Morning Comes to Elk Mountain: Dispatches from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (Southwestern Nature Writing Series) Paperback – September 4, 2013

Bought as a gift for boss. Took forever to receive it. Late for the party but think he still appreciated it after finally received.

This book was so much fun to read. If you want to know more about the refuge and it's past, this is a must-read!

Wonderful book about the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Ok!

My opinion about most things is worthless as a skunk scab. But I'm going to be pretty opinionated here because (a) I grew up in the shadow of the Wichitas, and (b) I’ve been reading Gary Lantz's writing for 30 years.I thought I understood that man and those mountains, but I was wrong. In Dispatches I met a master observer more in love with the ways of wildlife than I’d ever read before. And he showed me that these Wichita lands are more sacred and pristine than I’d ever known about before.It takes an extraordinarily talented pen to sustain a calendar year of reader imagination. But Lantz’s gift for take-you-there language snagged me right up front. That's so he could take control over my pacing and sense of time. He really did downshift my mind to the speed of the seasons.Lantz makes you smell the dirt and taste the breeze and fret over a lost fawn and actually sigh over a paper sunset. You gossip with settlers and eavesdrop on Indians, who’re keeping tabs on each other plus a dozen more interests ready to betray deals and draw blood and claim the treasure-filled mountains and healing medicine waters of this mysterious place just plopped out in the Oklahoma prairie.For every hour he’s had to spend in conversation with people, I bet Gary Lantz has spent a day in silence with wildlife. I think that's why, if you’re like me, Lantz will make that inch between the covers of Dispatches feel like a giant personal refuge of your own. I don't know anybody who doesn't need that.

If you haven't visited Elk Mountain, you will want to after even a perusal of Lantz's descriptive survey of this natural gem in the Great Plains. Arranged chronologically from January through December, the reader is treated to a series of rambles through the various segments of this small place made magical by a guide who knows it intimately and describes it with an objective affection.The natural features of the place, from the modest little mountain for which it is named to a fascinating review of its geological history,charming insights into the flora and fauna, to the saga of those who have occupied it and the area around it are narrated by a companionable expert.His studied insights into the behavior and relationships of the buffalo, elk and numerous smaller animals--down to insects and bacteria--and their interdependence with the flora, geology and weather of the Elk Mountain region in the natural order are all part of an extended and engaging conversation. While Elk Mountain is a unique place, Lantz's theme is much broader, reminding us both of the wonders to be found in every habitat and the power and fragility of what we call the natural order. This book, the story of this place is a manifold reminder to attend to and cherish every part of the particular place we all call home: Mother Earth and all who abide here.

A beautiful, evocative book that puts you right in the middle of Oklahoma's, and one of the nation's, best outdoor experiences. Gary's writing just pulled me through the book, providing a wealth of insight and background that greatly amplified my next visit to the refuge. Even if you've never been or aren't able to go, read this book simply for how much it will make you appreciate the power of our protected lands (and the writers who commemorate them so eloquently).

Legend has it there's treasure lost among the hills, rocks and canyons of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Gary Lantz found every last trace – and put it in this book.Whether you're new to the refuge or have visited for decades, this book will introduce you to it in all of its depth. Lantz knows its secrets like no one else. And here, he shares it all.You'll read about the nearly forgotten facts from its little-known history, like the near misses and prophetic, visionary efforts that saved this relatively small slice of prairie from the agricultural and military fate of its neighbors. You'll see vividly the plants and creatures, large and small, that call the refuge home – and keep it healthy. And it will become clear that the spiritual significance of this land, often attributed to its native people, may have been here all along.