Essays

The Executive Director of the Sibley Nature Center, Burr Williams, has written extensively about the Llano Estacado. A collection of his essays is provided in this section. Many of these essays have been previously published in newspapers and magazines; in those cases, the date(s) of publication is shown next to the article's title.

The essays are organized into two broad categories. Wild on the Prairie includes articles which focus on observations of the flora and fauna and other natural phenomenon of the region. Moseying is a series of articles documenting the exploration of our home bioregion.

Most Recent Essay: The Bug Man of Sibley and Summer Bug Camp [5-14-08; Moseying: Exploring the Natural World]

Essays: Wild on the Prairie

Jump to Sub-Category: Invertebrates | Mammals | Plants | People | Drought | Herptiles | Birds | Habitats | Learning | Temporal Observations | Elemental Forces

Invertebrates

• Facing bugs without fear and revulsion [7-18-99]
• Sometimes there are just too many bugs! [8-1-99]
• To indulge in butterfly identification is great fun! [10-10-99]
• Dung beetles are understudied, despite being very important to local ecology [7-2-00]
• The ecology of ants as discovered by children [11-12-00]
• Jigging urticating tarantulas is fun, not scary [date n/a]
• Pseudoscorpions are rarely noticed, except by kids on a field trip [6-15-01]
• Termites are important to ranchers [8-19-01]
• Harvester ants do not prevent seed bank accrual [11-11-01]
• Leeches in the Pond [12-9-01]
• Jerusalem Crickets [1-20-02]
• Springtails are rarely found on the Llano Estacado [3-17-02]
• Tick population explosion [7-28-02]
• Invasion of the flitterbys -- billions of snout butterflies from the Brasada [8-2-06]

Mammals

• Comanche Burrowing Owl Folktale [12-5-99; 2-2-03]
• Buffalo ecology before the Llano Estacado was settled [5-21-00]
• The buffalo prairie ecosystem [7-30-00]
• There is still Pronghorn on the Llano Estacado [10-8-00]
• Buffalo Dream [1-28-01]
• The Long Drought and a family of skunks [10-28-01]
• Gray Fox Behavior [2-3-02]
• Pocket gophers are important to the prairie [6-2-02]
• Being neighbors to a gray fox [12-1-02]
• Who da’ fool who thought Midland needed tree squirrels? [6-22-03]

Plants

• Wildflowers in a drought [4-29-99]
• Wild in the Garden [9-19-99]
• What everybody ought to know about Mesquite [3-12-00; 2-16-03]
• Adaptive Horticulture [3-11-99]
• Plant Speciation on the Llano Estacado [9-24-00]
• No watering in winter [11-26-00]
• A Walk in the Garden in March [3-4-01]
• Big Bend plants [3-11-01]
• Plants in the winter [3-18-01]
• Cryptogamic Soil [8-6-00]
• Amateur Naturalists discover new species of plants for Midland County [6-25-00]
• Plant adaptations to heat, wind, and drought [7-9-00]
• A group of Purple Thistle teaches some children about ecology [10-1-00]
• The Solanaceae are well adapted to west Texas [7-14-02]
• The role of story in horticulture [3-23-03]
• The passalong plant Winter Jasmine is more than the first bloom of spring [2-13-08]

People

• Frances Williams [8-20-00]
• Midnats and Ola Dublin Haynes [1-7-01]
• Magoosh, the person [2-18-01]
• Indians and Hispanics [3-3-02]
• The Boopster [6-16-02]

Drought

• Lessons for humans from the drought [1-30-00]
• Experiencing the drought -- guided imagery [5-28-00]

Herptiles

• Yard box turtles -- the favorite wild animal of Llaneros [9-26-99]
• Is there a new genetic strain of Couch's Spadefoot Toad in Midland? [7-16-00]
• Salient batrachians on the Llano Estacado [10-29-00]
• Are Snakes Evil? [10-14-01]
• Little snakes are not baby rattlesnakes [8-11-02]
• Doing the impossible – "taming" a whiptail lizard [8-25-02]
• Mojave Rattlesnakes are not found north and east of the Pecos River [10-27-02]
• Geckos and Anoles are accidental immigrants to the Llano Estacado [11-10-02]
• Local sightings of “Mojave rattlesnakes” are a symptom of hysteria caused by “nature-deficit disorder” [10-4-06]

