(The following review is excerpted from the Torreyana, a monthly newsletter produced by the Torrey Pines Docent Society.)


June, 2014

On The Museum Shop Book Shelf
by Suzan Potuznik

    Torrey Pines: Landscape and Legacy by Bill Evarts, a 1994 publication by the Torrey Pines Association, celebrates its 20th Anniversary and still remains a treasure that inspires and informs.

    The unique beauty of the Torrey pine and the Reserve are captured in this book with breathtaking photographs woven into a rich story of botany, geology and history by the photographer and author Bill Evarts. His connection to the Reserve began as a boy, when he hiked the trails with Guy Fleming, the first custodian of the park, and spent many family outings at the Reserve and the Fleming residence. Guy Fleming’s gift to “surprise, educate and mystify” had Bill “awestruck as tiny flecks of iron oxide jumped from the sand” onto a magnet and Bill knew that Torrey Pines was “no ordinary place.”

       Bill Evarts’ photographs capture a moment in the history of the ever-changing panoramic views of the Reserve while inviting you to look closer: drawing your focus to an exposed root, a sandstone wind cave, a short-leaved Dudleya among the pebbles of the sandy ground, or perhaps a bouquet of blossoms nestled within the leaves of a Mohave yucca. The photographs, rich in perspective, depth, and color, capture a light and a time that awakens the senses.

    The flowing narrative takes you from the conception of the park and quotes by Charles Parry to details about the Torrey pines that few could rival in the detail of taxonomy and in the study of why and how this pine has survived within the ecosystem and geological strata that surround and support this rare species. The photograph legends themselves are a rich source of knowledge. Details of how a unique image was captured may be included as well as further insights, such as how the Tegeticula moth assures the survival of the Mohave yucca or how many years ago and how high above the ocean a particular formation appears. Evarts’ photographs capture the Reserve at the time of the 1986-1991 drought, when significant changes were taking place, creating an invaluable historical record of this region.

    The concept of this book was born in 1985 when Bob Wohl, then supervising ranger at TPSNR, came upon Bill Evarts, already an established photographer, who wanted to create a photographic record of the Reserve. Wohl, who had been thinking about a coffee table style book of the Reserve, was very impressed with Evarts’ photography and his sensitivity and devotion to nature. Thus with a wish, an inspiration and strong support from the Torrey Pines Association’s John S. Shelton, the project came to fruition.

    Bill Evarts comes from a long line of storytellers, writers, and naturalists that inspired him to express his connection to the Reserve not only on film but also with words. In the search for a narrator to complement the photographs of this book, many were considered, but it was Bill Evarts himself who was the perfect choice with his ability to capture the sense of this coastal enclave sharing his rich knowledge of and about this place we now call the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

    A sincere thank you to Bill Evarts for sharing his stories and author’s touch. The book was published by the Torrey Pines Association with generous support from the Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation.