A pair of sandhill cranes take flight against a backdrp of golden cottonwaoods and rusty sycamore alonng the Upper Gila River floodplain in The Nature Conservancy's Gila Riparian Reserve in southwest New Mexico. A small population of sandhills over-winter in the Gila Valley, sothwest and acroos the divide from Bosque Del Apache NWR along the Rio Grande.

Dave Showalter works throughout the ecosystems of the Intermountain West and has published two books prior to Living River: Sage Spirit - The American West At A Crossroads by Braided River, and Prairie Thunder - The Nature of Colorado’s Great Plains by Skyline Press. Dave is a Senior Fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers, and a long-time contributor and partner of Platte Basin Time-lapse. Dave works in partnership with numerous conservation groups, including: Audubon Rockies, The Nature Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited Headwaters chapter on the lIving River project.