FIELD RECORDINGS FROM THE NO_PLACE

FIELD RECORDINGS FROM THE NO_PLACE

ALTERING THE PERCEPTION OF WILDERNESS AND WASTELAND THROUGH EXPLORATORY DEVICES

FIELD RECORDINGS FROM THE NO_PLACE

Altering the Perception of Wilderness and Wasteland through Exploratory Devices Sylvia Baumgartner MASTERARBEIT eingereicht an der LEOPOLD-FRANZENS-UNIVERSITÄT INNSBRUCK FAKULTÄT FÜR ARCHITEKTUR zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades DIPLOM-INGENIEURIN Beurteiler: Univ.-Prof. Stefano de Martino Institut für Gestaltung 1 Innsbruck, März 2016

TABLE OF CONTENT

PROLOGUE

07

RECORDINGS FROM THE WEST a personal journey

10

DEFINING LANDSCAPE a contemporary view

20

MANIFEST DESTINY a history of exploration

26

WILDERNESS AND WASTELAND a modern perception

36

SONORAN / SUN CORRIDOR an urban landscape in the natural environment

44

NO_PLACE a place between wilderness and wasteland

52

NEW PERSPECTIVES exploratory devices

56

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE a cycle the periscope

60 72

BEE HABITAT a detail of the environment the audioscope

78 90

HUMAN ARTIFACTS a network of installation the macroscope

96 108

NATURAL LANDMARKS sky islands – a steady object, a landmark the kaloscope

114 126

EPILOGUE

135

INDEX

138

PROLOGUE

The American West is an unusual landscape and conflicting vision of WILDERNESS and WASTELAND. Arizona specifically is a land that includes some of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in America.

The regions’ populace is nestled in the most environmentally diverse areas of the Sonoran Desert, and is planning future development in some of its most delicate and uninhabitable zones.

The NO_PLACE is the currently unrecognized zone that is perceived as a place without any specific designation, program, or value.

Due to its situation in the NO_PLACE this environment is qualified mostly as WASTELAND. While society tends to think of WILDERNESS and WASTELAND as separate entities they are one in the same.

The issue arises with the perspective from which one is viewing.

WILDERNESS is a place, while WASTELAND is a NO_PLACE. The specific solution is to promote the exploration of this landscape by individuals and to arm them with the proper devices with which they will begin to see the landscape from new angles and in a new light, ultimately shifting the perception from WASTELAND to a place with a cultural value.

RW fig. 01. • 32°17’48.10”N, 111° 9’59.84”W – Saguaro National Park, Tucson AZ

RECORDINGS

RECORDINGS FROM THE WEST a personal journey

10

I’m driving west through the desert, passively in my car seat.

Immerging into emptiness – the vast landscape of the American Southwest.

Pausing, I’m walking into the fields, reconnecting to the world outside.

Feeling and perceiving surrounding space – sun, wind and smell. Silence.

Encountering unfamiliar territory, overwhelmed by alien landscapes.

The view is amazing and frightening – creating memories, here and now.

SY, 2013 RW fig. 02. • Field Studies

RECORDINGS

11

The flow of water so exposed and legible.

Forced into manmade paths, treated and exploited.

Connecting landscapes and urban space visible and invisible.

SY, 2013 RW fig. 03. • Field Studies

RECORDINGS

12

Space.

SY, 2013 RW fig. 04. • Field Studies

RECORDINGS

13

Place.

SY, 2013 RW fig. 05. • Field Studies

RECORDINGS

14

Traces.

SY, 2013 RW fig. 06. • Field Studies

RECORDINGS

15

Desert landscapes, unfamiliar places.

SY, 2013 RW fig. 07. • Field Studies

RNO

LAS

LAX PHX

TUS

0

100 KM

RW • fig. 08. A Personal Journey

RECORDINGS

“In the first place you can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the goddamned con-traption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you’ll see something, maybe.”

– Edward Abbey (Abbey 1971) “As I speed over smooth asphalt roads in air-conditioned comfort, listening to the bad pop music my daughter has picked out, I find myself fantasizing about what it would be like to apprehend these mountains as uncharted territory. What did the first explorers think, cresting the pass to find a glistening blue lake or verdant river valley? I can never resist that daydream, no matter how removed from my current situation. [...] I’m not alone in this fantasy, of course. The imaginary encounter with wilderness is central to the American conception of landscape, and particularly to the traditions of landscape painting and photography.”

