Overview
If there is a consummate place where native animals and plants thrive unencumbered in an environment that is wild and free, that place could very well be Arizona. Huge tracts of the state are untrammeld by humans, remaining wild, beautiful, and undeveloped as when the Creator finished them - providing countless opportunities for the spirit to take flight and soar free over an endless variety of verdant grasslands, warm deserts, dense forests, and teeming wetlands.
Once viewed by our culture as something to be tamed and put to productive use, these wild lands today are recognized as having an intrinsic value of their own and are often set aside as sanctuaries where the spirit can reconnect with nature and once again hear the songs of the Earth. Listen to the music emanating from Arizona's wilderness, and you will hear a symphony.
In Arizona, Wild & Free, former Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall shares some of the truths he has learned in a lifetime of roaming Arizona's wide open spaces and listening to her natural music. His experiences bring new insight and appreciation for this "sanctuary" and man's place within it.
In surveying Arizona's phenomenal variety of wildlife, some speculate that Arizona must be where Noah's ark landed, releasing its cargo to roam wild and free over spectacular habitats that include a kaleidoscopic range of shapes, colors, and textures.
A talented group of Arizona Highways photographic contributors have captured the colorful flora nd fauna of Arizona, Wild & Free in more than 100 images. The accompanying captions bring to life intriguing aspects of the land, the plants, and the personalities of the creatures that live there.