Birds

• Sandhill Cranes, the symbol of winter on the Llano Estacado [1-2-00]
  
• The ethics of finding an injured bird [2-13-00]
• Kingbirds and grasshoppers on the Llano Estacado [6-18-00]
• Meet Magoosh the Roadrunner (Part 1) [9-12-99]
• Magoosh the Roadrunner (Part 2) [4-23-00]
• Magoosh the Roadrunner (Part 3) [6-4-00]
• The favorite bird of the Llaneros – Hummingbirds [8-13-00]
• Burrowing Owls as Neighbors [9-10-00]
• All about bird feeding [12-31-00]
• A Roadrunner meets a Sharpshinned Hawk [2-4-01]
• Cassin's Sparrows are the icon of spring for Llaneros [5-13-01]
• The Inspector, the Cactus Wren [7-1-01]
• Uncommon common birds -- Painted Buntings and Pyrrhuloxias [7-29-01]
• Roadrunners as icons [9-16-01]
• Take a look at a bird's tail! [4-28-02]
• Chihuahuan Ravens are a symbol of the Llano Estacado's wide open spaces [3-31-02]
• Windows kill birds, but some birds try to kill windows! [9-8-02]
• Scaled Quail, also known as Blue Quail, are familiar to rural Llaneros [9-29-02]
• Cowbirds adapted to the Buffalo Prairie [3-2-03]
• When daytripping in the fall and winter, watch for wintering hawks [9-20-06]

Habitats

• The landscape of the Llano Estacado is always changing [3-18-99]
• Temporary Pluvial Ecosystems [4-15-99]
• Trash has its own ecosystem [10-24-99]
• A home-made ecosystem - the windbreak [1-16-00]
• Water features in landscapes are shrines to the wonder of water [2-20-00]
• The Oak Tree and the Urban Forest [2-27-00]
• The number of species of animals on the Llano Estacado is increasing [3-26-00]
• A new habitat for people -- greenbelt parks [2-25-01]
• Exploring the Draw Habitat [12-10-00]
• Introduction to the grassland habitat [10-22-00]
• Fire as a determinant in aridlands ecology [6-1-01]
• Mustang Draw [7-15-01]

Learning

• Role of anecdotal evidence [6-9-99]
• Camping philosophy [7-4-99]
• The value of studying the natural world [8-15-99]
• Teaching philosophy [5-7-00]
• Philosophical pedagogy [12-17-00]
• Homeland curriculum [1-6-02]
• After a family hike on a daytrip, write and then read each other’s stories about the trip [2-8-06]
• A new opportunity for fun education; the Sibley Kids’ Club [2-14-07]
• Can you pass a test for 5th graders on the playas of the Llano Estacado? [11-28-07]

Temporal Observations

• First week in April [4-1-99]
• May walk [5-27-99]
• Late summer observations [8-29-99]
• Fall Walk [11-7-99]
• Christmas bird count walk [12-19-99]
• Fall report to Frances Williams [11-5-00]
• Brushpiles [5-14-02]

Elemental Forces

• Wind [4-20-03]
• When the rain is not gentle, everything suffers [8-30-06]
• Just what do birds do when the snow is falling? [1-17-07]
• Chasing thunderstorms in Wild Borden County is revitalizing! [4-3-08]

Essays: Moseying

Jump to Sub-Category: Exploring the Natural World | Locations of Interest | Outdoor Recreation Activities | History of the Southern Llano Estacado | Living La Vida Llanero