– Aaron Rothman (Rothman 2015) Exploring the Southwest – Terrifying.

Comforting. Overwhelming. Astonishing.

The duality encountered in that unknown territory. On one hand feeling home, placed, on earth. Knowing that feeling of being exposed to the rough qualities of nature: ice cold wind blowing in my face (its winter and the desert is cold), so loud my ears can’t hear anything else. The harsh desert air dries my skin in an instant.

Simultaneously the light is so bright, it’s hard to see.

Coming from the Alps, loving the mountains, this is not new. There is a

hint of comfort being “out there”. But at the same time, this is a place I don’t know anything about. I mean, what does someone know really about a place before having been there. That feeling overcomes me in a rush.

Desert landscapes, unfamiliar places.

Loneliness – being in a harsh field beyond the unknown, by myself, frightening and overwhelming, its stunning at the same time. And the comforting feeling of being such a small particle in a vast system, being part of something bigger, hard to grasp.

The feeling that the ordinary run of things is in balance.

Amazed by the variety and almost shocked by how the imagination of this place can differ.

Driving several hundred kilometers through the American Southwest, following old routes, from east to west, imagining the frontier, the unknown, promises beyond that horizon.

Finding alien places, like lush green fields surrounded by dry, bare landscape.

Walking through ripe desert flowers, finding shade under gigantic succulents, cacti.

Uncountable numbers of cows standing in hot fields, next to shining reflective solar panels.

This mixture of pure, pristine, the most ancient natural features, next to highly engineered continuously changing artificial landscapes.

Scale. Experiencing beauty and wonder, surprise and horror in such various scales.

Little things, tumbleweeds, only viewable on hold.

Standing outside in the field, on the road.

And at the same time artifacts, that manifest themselves hours before even getting close: the bright light of a desert metropolis illuminating the horizon several mountain ranges and turns before arrival.

Piles of topsoil, in bright toxic colors, seamless on the horizon with holy ancient native places.

The greatest encounter was the one with myself.

Experience the extent of my senses in a place, that allows, no, it requires you to open your eyes, to listen closely and pushes so much air against you that you have to smell.

Not influenced by the familiar environment, the mind is open to emerge into new sensations, impressions and feelings that come along.

Driven by curiosity and reassured by new encounters every step is a step further into new territories.

Leaving behind footprints and car tracks writing traces in memory.

Memories of that kind, where you remember a place, feel the surroundings; smell the distinguished scent of the thorn bush and hear the gravel under your feet.

17

LS fig. 09. • 33°47’18.72”N, 114°28’6.99”W – Mojave Rd, Blythe AZ

LANDSCAPE

DEFINING LANDSCAPE a contemporary view

20

The term landscape instantly brings about images of traditional paintings; this pictorial image we carry in our minds of either a pristine nature-scape or a pastoral countryside. Today’s landscapes are much more complex due to the addition of infrastructure upon the surface of the natural spaces - the exact infrastructure that was built in order to support those pastoral fields on which we grow our corn and soy. In fact, this image in our minds is precisely the landscape itself; it is a construct, it is what we imagine it to be.

And, when we encounter a space who’s image does not coincide with our minds view, we are then unable to equate the two. This is particularly true for the often unfamiliar visual elements of the desert landscape.

Landscape is a word we subconsciously associate while watching out of the car window on a road trip. It is also synonymous with thoughts of lush green forests or the waving grasses of our agricultural land. Landscape is a cultural identity ever tied to our origins. The origin of landscape as a concept comes from the alteration of the landscape of Europe hundreds of years ago and the simultaneous amazement at our human creations and their stark contrast to the natural landscapes surrounding them. The images painted by the artists of the last 500 years, sunsets and seascapes, fields of wheat and romantic representations of our place in the world developed as a byproduct of this inkling of understanding of our relationship to the natural world.

But our concept of landscape is just that, a concept. It is a state of mind, a word who’s meaning is linked to the human view, the human role, the place in which we as humans can see and begin to grasp the

greatness of our place in the world.

