Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water

Marc Reisner (1948-2000) was an American environmentalist, advocate, and writer. He worked for several environmental and conservation organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Population Institute. He won an Alicia J. Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1979, which allowed him to conduct research into the US water management policies in the West for Cadillac Desert. Prior to the book’s publication, almost no one knew how precarious the water supply was in the American West, and the book became a seminal work.

Reisner put research and beliefs on environmental issues into practice. He was involved in a number of conservation projects, including working with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations in efforts to remove some of California’s old dams to open up salmon spawning habitat. Reisner brought together various actors, including conservationists, farmers, and city-dwellers, to work on water resource issues.

Don Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, a Spanish conquistador, was one of the first white men to explore the American West. He led an expedition in search of Cibola, also known as the “Seven Cities of Gold,” beginning in 1539. According to legend, both the streets and the houses were covered in gold. Coronado never found the city and continued pushing onward in his search for gold out of fear of disappointing the Spanish royalty.