{"product_id":"sonoita-plain-views-from-a-southwestern-grassland-9780816523627","title":"Sonoita Plain: Views from a Southwestern Grassland","description":"\u003cp\u003eFar to the south of Arizonas sprawling metropolises  a rolling savanna of grass  oak  and mesquite rises above the surrounding deserts. The Sonoita Plain is a basin of a thousand square miles bracketed by mountains  a land once the domain of cowboys that is now more and more the focus of exurban development. These southwestern grasslands are both typical of and distinct from those of the Great Plainssimilarly shaped by drought  grazing  and fire  but with a different flora and fauna  and the product of a different human history.  The Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch is a tract of 8 000 acres on the Sonoita Plain that was established in 1968 by the Appleton family and that is now part of the sanctuary system of the National Audubon Society. To all appearances  it is an ordinary piece of land  but for the last 35 years it has been treated in an extraordinary wayby leaving it alone. No grazing to influence grass production. No dam building to hold back flash floods. No pest control. No fire-fighting. By employing such non-action  might we gain a glimpse of what this land was like hundreds  even thousands  of years ago?  Through essays and photographs focusing on the Sanctuary and surrounding area  this book reveals the complex ecology and unique aesthetics of its grasslands and savannas. Carl and Jane Bock and Stephen Strom share a passion for the remarkable beauty found here  and in their book they describe its environment  biodiversity  and human history. People have dominated the worlds grasslands and savannas for so long that today we have no clear idea what these lands might be like without us. By understanding the lessons of the Sonoita Plain  we might gain such insightand  more important  discover approaches to protecting the very things that attract us to such lands in the first place.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648345989173,"sku":"ByrdShop_0816523622","price":37.73,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780816523627.jpg?v=1781716567","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/sonoita-plain-views-from-a-southwestern-grassland-9780816523627","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}