Exploring the Natural World

• Salt Playas [3-06-02]
• Sandhills [5-8-02]
• Red Bluff Reservoir [5-29-02]
• The Devil’s River [6-12-02]
• A bear at night in the fog in the Sacramento Mountains [6-5-02]
• Angelo State University Biology Department [2-5-03]
• Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge [3-19-03]
• Dugout Wells at Big Bend National Park [3-26-03]
• Madera Canyon Roadside Park, Davis Mountains [4-2-03]
• Balmorhea State Park [4-9-03]
• Thunderstorm at Midkiff [6-25-03]
• Frijole Ranch in the Guadalupe Mountains [8-13-03]
• The rim road in the Guadalupe Mountains [8-20-03]
• Fall in Midland County [10-8-03]
• Sandhill Cranes make holy Llanero music [12-17-03]
• Midland County Sandstorms [2-25-04]
• Hailstorm south of Ozona [3-31-04]
• Spring Wildflowers and ethnobotany [4-28-04]
• Prairie Dog in a tree [6-23-04]
• Heavy rain [7-7-04]
• Summer pasture walking [7-14-04]
• Coyote trailing in the sand dunes [7-28-04]
• Oilwell pad ecology [8-25-04]
• Gyppy and alkaline soil [9-1-04]
• Davis Mountains fall wildflowers [9-15-04]
• Doing nothing in Davis Mountains State Park [10-6-04]
• Endemic Plants of West Texas
• Winter storms; Blue northers, ice fogs, and blizzards on the Llano Estacado [12-29-04]
• Sandhill cranes, again [2-16-05]
• Chimaya at Big Spring State Park [3-16-05]
• Council of animals on the Llano Estacado [4-13-05]
• Creosote bush along the Midkiff road [4-20-05]
• Draws of the Llano Estacado [12-28-05]
• Flashflood in the Davis Mountains [5-25-05]
• Dreaming of buffalo at Muleshoe refuge [5-4-03]
• 4th of July butterfly count [7-13-05]
• Africanized bees in Glasscock County [7-20-05]
• Seven Habitats of the Llano Estacado [11-9-05]
• New species of beetle in the Sand dunes [12-14-05]
• Visitors to a pond [3-28-04]
• In the heat of August seek promise in green fruit [9-28-03]
• A breakfast interrupted by a cat, a fox, and stray dogs [12-28-03]
• Agave stalk visitors [5-9-04]
• Baby bird on the ground [6-20-04]
• Chemistry lesson in the garden from a beetle [8-8-04]
• Walk in the rain with cat [8-29-04]
• Chihuahuan Ravens - A bird is more than just a bird [9-25-04]
• Wildfire is part of the natural cycle [1-11-06]
• Observing a Peregrine Falcon on the Cliffs of Downtown Midland [1-18-06]
• Bringing back the boom – Tympanuchus restoration and protection [4-26-06]
• After it rains, the rainbugs circle-dance in the morning sun [7-5-06]
• Introduce yourself to the kangaroo rats at the Monahans State Park [7-26-06]
• Do you have a personal story of prairie chickens? [8-16-06]
• This weekend – daytrip in the dunes and hear about the Comanche War Trail [9-13-06]
• 20 years of traveling 7 miles at the edge of town [11-22-06]
• Sometimes the birds come to watch the birdwatchers [12-27-06]
• Help the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department find out where the prairie chickens live [1-31-07]
• A fine young male, fresh and brightly colored and very handsome [4-4-07]
• The glories of wildflowers bring tears of joyful thankfulness [4-18-07]
• A 20 percent chance of rain with an isolated thunderstorm on the Stockton Plateau [5-2-07]
• Wildflowers of the genus Penstemon demonstrate the diversity of WestTexas wildflowers [6-6-07]
• Are bears moving north into the McCamey – Iraan area? [6-27-07]
• Playas are the focus of Programs at the Sibley Nature Center this fall [8-22-07]
• Are tarantula populations declining on the Llano Estacado? [10-10-07]
• Midland’s Urban Forest – a dynamic ecosystem always changing [10-31-07]
• Collisions with cars is the number one killer of animals at the hand of man [11-7-07]
• If a child has never seen nature, what does the child see during a hike? [11-14-07]
• Sign up for the 2008 Master Naturalist class and explore the wilds of West Texas [12-5-07]
• Will the Mallet Ranch become an Outdoor Education center? [12-26-07]
• A winter daybreak brings chilly birdwatching in a mesquite pasture [1-2-08]
• According to the folktale “la lechuza” a barn owl can be a witch [1-9-08]
• Salt Playas can be a diverse habitat – just add water! [2-27-08]
• A fairy bouquet can teach about runny noses, slime, limestone, and caliche [3-3-08]
• Overwintering grasshoppers may mean summer population explosion [4-2-08]
• 2008 – the worst year ever for wildfires [4-23-08]
• The Bug Man of Sibley and Summer Bug Camp [5-14-08]

