Anza-Borrego Foundation bestows Desert Warrior Awards to individuals who are dedicated to conserving Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
The Award was established in 2020 to recognize individuals for their extraordinary contributions in supporting the mission of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Anza-Borrego Foundation, and the surrounding region. The Award recognizes park supporters for their intentional, long-term, outstanding, and meaningful commitment to protect the park and its surrounding region through courageous and mindful efforts.
Diana and Lowell Lindsay have been partners—in life, in business, in passion for the outdoors—for more than 60 years. They met as students at UCLA, attracted by their joint interests in cycling and exploring the outdoors, and married in 1964. The first two decades of their lives together were focused on education (graduate degrees for both), children (daughter and son), service (Lowell on active duty as a Navy helicopter pilot), and the beginnings of their lives’ work in communication, education, and the conservation of our natural world.
Diana debuted as a published author when Copley Press published her SDSU master’s degree thesis Our Historic Desert: The Story of the Anza-Borrego Desert in 1973. Thus, was formalized her attachment to the desert region that soon became the focus of Diana’s and Lowell’s lives. Diana’s second book— The Anza-Borrego Desert Region: Your Complete Guide to the State Park and Adjacent Areas of the Western Colorado Desert—was co-written with Lowell and was published in 1978 by Wilderness Press. It is now in its sixth edition.
In 1985, the Lindsays launched the iconic Sunset Publications, combining book publishing with distribution and book wholesaling. It became for a time the largest regional book wholesaler in the Southwest. For nearly 40 years, Diana and Lowell oversaw the publication and distribution of hundreds of books and other publications focused on the natural sciences, history and traditions of our region, and stories that celebrate the relationship of the land and its peoples. Diana herself authored more than 10 books, two of which were named “best book of the year” by the Outdoor Writers Association of California in 2006 and 2013. Lowell served as chief executive officer of Sunbelt and was also co-author of three books, including the area guidebook with Diana, Geology of Anza-Borrego with Paul Remeika, and Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert with George Jefferson. He is a past president of the San Diego Association of Geologists.
The Lindsays’ relationship with Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Anza-Borrego Foundation has been as strong and resilient as the people, plants, animals, and insects that endure and thrive here. Diana was a member of the Anza-Borrego Committee of the Desert Protective Council, predecessor to ABF. She then served as a member of the ABF Board of Trustees 1984-2013, including two terms as President.
In 2013, she received State Parks’ Medallion Award for “superior achievement” as a volunteer. She and Lowell have presented or led innumerable lectures and hikes in the Park and for ABF. They are currently helping with ABF’s Teacher Symposiums. The Lindsays recently traveled to Iceland and they remain energetically active and engaged in the natural world. Their lives and their work have educated and inspired generations of others to know, love, and protect our desert lands.
Anza-Borrego Foundation is proud to honor Diana and Lowell Lindsay as Desert Warriors.