According to Yi-Fu Tuan, landscape as a concept has its origins in the sixteenth century European development of parceled land for agriculture. It is from this action on the land that came the perspectives of functionality of the land and the aesthetic perspective of the beauty of order and its contrast to the chaos of nature. It is from these perspectives that the western world developed this “collection of images and feelings in the mind” (Tuan 1979, p. 89).

“Landscape appears to us through an effort of imagination exercised over a highly selected array of sense data. It is an achievement of the mature mind.”

– Yi-Fu Tuan (Tuan 1979, p. 90)

Yi-Fu Tuan goes on to point out that the functional and aesthetic perspectives are objective and subjective and that it is only through the “mind’s eye” that these can be combined. It is, therefore, here within one’s own mind that these two views can be imaginatively combined to form one’s understanding of landscape (Tuan 1979, p. 90).

In order to properly see landscape one must be able to imagine many sets of data. While a scientist is able to increase his understanding of the landscape through the addition of specific scientific knowledge, it is this same knowledge that keeps one from being able to become personally connected to the landscape.

One is, therefore, only able to experience the landscape through abstract means (Tuan 1979, p. 95-97).

While the structured sets of information result from scientific analysis are often the death of imagination and emotion, the means for gathering this information are subjective and can be used to deepen one’s experience with a place. D.W. Meinig discusses the process of becoming familiar with a place through a process of gathering information and learning the nuances that

“If we want to understand ourselves, we would do well to take a searching look at our landscapes.”

– Pierce Lewis (Meinig 1979, p. 2)

LANDSCAPE

a landscape has to offer. He discuses the idea that the collection and development of information will ultimately lead to the ability to have a deeper interaction and understanding of the components and systems within a place (Meinig 1979, p.

34).

The landscape is a combination of past knowledge and experiences, a collection of information related to the specific place, and an ever-evolving experience of the moment; the present. Thus, we are led to the concept of the landscape as a construct of our mind (Meinig 1979, p. 34). “[…] any landscape is composed not only of what lies before our eyes but what lies within our heads” – D.W. Meinig (Meinig 1979, p. 34).

“We can think, therefore we are able to see an entity we called landscape.”

– Yi-Fu Tuan (Meinig 1979, p. 3)

This is then how landscape, “a synthetic space, a man-made system” as J.B. Jackson says, “function[s] and evolve[s] not according to natural laws but to serve a community” (Jackson 1984, p. 8).

All landscapes are symbolic and thereby an expression of cultural values, social behaviour and individual actions working upon particular localities over a span of time (Meinig1979, p.6).

“A landscape is thus a space deliberately created to speed up or slow down the process of nature” – J. B. Jackson (Jackson 1984, p. 8).

In the introduction to his book “The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes” Author and Editor D.W. Meinig attempts to define landscape by clarifying a set of terms that closely relate to landscape, in order to display what it is not. These terms can be put together in certain contexts in order to understand a facet of landscape but cannot in any individual sense describe the whole meaning of the term. Meinig goes on to suggest that, even J.B. Jackson, admits to often being overwhelmed by the term landscape: “after twenty-five years he still finds the concept of landscape elusive” and that, “we are fairly warned not to aspire to a clean and clear definition” (Meinig 1979, p. 2). As Meinig suggests that by understanding how concepts of nature, scenery, environment, and place are related to but are not equivalent to landscape, it may just be possible to begin to build an idea of just what landscape is.

21

LANDSCAPE

22

Landscape is related to, but not identical to nature.

Landscape is a scene, but is not identical to scenery.

Nature is only a part of landscape, just as is man.

“Scenery has connotations of a set piece, a defined perspective, a focus upon certain features, a discrimination based upon some generally received idea of beauty or interest […]” (Meinig 1979, p. 2).

“[Landscape] it begins with a naive acceptance of the intricate intimate intermingling of physical, biological, and cultural features [around us]” (Meinig 1979, p. 2).

“[…] landscape is ubiquitous and more inclusive, something to be observed but not necessarily admired [… it] is ever with us and we are ever involved in its creation” (Meinig 1979, p. 2-3).

LANDSCAPE

Landscape is related to, but is not environment.

Landscapes are related to, but are not identical to places.

“[Environment] is that which surrounds and sustains [us, we] are always enveloped by an outer world” (Meinig 1979, p. 3).

“place depends upon some public agreement as to name, location, and character; some legibility, some identity commonly understood. Our personal sense of place depends upon our own experiences and sensibilities” (Meinig 1979, p. 3).

