, exploration, and conquest : 1836-1865

Conflict and early community formation, 1865-1881

The nature of economic development in the Texas-New Mexico borderlands, 1880-1915

The interwar years, 1919-1941

The creation of Guadalupe Mountains National Park

A national park for the twenty-first century

Conclusion : a national park in the Southwest borderlands.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-222) and index.

ISBN:

1-61376-684-X