Song of the Alpine

by Gellhorn, Joyce

• ISBN13: 9781555662806
• ISBN10: 1555662803
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-01
• Publisher: Johnson Books

Summary

Celebrating her life-long love for the "land above the trees, " author Joyce Gellhorn takes readers on a season-by-season tour of the alpine tundra. With clear, readable prose and 140 beautiful color photographs (from her collection that spans some twenty-five years), Gellhorn reveals the subtle wonders of this haunting landscape. The plants and animals that populate this often harsh and unforgiving environment have evolved remarkable strategies for survival in their high mountain home. Faced with bitter cold, scouring winds and fierce storms, they must somehow hold on and still find water and nourishment. Gellhorn tells us how they do it, and the intricacies and precariousness of these strategies are astonishing.

The high country of the Colorado Rocky Mountains has been a destination and a home for Joyce Gellhorn for more than fifty years, including some twelve years spent living with her family at the University of Colorado's research station, Science Lodge -- a log cabin at 9,500 feet. Like the snow that would sift through the chinks in the cabin, the alpi

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Part 1: Introduction
Prelude	3	(4)
The Rocky Mountain Alpine Tundra	7	(12)
Part 2: Shivering Summer
A Short, Frost-Free Season	19	(12)
Diminutive Plants and Pollinators	31	(24)
An Allegro of Activity	55	(22)
Part 3: Unpredictable Autumn
A Cadenza of Color	77	(10)
Some Leave, Others Endure	87	(12)
Part 4: Brutal Winter
A Fortissimo of Storms	99	(10)
Snow and More Snow	109	(18)
Coping with Winter	127	(16)
Part 5: Is This Spring?
A Cacophony of Change	143	(10)
Spring Stresses to Animals	153	(10)
Part 6: People in the Alpine
Native Americans	163	(14)
Mapmakers, Miners, and Road Builders	177	(22)
Restoring Harmony	199	(50)
Part 7: Appendices
A. Communities in Colorado's Alpine Tundra	219	(20)
B. Glossary	239	(4)
C. Selected Bibliography	243	(6)
Credits	249	(2)
Index	251