“Landscape is less inclusive, […] not so directly part of our organic being. [It] is defined by our vision and interpreted by our minds” (Meinig 1979, p. 3).

“Environment sustains us as creatures, landscape displays us as cultures” (Meinig 1979, p. 3).

“[Landscape] is a continuous surface rather than a point, focus, locality, or defined area” (Meinig 1979, p. 3).

23

MD fig. 10. • 36° 8’50.78”N, 115° 9’18.19”W – Stratosphere Tower, Las Vegas, NV

MANIFEST DESTINY

MANIFEST DESTINY a history of exploration

Manifest Destiny is the original American Dream. The long held belief that America and its institutions are morally superior and therefore obligated to spread their ideals in order to set people free from the constraints of non-democratic control and to educate and integrate indigenous societies. In doing so, the American people intended to literally spread across the North American continent, and in fact did so in just over a century’s time. By the time journalist John O’Sullivan coined the term “Manifest Destiny” in 1845, the country was far on its way to achieving this goal (historynet.com).

MD fig. 11. • Expeditions

OREGON COUNTRY

ILLINOIS TERR MICH TERR LOUSIANA TERRITORY

IND TERR

SPAIN

ORLEANS TERR

1810 Unorganized Territories States Territories Claimed Areas LEWIS & CLARK 1804 - 1806

ZEBULON PIKE 1805 - 1808

MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY

SPAIN

JOHN C. FREMONT 1842 - 1854

500 km

26

The attitudes and ideals of the European explorers became a driving force for the American settler. Exploring shifted to conquering and the unknown changed into the un-owned. The vast continent of North America became up for grabs to the first or strongest or richest European descendants. The West became synonymous with the future and progress, and if America was not moving west and growing its land it was leaving the door open for the Spanish, the French or the Mexican government. And so it was with the purchase of the Louisiana territories in 1803 that the land area of the United

MANIFEST DESTINY

“I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west… We go eastward to realize history and study the works of art and literature, retracing the steps of the race; we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure.”

– Henry David Thoreau

States almost doubled and gave the country the right to begin exploration of the continent west of the Mississippi River (historynet.com).

where he began evaluating natural resource deposits and eventually established trading routes and relations with the indigenous tribes of the region (historynet.com).

At this point in history the geography of the west was largely unknown. The only hard information in existence was a collection of reports that had been made by fur traders (archives.gov). Exploration of the west began with the Corps of Discovery Expedition lead by Lewis and Clark. Their primary objective was to map the territory of the Columbia and Missouri rivers and to establish the Northwest as an American territory (archives.gov). In addition, the expedition was intended to develop trade and diplomatic relations with the indigenous tribes and to study the flora and fauna, as well as the geography of the region (edgate.com).

With violent actions against Native American tribes such as the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the government began to clear away threats paving way for further exploration and settlements (historynet.com). The Oregon Treaty of 1846 and the Mexican-American War of 1848 gave the U.S. possession of Oregon and most of the Southwest. These agreements gave the country access to the Pacific Ocean, and in terms of land growth, essentially led to the achievement of manifest destiny (historynet.com).

On their journey Lewis and Clark recorded, described, and drew the shape of the landscape and the creatures of this new western environment. It was William Clark’s production of maps that began to define the land. Through his detailed mappings a remarkable amount of information was obtained leading to the naming of significant points in the land.

After the two year long journey Lewis and Clark returned East with maps and sketches reporting their findings (archives. gov).

It wasn’t until the mid 1800’s that John C. Frémont led United States government expeditions into the Oregon and California territories. His reports played an important role in influencing the routes and destination of early settlers as they were published into guidebooks.

Frémont was a devout believer in Manifest Destiny, “God’s will to explore and settle the American land” and it was this mindset that influenced migration west in search of a divine land and in order to spread the word of God. It was the Southwest region, in Utah, where Frémont settled and created trails into the southern portion of the West (historytogo.utah.gov).

