Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0312245742, Paperback)

Once remote but now among the fastest-growing regions in the country, the five Rocky Mountain states--Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming--contain 22 of the nation's more than 300 wildlife refuges that are open to the public. Some, such as Idaho's Camas National Wildlife Refuge, protect endangered habitat (in this case, the wetlands of the Snake River). Others, such as the 18,000-acre National Bison Refuge west of Missoula, Montana, and the National Elk Refuge near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, are devoted (but not limited to) single species that were once at the brink of extinction. Naturalist John Grassy tours each of the refuges in this well-written guidebook, offering notes on the animals and plants found within them and suggesting walking and driving itineraries for visitors. --Gregory McNamee