western New Mexico and Aldo Leopold

Back on December 17th while my family and I were beginning the drive from Heber, AZ to Deming, NM on our trip towards to spend the holidays with relatives in Houston. On the way we stopped briefly at the Glenwood Catwalk, which is a reconstructed trail system partially on metal catwalks that are suspended from the side of steep cliffs above Whitewater Creek (historically catwalks there were used for the mining process). We walked a short loop and let Eva play in the creek some, to get some exercise before the longer drive across Texas. Here's a shot of the recent snow-dusting on the Mogollon Mountains to the west of the road going to the catwalk:

Views of scenery along the Glenwood Catwalk:

South of Glenwood I took from photos briefly from the Aldo Leopold Vista/rest area. There are some interpretive signs there that highlight the Gila Wilderness that lies in the Mogollon Mountains off to the east. It was the first wilderness area in the nation and was founded by Aldo Leopold, a forester and philosopher who is considered to have developed modern wildlife management and helped shape conservation ideals. His views of a "conservation ethic" were presented in "A Sand County Almanac", which is a classic text of environmentalism dealing with the dilemma of balancing extraction of natural resources and conserving those resources for their intrinsic value to the environment. One of my favorite Leopold quotes:
"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, 'What good is it?' If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."