Not long after the early expeditions of Lewis and Clark other explorers and surveyors set off to assist the government and to begin their own entrepreneurial investments. Zebulon Pike first journeyed north to locate the source of the Mississippi River in 1805. Later, he followed the Arkansas and Red River west into Colorado and the Rocky Mountains

While the trails developed by Frémont were greatly influential, many trails already existed. There were in fact many options for migrants including old pioneer and trading trails and those developed by early Spanish and Mexican explorers. The Old Spanish Trail connected Santa Fe and Los Angeles, while the California Trail ran further north connecting Wyoming

27

MANIFEST DESTINY

1775

1850

“It was with awesome feats of engineering that the West was built” – Abrahm Lustgarten

1790

1860

1810

1870

1820

1880

1830

1900

1840

1920

28

MD fig. 12. • Territorial Growth 1775 - 1920

MANIFEST DESTINY

and the West Coast. In the 1840’s and 1850’s the California Trail was one of the preferred routes in the largest migration in American history. During this time 250.000 gold seekers, farmers and settlers travelled the 1000 mile trail in search of riches, freedom and a new start (Wikipedia Westward Expansion).

The Homestead Act of 1862 made land available to all who were willing to make the dangerous journey. Promising free land, 160-acres a lot, in the unsettled West requiring only a claim to the land and improvements such as the building of a home. The push west was further assisted by the expansion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, making the journey easier for all.

It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that the surge of treasure seekers started. The Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1859 and later the California Gold Rush of 1889 were – along with the opening of easy routes and available land – major factors in the

western expansion. The West was settled in less than a century with the population of the land west of the Mississippi growing from 5.2 million people in 1800 to 76.2 million in 1900. The westward expansion provided the Unites States with its vast natural resources and was a key element for the expanding trade and the economic global role the country acquired in the following century (historynet.com).

Urban development, harvested forests and the extraction of natural resources vastly changed and transformed the nature, displaced fauna and suppressed entire tribes of Native Americans (archives.gov).

These tribes were displaced as new settlers moved in this westward wave. And as they lost their land and traditional way of life, they were relegated to living on reservations (historynet.com).

It was with the birth of photography in the mid-1800’s that the vision of the west finally began to develop in the minds of Americans. Large format photography

MD fig. 13. • Trail Choices

29

Central Pacific Union Pacific

500 km

Principal Railroads Oregon Trail California Trail Old Spanish Trail Santa Fe Trail People per sqm 2-18 18-45 45-90 90+

Cities with population > 8.000 in 1900

MANIFEST DESTINY

30

became available to explorers, and over the decades leading up to the turn of the century, the technology progressed from faint, blurry, delicate glass negatives to more feasible, durable, higher quality paper reproductions. It was the rival photographers Watkins and Weed, whose images of Yosemite Valley solidified the wonder of the west in their realistic reproductions. As the United States government was funding the majority of expeditions in the west, they were responsible for both the gathering of the photographic images of the West as well as the expansion of the popularity and use of photography as a tool. It was well known Civil War photographer Timothy O’Sullivan who assisted with the United States Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. From this expedition an album of prints was published adding to the grand expectations of the American people. Other renowned photographers such as William Henry Jackson joined on to projects like the Hayden Survey of Yellowstone, helping to develop land designations, which included some of the first National Parks (digitalgallery.nypl. org).

Of these surveys the most well known and influential was the Wheeler Survey.

From 1872 to 1879, and after conducting several other expeditions, the US Congress commissioned George Montague Wheeler to perform mappings of the land west of the 100th meridian. This set of topographic maps was to be created at the scale of 8 miles to an inch, and set out to collect a large amount of information including, geographic, strategic, and resource related data (Wikipedia Wheeler Survey).

The outcome of such expeditions and surveys was meant to be one of an objective nature; a data collecting and map making documentation of this unknown land. Instead, the outcome, at least photographically, leaned toward the subjective eye of an artist. The decision of what to photograph and how to frame an image was left solely to the photographers, many of whom were former painters or artists. In opposition to the concept of today’s technology, such as

satellite imagery, the photographs of the 1800’s surveyors were being composed by individuals and the selection of information displayed was left completely to them. While the resultant images were no doubt impressive and compositionally superb, the selection of only the most picturesque places and views began to create an expectation and cultural image of the features of this unknown land.

With a link to the West through the newly laid railroads and this new visual medium of photography, these expeditions played an additional role in promoting tourism of the West. In 1880 photographer Frank Jay Haynes approached the Union Pacific Railroad with the idea to use his photos to encourage travel west.