Locations of Interest

• Odessa Meteor Crater [3-13-02]
• Big Spring and the Potton House [5-1-02]
• Calvinites, Campbellites, and Marfa Lights [5-15-02]
• Pecos at rodeo time [7-17-02]
• The Guadalupe Mountains [7-24-02]
• Horsehead Crossing [8-7-02]
• Lone Wolf Mountain [8-14-02]
• The road from Midland to Patricia [10-2-02]
• From Patricia to Andrews -- playas, homeplaces, and fences [1-8-03]
• Shafter Lake [10-9-02]
• Stanton Historical Museum [11-6-02]
• Clairemont and Fluvanna [11-13-02]
• Buffalo Gap [11-27-02]
• Edith, Texas [12-04-02]
• Water Valley and Shelving Rock Spring [12-26-02]
• The breaks at the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado [2-19-03]
• Iatan and grassroots historians [1-22-03]
• Roswell, New Mexico [2-26-03]
• Backroads of Crockett County [4-30-03]
• Carlsbad Texas sanatorium [5-14-03]
• Andrews 4th of July celebration [6-18-03]
• Odessa museums and summer wildflowers [7-9-03]
• Mescalero, New Mexico 4th of July [7-2-03]
• Lubbock Windmill Museum and role of windmills in west Texas [7-16-03]
• Guadalupe Mountains’ Dark Canyon rattlesnakes [7-23-03]
• Nickel Creek Café in the Guadalupe Mountains [8-27-03]
• Santa Rosa Spring [10-22-03]
• Dinosaur tracks east of Fort Stockton and Sotol Liquor [11-26-03]
• X-bar ranch at Eldorado and nature tourism [1-21-04]
• Archer City [3-3-04]
• Lajitas [4-14-04]
• Girvin [5-19-04]
• Gomez Peak [5-26-04]
• Lubbock Lake Landmark [8-11-04]
• South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center [9-8-04]
• Chihuahuan Desert Symposium [10-27-04]
• Back roads of Coke County [11-17-04]
• Papalotito colorado, Big Bend Ranch State Park [1-5-05]
• The Sierra Madera Astroblem [2-9-05]
• Crockett County road 307 east of Sheffield [3-30-05]
• Notrees to Kermit to Wink to Andrews [6-15-05]
• Dreaming of the Pecos Headwaters at Horsehead Crossing [6-22-05]
• San Angelo State Park in the Summer [7-27-05]
• Borden County [8-10-05]
• To get to know west Texas, take the back roads! [3-22-06]
• A town becomes a ghost town when memories are gone [4-19-06]
• Windmill Ranch Preserve -- ecotourism near Snyder, Texas [5-10-06]
• Exploring the empty country of Los Medanos [5-24-06]
• It is good to honor the memory of those that have served their people [12-6-06]
• Geddis Canyon and the old Pumpville Road worth exploring [2-21-07]
• Open Preserve Day at Independence Creek Preserve [7-4-07]
• Live snakes at the Sibley Nature Center 1:00 p.m. September 15th [9-12-07]
• The rugged Scurry County landscape has hidden mysteries [9-26-07]
• Visit the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute near Fort Davis [2-20-08]

