In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

I will always remember November 2001. We had been in Coahuila a little more than a month and Bill was busy with operations and projects. Four new biologists and I were beginning the first long-term baseline inventory of the flora and fauna in the Carmens. The old headquarters of Rancho Pilares served as the base for all operations. Our office stayed the same temperature whether the wide sliding metal door was open or closed. Equipment was stacked on shelves and our computers were set up on a single table. This was a temporary office until we could get repairs and renovations completed on what had been a small house that was part of the old headquarters building. November was a very busy month and unusually cold for late fall. I had assigned different projects to various biologists and we were all helping each other until we had the projects established. Small mammal trapping, bird observation and point counts, and vegetation transects and mapping were being conducted simultaneously. November 28 was cold, twenty-nine degrees in the of- fice and outside. Jonás and I left Pilares and headed up Ca- ñón el Álamo to Cañón Juárez to set out fifty small mammal traps. We remarked how cold it was. The clouds had been building up and by noon the sky was lead gray, looking like rain. Just before the entrance to Cañón Juárez we saw a large male bear walking up the mountain; we stopped and watched him through binoculars until he went over the top 14 Snow in the Carmens In the Shadow of the Carmens 94 of the ridge. I remarked that he was probably looking for a cave or old mine to den up in until the cold front passed. We continued on until we reached the middle of the arroyo that comes down the canyon. The arroyo was dry; seeds were abundant on grasses growing along the banks. Pine-oak woodland begins in this area, and the oaks, big-tooth maples, and shrubs were brilliant slashes of color, with red, orange, and yellow interspersed with the green of the pines. The color of the leaves contrasted sharply with the dark gray sky. We decided to set out the trap line here to determine which small mammals were resident in the area. The temperature had not warmed up all day and the wind was bitter and out of the north. We saw red-naped and Williamson’s sapsuckers, blackcrested titmice, Mexican jays, and many chipping and white-crowned sparrows. High overhead a red-tailed hawk soared over the crags—he was hunting early, maybe he knew a storm was headed our way. We hiked back to the truck and hot coffee, and then headed down canyon, stopping once to check bear scratches on a huge madroño tree. The bear obviously used this tree on a regular basis, as many old and new scratches were cut into the light-colored wood. Farther down the canyon we stopped at Casa San Isidro. Bill and I would be moving here as soon as the renovation and new additions were finished on the house. I was anxious to move in, as we would remain camped out in a small bedroom at Pilares until the house was complete. We arrived back at Pilares about 5:00 p.m. Pilares was as cold as the upper canyon and the wind just as bitter. At midnight , I went outside to check the weather: it was bitter cold, windy, and sleeting like crazy. Back inside and shivering, I snuggled down in the covers listening to the sleet falling on the tin roof. The next morning about 7:00 a.m., we were all heading in to breakfast, and there was no sleet, with an even light gray sky. I remarked that it sure looked like snow, and Bill said that the air felt heavy with moisture and that it likely would snow. We were still at breakfast when the first huge snowflakes started falling. What a surprise— snow in the lower desert elevations is always unexpected . The flakes were huge, the delicate patterns resembling white lace against a lead-gray backdrop. We assumed that perhaps a heavy flurry was underway, but the snow continued to fall at a rate of one inch per hour. Bill, Jonás, and I took the truck and headed to Cañón Juárez. The snow was even heavier here than...

Share