“What I am doing is to show people that this is no desert, but a rich wonderland for tourists to marvel at, and for settlers to make their living in.” – Frank Jay Haynes (Longmire 1997) As was described in the synopsis for the photographic exhibition “Framing the Frontier: Photographers & the American West, 1850-1920” at Firestone Library’s Main Gallery, curated by Heather A. Shannon, “[…] early photographs of the American West document the history of a region, but they also demonstrate how Americans characterized their place and their future on this new frontier. Photographers active in the West were consciously aware of the narrative function of their work and endeavoured to supply audiences with visual accounts that both informed and impressed. Their photographs offered a glimpse into the future of a nation [… and] contributed to opening the West to American settlement and defining it in the American consciousness” (rbsc.princeton. edu).

In his article “Landscapes of Abandonment” Sean Boyd discusses these early photographs as being intentional and technically beautiful. He suggests that this was not only influential in creating the vision of the American West, but that

MANIFEST DESTINY

31

MD fig. 14. • Timothy O’Sullivan, 1871

it created an expectation for landscape photography that continues to influence artists’ vision today. Furthermore, he believes that these photographs created an idea of the West that included the story of depopulation and abandonment, themes that continue to be in the foreground of landscape photography (Boyd 2012).

“Maps are construction of reality, laden with intentions and consequences that can be studies in the societies of their time.”

– J.B. Harvey (Berger 2002)

So it is at the beginning of the 20th century that we see photography, having made its place as a legitimate tool, begin to stake its claim as an artistic method incorporating a slightly more overt tone of romanticism. It was with Group f/64 and the West Coast Photographic Movement that the black and white images of natural wonders of the west elevated their status from surveyors and documentarians to photographic artists. While approaching the subject, they – like Timothy O’Sullivan and the like – were on the one hand documentarians of landscape but on the other hand they had also begun to shift their attention toward the subtle manipulation of the landforms through

the use of the photographic technology of the time. With better equipment, better processes, advanced lenses, photographic paper and development chemicals – not to mention the help of the automobile – they were able to explore faster and deeper into the land and alter their crisply focused product with rich tones and at impressive scales. Ansel Adams was known both within the industry and in popular culture as one of the great photographers of the west. He was a master technician of the photographic process and was able to use his skills to romanticise his straight photography and, thus, elevate the outcome to more than just documentation.

This type of photography persisted through much of the 19th century.

However, beginning with their first exhibit at the International Museum of Photography in the George Eastman House, the New Topographics began to represent the landscape as being more than a natural scene. “The New Topographics artists acknowledged people’s interaction

MANIFEST DESTINY

32

with the land by picturing built urban environments, suburban sprawl and sparsely inhabited rural areas — tract homes, trailer parks, strip malls, motels, warehouses, irrigation canals, to name some of the non-monumental subjects.

The artists included in New Topographics […] expanded the definition of landscape photography” (Lopes 2010). Shana Lopes writes in her article “New (and Old) Topographics” that the photographers of the New Topographics movement were able to develop a new take on landscape photography, one that held the aesthetic of implied objectivity but that inserted the subject matter of human influence into the American landscape image (Lopes 2010). To that point, Stephen Longmire, speaking of photographer Lee Friedlander who spent some of his later years exploring the Sonoran Desert, states that, “[Friedlander] offers an odd but fitting coda to a century and a half of American landscape photography of the West, a place of strangeness that had to be naturalized for America to transform itself from a colony into a continental power” (Longmire 1997).

It is in these symbolic and poetic undertones that we find the American culture, a popular and widely held belief of moral superiority, of Manifest Destiny, and from this the American landscape.

As Shana Lopes discusses the work of the New Topographics, specifically Robert

MD fig. 15. • Photographic Timeline

Adams, she points out their place in the history of photography and art. Lopes says that the, “transcendent landscape photography” of this new movement is “a modernist continuation of the nineteenthcentury romantic tradition of Western landscape painting established by Hudson River School painters like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole, who were among the first to represent the country’s newly opened interior” (Lopes 2010). Sean Boyd continues this thread as he points to Kim Bell’s ideas about the New Topographics quoting her as having said, “‘the King and Wheeler Surveys, photographically recorded by Timothy O’Sullivan, not only influenced the expectations that viewers would develop for the spare vistas and otherworldly features of the Southwestern frontier, but these less romantic, arguably more documentary images would also have a lasting impact on the practice of photography in the United States.’ To Bell, O’Sullivan’s survey photographs set up an expectation of pristineness in landscape photography” (Boyd 2012).