Outdoor Recreation Activities

• How to be a Daytripper (A visit to Howard County) [2-27-02]
• Camping on the Stockton Plateau [4-3-02]
• The stories that wildflowers tell [4-24-02]
• Collecting medicinal plants – Nolan County [5-22-02]
• Investigating the Fish of West Texas [6-19-02]
• Breeding Bird Survey east of Iraan [7-31-02]
• A nature hike with kids at Comanche Trails Park in Odessa [7-3-02]
• Birdwatching in Midland’s urban forest [9-11-02]
• Night driving for wildlife [9-18-02]
• Searching for the ghost forest of the breaks [10-30-02]
• Living History Christmas at Fort Concho [12-18-02]
• Geocaching [7-30-03]
• Nightwalking: Strangeness in the night [10-13-04]
• Daytripping by the flip of a coin [12-8-04]
• Porcupine Chasing at Moss Creek Lake [1-26-05]
• Hightech daytripping [3-2-05]
• Observing the landscape from 30,000 feet [6-1-05]
  
• Dragonfly watching [6-29-05]
  
• Motley County Ranch features West Texas history from dinosaurs to cattle-baron times [1-31-06]
• Arrowhead hunting is a traditional daytripping adventure for West Texans [3-8-06]
• Superb Andrews teacher leads three-day field trip for 8th graders [5-3-06]
• You too can dangle from a cliff – rappelling is fun! [6-21-06]
• A kangaroo rat meets a family that camps and rides ATVs in the sanddunes [Unpublished]
• When it rains the Llano Estacado explodes with life [8-23-06]
• Research in Midland County seeks to find out if mourning doves are declining [8-1-07]
• Stalking the wild – daytripping with a digital camera [12-12-07]

