OPPOSITE PAGE (top) A canyon touched by sun, shadow and flowers. (bottom) Button cactus (Epithelantha micromeris) displaying reddish pink fruit. ABOVE A foggy morning walk to a study site. THIS PAGE (top) Walking up a side canyon to a study site. (bottom) Scarlet muskflower (Nyctaginia capitata) in bloom. PHOTOS (clockwise from bottom left) Karen Clary, Jack G. Johnson/National Park Service, Hans Landel, Karen Perez, Hans Landel
spp.) to the next study site. Our pilot leapfrogged back upriver to pick up the first team. And so it went for the rest of the field season from March to May. Our study sites were scattered throughout the 17,820 acres above the waterline, some a few feet away from the shore, others a mile or two upland. The lake is walled in by cliffs surrounded by private land with few public roads. So we used the water as a roadway. Amistad’s Park Service staff had our backs the whole time — supplying boats and, most importantly, institutional knowledge of the area that was essential to getting the job done. On reaches of the Pecos and Devils Rivers that were too shallow for even flat-bottom jet boats, they guided us in kayaks and canoes. On the lake, they ferried us in a 28-foot cabin boat powered by a pair of 225-horsepower outboard motors. They made a carefully coordinated effort look easy. | 21