Christina M. Selby - Best Wildflower Hikes New Mexico: A Guide to the Areas Greatest Wildflower Hiking Adventures

Christina M. Selby is a conservation photographer, science writer, and naturalist. She gained extensive knowledge about wildflowers and plants through various field courses and formal studies while pursing her bachelors degree in Ecology from the University of Minnesota and masters in Environment & Community at Antioch UniversitySeattle. She also worked for many years as an environmental educator in Minnesota, Wyoming, Oregon, and New Mexico. Self-study over several years on the trails of the western United States and dogged pursuit of her passion for wildflowers led her to write this guide.

Over the past few years Christina has been working to bring attention to various environmental issues and conservation projects throughout the Americas, which has led her to search for lost monkeys in the Amazon, track elusive Mexican wolves in the Southwest, and chase wildflower blooms across the stunning landscapes of the southern Rockies. Her work has been published in bioGraphic, Scientific American Online, National Geographic Online, High Country News, Backpacker, New Mexico Magazine, Mongabay.com, and other publications. When shes not traversing the state, you can find her at home in Santa Fe or camping with her two boys, husband, and Great Pyrenees, Glacier.

Many thanks to all who helped me write this book. For their suggestions and guidance I would like to thank Craig Martin, Lisa Mandelkern, John Freyermuth, Patrick Alexander, Jan Martensen, Chick Keller, Bob Sivinski, and Al Schneider for taking the time to hike with me, help in identifying flowers either in the field or online, and sharing your enthusiasm and connecting me with so many wildflower enthusiasts. Of course, any plants wrongly determined in the text are my own responsibility.

I appreciate the New Mexico Native Plant Society for the great work it does, its continued efforts to conserve native plants in our state, and for their support of my conservation storytelling efforts. I am very grateful to Daniela Roth, our state botanist, for her work in protecting and managing the rare and endangered plants of New Mexico through the NM Forestry Divisions Endangered Plants Program. My deep gratitude to Evan Helmlinger, Jessica dArbonne, and Alex Bordelon for directing the work at Falcon Guides. Thanks to fellow authors Stewart Greene, who graciously connected me to Falcon Guides, and Cris Kassar, Peter Stekel, and Pamela Irwin, whose preceding wildflower hiking guides, whether they know it or not, inspired this one.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family and friends for their support and encouragement during this all-consuming undertaking. Thanks to my husband, Taylor Selby, for holding down the fort while I chased blooms across the state. This book would not have happened but for you, your love and support. And to my two beautiful sons, Clayton and Oscar, for your patience with my absences and your own love for the outdoors. Thanks to my sister, Sarah; my parents, Jim and Judy; friends Bianca, Tanya, Rachel, Fernanda, Heather, Arturo, Caleb, Betsy, Satara, Sarah, Carina, Catherine, Tama, Mara, Zach, and Erin; and all the others (too many to list here) who hiked with me, provided wildflower updates from the field, physical therapy treatments, or just offered general encouragement and cheerleading (sometimes even pizza) to keep me going.

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to nature and the flowers for the beauty and transcendent moments theyve brought to my life. This book represents just the first step in reciprocating that gift by giving a voice to wildflowers and working to protect their habitats.

Christina M. Selby

Sky-blue phacelia bloom on the desert floor in front of the Organ Mountains.