May 30, 2019
It took a team.
I think I heard the word “critter” for the first time when I was nine years old. A parent would drop my friends and I off at the movie theater in Westwood, New Jersey. On Sunday, there was a matinee showing of two feature movies, at least one of which was usually a Western. “Critter” was a favorite word those film cowboys used out there in the distant Wild West. We did not have “critters” in the suburbs of New York City.
The next time I remember hearing the word “critter” was in the early 1980s and it issued from Jane Rau’s mouth. Jane, later co-founded the McDowell Sonoran Land Trust, today’s McDowell Sonoran Conservancy. Jane often spoke and acted passionately about saving the desert and its “critters.”
It took a talented and dedicated team to produce these “critter” covers. The photographs shown below were taken and donated by Dennis Liddell , Tony Nelssen, volunteers at Wild at Heart or Southwest Wildlife, or readers who entered one of The Peak’s photography contests. Tony Nelssen, who taught photography and graphic design at ASU and Scottsdale Community College, designed the cover. Sandie McCune did the layout of the magazine and its cover.
“Critters” Need Your Support
Mayor Herb Drinkwater, who was despised by some at the time, loved the desert and its “critters” as much as anyone. I remember having a conversation with him about insensitive development and its impact on wildlife. I recall him saying that the wildlife “moves on” to mew territories. True, but of course some of them never make it to the promised land and those that do must compete for survival when they arrive at a prospective home. As development has occurred some of the species pictured here are seen less often in what is now our neighborhood.
The photographs that our neighbors freely contributed and The Peak has preserved are reminders of the importance of the work that Southwest Wildlife, Wild at Heart and other conservation and rehabilitation nonprofits do every day. These organizations and the “critters” need your support.
The Peak, July/August 2006, Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Dennis Liddell, “Chuska” Mexican Gray Wolf, Courtesy: Sothwest Wildlife.
The Peak, January 2007. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Frank Howard, “A Place to Fly”
The Peak, March 2006. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Carrie Singer, “Bobcat Kitten,” Courtesy Southwest Wildlife.
The Peak, July/August 2004. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Dennis Liddell, “Sabino,” Courtesy Southest Wildlife.
The Peak, February 2008. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen. Photograph: Margit Kagerer, “I feel Pretty.”
The Peak, March 2008. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Dennis Liddell, ” Mother Javalina with Little One.”
The Peak, February 2009. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen. Photograph: Bruce Taubert, “Rescued Fox,” Courtesy Southwest Wildlife.
Thw Peak, September 2007. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Dennis Liddell, “Great Horned Owl Looking at You,” Courtesy Wild At Heart.
The Peak. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: “Rescued Beaver,” Courtesy of Southwest Wildlife.
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The Peak, September 2003. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Dennis Liddell, “Scheherazade and Foster Family,” Courtesy Wild At Heart.
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The Peak, Decmber 2008. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Kim Perina, “Urban Bobcat.”
The Peak, February 2006. Cover Design: Tony Nelssen, Photograph: Tony Nelssen, “Wild Horses, Northwest of Rio Verde.”
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