History of the Southern Llano Estacado

• Goldsmith: Living in the ruins of the oilfield [3-20-02]
• Place of Dreams or Overgrazed Pasture filled with Cactus? [3-27-02]
• The Landscape of the Boom and Bust Economic Cycle (Lubbock to Lenorah) [4-10-02]
• Oil camp memories [8-21-02]
• Hermit Harry Robinson [9-4-02]
• Indian and Texas Ranger fight near Big Lake [8-28-02]
• Mustang Springs [9-25-02]
• The Blue Nun of the Concho River [10-23-02]
• The pictographs of Paint Rock [1-1-03]
• Fort McKavett [1-15-03]
• Seven Wells [1-29-03]
• Ozona-Barnhart Trap [4-03]
• Muchaque Peak [2-12-03]
• Memories of Elderly Ranchers of Stiles [3-12-03]
• Lipan Apache Magoosh in the Guadalupe Mountains [4-23-03]
• Consolidated Schools in West Texas [4-16-03]
• Fort Chadbourne – 6 generations of preserving history [5-28-03]
• High Lonesome Draw [9-24-03]
• Ghost towns of Howard and Martin County [12-3-03]
• Bull Creek and Comanche Daily Life [12-10-03]
• Black Cowboys [11-12-03]
• Penwell – ghost oil town [11-19-03]
• Northern Lea County [12-24-03]
• Pictographs of Paint Rock revisited [12-31-03]
• gunfighters and outlaws of west Texas [2-4-04]
• Spotted Jack [2-11-04]
• The gangsters of Wink [2-18-04]
• Hispanic Immigration to the Llano Estacado [4-21-04]
• Midland and Northwestern Railroad [5-5-04]
• Ipa of the Lipan Apache [5-12-04]
• Lagunas sabinas and the ciboleros [6-9-04]
• McCamey historian Ethie Eagleton [6-30-04]
• The Texon scar [7-21-04]
• The past is alive [8-4-04]
• Indian captive on Independence Creek [8-18-04]
• German settlement in west Texas [10-20-04]
• Did Jumano Apaches exist? [11-10-04]
• Black Seminole soldiers chased Apache raiders [12-22-04]
• Apache-Comanche treaty at Willow Springs [1-12-05]
• The saga of Herman Lehmann [2-2-05]
• Fencecutting wars [1-1-05]
• Charlie Goodnight and Jose Tafoya meeting 1893 [3-9-05]
• Ice age woman at Lubbock Lake [4-6-05]
• Mexican immigration due to Green Revolution [6-8-05]
• Goldsmith – Living in the ruins part 2
• Dreaming of a Living History Center [8-17-05]
• Bombing ranges in west Texas in World War II [8-24-05]
• Torres brothers of Fort Stockton [10-5-05]
• Charlie Goodnight and the Charlie Goodnight Historical Center [9-28-05]
• The importance of Fort Lancaster State Park [10-12-05]
• Maljamar sand dune archaeology [11-16-05]
• Jim Downs' walk across the Llano Estacado [11-23-05]
• Manuel Musquiz of the Davis Mountains [12-7-05]
• The lost shaman in Carlsbad Caverns [12-21-05]
• Magoosh and the mountain lion at a salt playa [2-15-06]
• The liberated women of the Mexican Revolution are part of our history [3-1-06]
• In the graveyards little known history is revealed by learning the “rest of the story” [5-31-06]
• A salute to West Texas families that preserve West Texas History [6-7-06]
• Artifacts tell stories – the tale of a Chinese coin found near Deadman’s Cut [6-14-06]
• 129 years ago a conversation near Tahoka led to the death of four men [7-19-06]
• Before civilization came to West Texas, traders served as news reporters [8-9-06]
• Coke County is remote and resplendent in history and beauty [9-6-06]
• Can you imagine hunting mammoths on the Llano Estacado? [10-11-06]
• A reenactor portrays an early West Texas botanist [11-1-06]
• The wolves of Laguna del lobos locos -- when wolves lived on the Llano Estacado (Part 1) [11-8-06]
• The wolves of Laguna del lobos locos -- when wolves lived on the Llano Estacado (Part 2) [11-15-06]
• Charlie Goodnight, Prairie Chickens, and Fire; It only could happen on the Llano Estacado [12-13-06]
• 600 Apaches attacked Spanish soldiers near Pecos in 1773 [12-20-06]
• West Texas has a fascinating history while it was part of Northern New Spain [1-10-07]
• On a cold winter day, the ghosts of tlatoleros are on the wind [1-24-07]
• The greatest frontiersman of all time – Don Pedro Vial [2-7-07]
• West Texas’s first energy boom – prairie coal [2-28-07]
• Cochran County was the last frontier of Texas [3-14-07]
• Sabeata was the most influential man of West Texas in the late 1600s [4-11-07]
• Tipis, wickiups, chozas, pithouses, and jacales – the primitive architecture of West Texas [5-23-07]
• Bats give purpose to a Wild Kiowa-Apache Woman [6-13-07]
• Revisit the horrors at Buffalo Soldier Hill June 23rd [6-20-07]
• The Comanche War Trail was the result of the politics of Mexico [7-25-07]
• The history of one playa -- from Comanchero days to today [8-29-07]
• Indians of the Jornada-Mogollon culture on the Llano Estacado – 1100-1300 A.D. [10-24-07]
• Who were the Pickethouse Unionists in Texas during the Civil War? [11-21-07]
• Charles Goodnight saved an incompetent commander on the Llano Estacado in 1862 [1-16-08]
• Traveling by auto in West Texas in 1917 was not a simple daytrip [1-30-08]
• The story of an adobe structure mentioned in an archaeological report [4-16-08]

Living La Vida Llanero

• Nature tourism and pride in landscape [4-17-02]
• Big Spring artist H.W. Caylor [6-26-02]
• El Bulto’s ghost stories [7-10-02]
• West Texas Architecture [10-16-02]
• Cowboy folktales [11-20-02]
• McElroy Ranch and author Elmer Kelton [12-11-02]
• Murals of West Texas [3-5-03]
• Curanderismo [5-7-03]
• Descansos [5-21-03]
• Did Metal Silhouette Art originate on the Llano Estacado? [6-11-03]
• Trash dumping in the rural landscape [6-4-03]
• Hurtful stories of cultural conflict [9-10-03]
• Rasquache, an aesthetic from the borderlands of Mexico and the United States [9-17-03]
• Vandalism [8-6-03]
• La virgen [8-20-03]
• Decoration day at graveyards [9-3-03]
• Ranching is more than cows nowadays [10-1-03]
• West Texas is where music styles begin [10-15-03]
• West Texas as a crossroads [10-29-03]
• Dia de los Muertos [11-05-03]
• Sheepranching [1-7-04]
• Fiberglass buffaloes in Windlands Park are great Interpretations of a Llanero Icon [1-14-04]
• Tacinques (sheepshearers) [1-28-03]
  
