Gary Nabhan You might know ethnobotanist and author Gary Paul Nabhan from his work founding Native Seeds/SEARCH, the massive seed bank that preserves all manner of indigenous plant variants to ensure future genetic diversity as corporate farming operations embrace monoculture. You might know him from his work as science director at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, or his work at the UA's Southwest Center, or his contributions to the annual Agave Festival at Hotel Congress. In short, Gary has left a big footprint in our natural world. This week, we're proud to present an excerpt from an essay about how he discovered his love of the richness of desert flora and fauna. It's the lead essay in a new book Nabhan has edited: