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Director
Senior Geologist
New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources New Mexico Tech
801 Leroy Place
Socorro, NM 87801

(575) 835-5752
(575) 835-6333 (fax)

Greer currently directs the bureau and oversees the staff of the Publication Sales Office/Geologic Information Center. He is involved in many of the outreach efforts at the bureau, including many of our offsite events, Decision-Makers Field Conferences, and other outreach efforts. He is an associate member of the Association of American State Geologists (AASG), and an adjunct faculty in the Humanities Department (Technical Communications Program), where he occasionally teaches.

Greer spent eight years as a professional geologist in the petroleum industry, ten years with the National Park Service, and four years as managing editor at Grand Canyon Association before coming to the bureau. He began his career as a paleontologist, with a strong interest in stratigraphy and field geology (field work for his master's thesis was conducted at Lake Chichancanab in the central Yucatan, looking at the paleontological evidence for Holocene lake-level fluctuations). After two years of graduate work following his master's degree, and a year of teaching, Greer went to work in the oil patch, initially in the stratigraphic group of the Offshore/Alaska Division of Exxon Company U.S.A., later as a production geologist for Sohio in San Francisco, working the North Slope of Alaska. Those years in the oil business provided invaluable experience and training.

 

Following his years in industry, Greer devoted his efforts to geologic education for the general public. His work with the National Park Service—at the Marin Headlands and Point Reyes in northern California, Great Basin National Park in Nevada, Grand Canyon, and elsewhere—provided a unique opportunity to reach large numbers of people in dramatic settings, landscapes that were ideal for generating excitement concerning the geology of North America. "My particular strength, I think, was providing a link between the world of professional geologists and the general public." In all of the parks in which he worked, Greer endeavored to bring National Park Service staff together with the geologists who'd done most of the work in that area,the folks who were most knowledgeable.

After a number of years working on geologic programs and exhibits in several different parks, Greer narrowed his focus to the world of publications. His work at Grand Canyon Association provided an opportunity to further develop his publishing skills and to establish a network among what he likes to call "the community of the book"—authors, editors, designers, publishers, printers, and booksellers. A lifelong lover of books and the printed word as well as the geosciences, Greer found an outlet for many of his interests and passions. He firmly believes that "people love most what they come to know. An appreciation of geologic history and process is one of the best ways to inspire stewardship for our planet among the general public."

Education

• Washington University, B.A. in Geology, 1973
• Washington Univeristy, M.A. in Geology, 1974
• University of Michigan, 1974-76 (toward Ph.D. in Geology)

Experience

• Geology Instructor, University of Missouri at St. Louis, Missouri, 1976
• Exploration Geologist, Exxon Company U.S.A., Houston, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, 1978-81
• Production Geologist, Sohio Petroleum Corporation, San Francisco, California, 1982-84
• National Park Service, 1977, 1985-95 (click for details)
• Managing Editor, Grand Canyon Association, 1996-2000
• Senior Geologist/Chief Editor/Associate Director, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, 2001–present

Current Projects

The bureau has a long and distinguished history of publishing. We continue to build on that: maintaining the high standards that have been set over the years, expanding the scope of our publishing program, finding ways to distribute our publications more widely, and meeting the challenges that all publishers face in the 21st century. Among those challenges are new printing technologies, changing economic models, the world of electronic books, Web publishing, and the ever-changing face of the publishing business.

In recent years we have undertaken an overhaul and redesign of the popular Scenic Trip series, established our successful Decision-Makers Field Guides series (there are now five in print, with a sixth volume on the way), and initiated a number of electronic publications, including Bulletin 160 (which won the Association of Earth Science Editors’ 2005 Award for Outstanding Publication-Electronic), and GM 74, issued on CD ROM at the end of 2005. We have now completed the first of two volumes on the geology of New Mexico’s parks, monuments, and public lands (for northern New Mexico, due out in 2009). Our Geologic Map of New Mexico (1:500,000), which appeared in 2003, was the first major overhaul of our state geologic map since 1065. In 2005 we co-published a revised edition of the New Mexico Geologic Highway Map with the New Mexico Geological Society. In October 2008 we published a new printed geologic map of the Albuquerque Rio Rancho metropolitan area. And we have developed a detailed geologic road guide to the Quebradas Backcountry Byway, currently available on our Web site. We are producing a condensed print version of this guide (in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management in Socorro) in 2009. For more information on our publishing program:

A more complete listing of our current publications can be found here.

Professional Societies

• Geological Society of America
• Publishers Association of the West
• New Mexico Geological Society
• Cave Research Foundation (honorary lifetime member)
• Associate member of the Association of American State Geologists (AASG)

Boards and Committees

• I served on the board of the New Mexico Geological Society Foundation (2004-2006)
• I am a previous member of the board of the Publishers Association of the West
• I currently serve on the New Mexico Tech Library Advisory Committee

Honors and Awards

• The National Park Service Director's Award, 1998
• The National Park Service Award for Excellence in Interpretation, 2000
• The 2007 New Mexico Book Award for Best Travel/Guide Book, for High Plains of Northeastern New Mexico, A Guide to Geology and Culture

 

Publications Include:

High Plains of Northeastern New Mexico: A Guide to Geology and Culture, by William R. Muehlberger, Sally J. Muehlberger, and L. Greer Price (Scenic Trip # 19, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, 2005

Mining in New Mexico: The Environment, Water, Economics, and Sustainable Development, edited by L. Greer Price, Douglas Bland, Virginia T. McLemore, and James M. Barker (2005 Decision-Makers Field Guide, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources)

Albuquerque: A Guide to Its Geology and Culture by Paul W. Bauer, Richard P. Lozinsky, Carol J. Condie, and L. Greer Price (Scenic Trip # 18, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, 2003)

Water Resources of the Lower Pecos Region, New Mexico, edited by Peggy S. Johnson, Lewis A. Land, L. Greer Price, and Frank Titus (2003 Decision-Makers Field Guide, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources)

New Mexico's Energy, Present and Future: Policy, Production, Economics, and the Environment, edited by Brian S. Brister and L. Greer Price (2002 Decision-Makers Field Guide, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources)

An Introduction to Grand Canyon Geology by L. Greer Price (Grand Canyon Association,1999)

 

Grand Canyon: The Story Behind the Scenery by L. Greer Price (KC Publications, 1993)

Plateau Journal (co-editor, 1996-2000, Museum of Northern Arizona and Grand Canyon Association)

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Revised: 9 November, 2012

© 2007 - 2008 NMBGMR
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Copyright © 2007 - 2008 New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources unless otherwise specified.