• Caliche pits [3-17-04]
• Women ranchers [3-21-04]
• More ghost stories of the Llano Estacado [4-7-04]
• Old-time lingo of west Texas [6-16-04]
• Art Show at the Scarborough-Linebery house [6-2-04]
• The changing landscape of the oilfield [9-22-04]
• Changing the landscape of one’s town [9-29-04]
• Cotton farming on the Llano Estacado [11-4-04]
• The people of Midland [12-1-04]
• Sweat lodge [12-15-04]
• Brush control [2-23-05]
• Life at MaryNeal [5-11-05]
• Windmills, revisited [8-3-05]
• Day of the Dead in the garden, in memory of BW’s parents [11-2-05]
• Winter Memories of Water Walks [1-11-04]
• A Garden can Heal Grief [8-31-03]
• Saints in the Garden [2-29-04]
• A Garden Gives Wildlife a Home [2-1-04]
• Irrigationless Gardening [11-4-04]
• Spanish introductions to horticulture of the Southwest [4-27-05]
• The soul of the Llano Estacado -- the best two novels of the region [2-8-04]
• John Phillip Santos [8-16-01]
• Jane Gilmore Rushing – Novelist of the Breaks [7-4-04]
• Trends in the Landscape [1-4-06]
• West Texas has always been home to big spreads [1-24-06]
• We would like you to solve Magoosh's dilemma [3-15-06]
• County dogs have nighttripping adventures – and the damage left behind is preventable [3-29-06]
• Magoosh's dilemma is back by popular demand! [4-5-06]
• Spring is here! Sing Hallelujah! Go daytripping in the garden [4-12-06]
• On the road to the world's greatest lizard race [7-12-06]
• Bringing a brother home – landmarks, memories, and the sense of place [9-27-06]
• Changes in the landscape – the ecology of development [11-29-06]
• Bringing back the boom – “I love them prairie hens!” [1-3-07]
• Feral hogs are a part of the modern West Texas landscape [3-7-07]
• Small town schools are great places for students to learn [3-21-07]
• The Flache-White Ranch [3-28-07]
• Pioneering in the city – adventures in urban ecology [4-25-07]
• The Sibley Nature Center can find the perfect adventure for you or your child [5-9-07]
• All that is green is not plant material – West Texas goes “green” [5-16-07]
• Pronghorns and the professional biologists to whose care they are entrusted [5-30-07]
• Mad Science and Citizen Science at the Sibley Nature Center [7-11-07]
• Ranching the Holistic Resource Management way is good for the land [7-18-07]
• Everybody is from somewhere – the story of an immigrant couple [8-8-07]
• Natural Calendars, Live Snakes of West Texas, and the Sibley Kids Club [9-5-07]
• To navigate the present, look back at the other times the world changed [9-19-07]
• Poetry distills and crystallizes the human experience [10-17-07]
• Los Comanches – A Genizaro Christmas tradition on the upper Pecos River [12-19-07]
• West Texans work together to promote Heritage Tourism [1-23-08]
• How much should we fear mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and wildfire? [3-12-08]
• Graduate-level drought adaptive gardening at April 5th plant sale [3-19-08]
• Graduate-level drought adaptive gardening - Part 2 [3-26-08]
• JoAnn Merritt, The best ambassador for West Texas Wildlife in Midland [4-9-08]
• On May 10, 2008, learn about the Chihuahuan Desert and buy ornamental native plants [5-7-08]