Credits
The Plant Gallery is the work of Dr. J. Philip (Phil) Dering, an archeologist and paleoethnobotanist who studies plant remains from archeological sites. Dering did the research and writing as well as much of the photography. He lives on the eastern edge of the Trans-Pecos region and closely watches its plants wax and wane (bloom and die off) with the seasons and prevailing climate. He also carries out experimental archeological and ethnobotanical research aimed at understanding how native peoples used plants.
The Trans-Pecos Mountains and Basins Plant Gallery builds on the success of the South Texas Plains Plant Gallery and the Lower Pecos Ethnobotany exhibit feature, which are the intellectual successors to the Plateaus and Canyonlands Plant Gallery that first appeared in August, 2005. These four interrelated online presentations have some degree of overlap, but each is a unique, geographically focused compilation of enthobotantical, botanical, and archeological data.
The Animal Gallery is the work of Carly Whelan with help from Raymond Skiles, who provided some of the photographs.
The Rock Gallery was done by Carly Whelan with help from Robert Mallouf and Andy Cloud. Rock samples and locality data were provided by the Center for Big Bend Studies (Sul Ross), the Texas Historical Commission, and Tim Roberts (Texas Parks and Wildlife).