Boyd expands on Bell’s discussion stating: “Interestingly, when this expectation of pristineness is applied to contemporary vistas in which much of the virgin landscape is at least somewhat populated by a form of built environment, the resulting feeling of the image moves from pristine to abandoned. Photographers are no longer surveying unknown lands, they

“This then, I thought, as I looked round about me, is the representation of history.

It requires a falsification of perspective.

We, the survivors, see everything from above, see everything at once, and still we do not know how it was.”

– W.G. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn

MANIFEST DESTINY

are surveying what we’ve done to once unknown lands” (Boyd 2012).

Boyd points out that, “In a little over a hundred years, photographers captured the entire cycle of place in America (pristine to occupied to abandoned)” (Boyd 2012).

He later discusses Misrach’s view of his own work, as Boyd quotes him, “’[Beauty] engages people when they might otherwise look away.’ It’s true that these photos can force us to look at things that we might otherwise not want to see, but maybe Misrach misses the more fundamental value exposed in these photographs of abandonment. In the cycle that is landscape, maybe abandonment is just man’s version of pristine, and maybe there’s beauty in that as it slips back into the entropy of nature” (Boyd 2012).

Speculating on our current dealings with landscape, Boyd discusses how “All of this is to say that through entropy, abandonment moves in a direction towards the ground plane and the horizon-both of which figure so prominently in the landscape photography discussed previously” (Boyd 2012). However, “At our current point in time […] there seems to be an important shift happening in the way we perceive our landscape. In the 130 years between O’Sullivan’s survey photos and Burtnsky’s photos of abandoned quarries, the ground view remained the dominant view” (Boyd 2012).

But, in today’s world of satellite imagery and fingertip access to complex sets of data though our contemporary devices, computers and phones, we have moved beyond, or rather above the horizon to view the world simultaneously from space.

This view from above allows us to see not only the landforms, albeit in an abstract almost graphical two dimensional form, but also to know where we are, or rather where the objects are that we are viewing.

Boyd concludes with the positive and negative aspects of this new way of viewing the landscape, as he points out that “We gain an understanding of objective, geographic context, but we lose the subject almost completely” (Boyd 2012).

While Boyd describes, quite accurately, the current condition of our interaction with the land and thus our viewing of the landscape, is it not possible for these perspectives to be combined? Does our cycle through the landscape end with seeing our abandoned world from outer space? Or is it still possible for us to build on this vision; to take these abstractions and create a more complex understanding of the landscape by revisiting it with these new tools. Perhaps we should…

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WW fig. 16. • 31°58’29.84”N, 111° 4’7.94”W – Asarco Mission Complex, Sahuarita AZ

WILDERNESS – WASTELAND

WILDERNESS AND WASTELAND a modern perception

36

A term that emerges from a discussion on landscape, especially when speaking of conservation, is Wilderness. Much like landscape, Wilderness is difficult to define due to its many uses. Depending on qualities and degrees of wildness, intactness, and remoteness, the term can be used within many facets. As an authority on working to conserve Wilderness areas of the world, the WILD Foundation defines Wilderness as, “The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure” (wild. org). The WILD Foundation attempts to further define Wilderness by creating two levels of “wildness”, those places that are mostly biologically intact, and those that are legally protected in order to remain wild, free of infrastructure, and open to traditional indigenous use or low impact recreation (wild.org).

By these standards Wilderness is the most natural, original or untouched, environment we can observe. These are uncharted territories of intact ecologies, which have never been cultivated.

Wilderness areas can be found in every climate zone on earth and contain optimized environmental conditions for a high diversity of species. These places are structured by systems of natural cycles and are dependent on flora and fauna to hold this balance. Systems are contained within self-arranged borders, boundaries, and barriers; they are natural landscapes of infinite appearances and scale, existing in such diverse systems as deserts, woods, or rainforests (Cronon, 1995)

In order to legally protect these natural places and the cultural concept of Wilderness the United States Congress created a legal definition of Wilderness for the Wilderness Act of 1964: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain” - The Wilderness Act of 1964 (wilderness. nps.gov) This concept of legally mandating Wilderness, its definition, place and future, was almost solely initiated by Pulitzer winning author, environmentalist and historian Wallace Stegner. Action by the government to create the Wilderness Act was spawned by Stegners famous Wilderness Letter from 1960.

