William deBuys

William deBuys is a writer and conservationist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  His work for the Nature Conservancy and for the Conservation Fund, in North Carolina, Arizona, and New Mexico, has led to the permanent protection of public and private lands totaling over 150,000 acres.  At present, Mr. deBuys teaches in the Documentary Studies Program at the College of Santa Fe.  From 1997 to 2004 he directed ranchers, conservationists, and public agencies in the rehabilitation of rangelands in northern New Mexico. From 2001 to January 2005 he also served as chairman of the Preserve under a new and experimental approach to the management of public lands.

William deBuys is the author of six books: Enchantment and Exploitation (1985); River of Traps (1990), which was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize; Salt Dreams: Land and Water in Low-Down California (1999), which won the Western States Book Award for Non-Fiction; Seeing Things Whole: The Essential John Wesley Powell (2001); Valles Caldera: A Vision for New Mexico’s National Preserve (2006); and The Walk (2007), an excerpt from which won a 2008 Pushcart Prize.  His shorter work has appeared in a variety of publications including DoubleTake, High Country News, New York Times Book Review, Northern Lights, and Story. He is currently on leave from the College of Santa Fe and at work on a regional environmental history provisionally titled A Great Aridness: Climate Change in the North American Southwest.

Profile photograph by Steve Werblow.