The arguments contained in this letter primarily regarded preservation and protection. From these ideas, and as a follow up to the Act, the National Wilderness Preservation System was also created (wilderness.org Stegner).

Stegner not only spoke of Wilderness as something to be preserved for ecological reasons, but also poetically as something to be in awe of. He stated that conservation of Wilderness should be classified as not only the enormous genetic reserve, “[…] a scientific yardstick [but] that such places contain and therefore keep the natural balance [and] the idea and values of Wilderness. This ‘American Dream’ that shaped the history of the country, gave the Americans an opportunity to be different, to ‘renew himself in the wild”. He pleads to the civilized man to not destroy the Wilderness but, as he says, “keep the

“Man always kills the thing he loves, and so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty free oms without a blank spot on the map?”

– Aldo Leopold (Leopold 1980, p. 289).

WILDERNESS – WASTELAND

remainder of our wild as a reserve and a promise--a sort of wilderness bank.”

(Stegner 1980, p. 328-333).

As stated in the Wilderness Act, these lands fall under a special designation for public land and must be completely undeveloped.

The Act also names several United States federal agencies as managers including: the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service under the Department of the Interior, and the United States Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture (Wikipedia Public Land).

“We turn wilderness into parks and wastelands into nuclear dumps.”

– William L. Fox (Fox 2000, p. X)

“Wilderness areas are special places where the earth and its community of life are essentially undisturbed. They retain a primeval character, without permanent improvements and generally appear to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature. The uniquely American idea of wilderness has become an increasingly significant tool to ensure long-term protection of natural landscapes.

Wilderness protects the habitat of numerous wildlife species and serves as a biodiversity bank for many species of plants and animals. Wilderness is also a source of clean water. It has long been used for science and education as well as for higher education purposes, providing sites for field trips, study areas for student research, and serving as a source of instructional examples. Recreation is another obvious appeal of wilderness, and wilderness areas are seeing steadily increasing use from people who wish to experience freedom from the Nation’s fastpaced industrialized society” (blm.gov).

Essentially a wilderness area offers humans the possibility to interact with wild nature,

whether for traditional activities or more contemporary recreational use, so long as the natural processes are not manipulated by human interference.

The practice of preservation of Wilderness within the confines of a park has surprisingly not faced much criticism or questioning. In his work Bottomlands: Las Vegas Wash, landscape photographer Fred Sigman, referred to the works and words of Aldo Leopold, as he stated that we preserve Wilderness in national parks, estates and even in urban settlements in order for not only the essential survival of biodiversity, but also for cultural and recreational reasons.

What becomes problematic is the extent to which preservation and management are being implemented. The terms “neglected” and “managed” can both be used to describe a contemporary understanding of Wilderness. Neglected often refers to non-designation and therefore the possibility for negative interaction with an area. Whereas managed tends to imply a designation and safety of wildlife. On the other hand, neglect could just as easily be unmanaged thriving wilderness and the term managed could be over-applied causing negative, unintended effects. The extreme of our categorization is often a downfall of our innate human desire to order things. From this it is possible that our Wilderness in a park is turned into a programmed or manicured adventure, some false environment (Sigman).

Humankind’s need to control and tame wilderness into a place that fits their own needs is most often an attempt to save nature. However we often only save nature for aesthetic or superficial reasons.

Ordinary places might not seem attractive

37

WILDERNESS – WASTELAND

enough and therefore be overlooked, as their meaning cannot be sensed (Sigman).

“We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” – Wallace Stegner (Stegner 1980, p. 333)

38

Throughout the development of the West, Wilderness has been contextualized and understood to be inseparably linked with the Frontier. Even the Oxford Dictionary acknowledges the connection between Frontier and Wilderness in defining frontier as “the extreme limit of settled land beyond which lies wilderness, especially referring to the western US before Pacific settlement” (oxforddictionaries.com). The land beyond the known was wild and in need of being tamed and conquered (Cronon 1995). As mentioned previously, the United States government went as far as creating legislation in order to conserve the remaining wild lands over a hundred years after the attempt to tame them began. In the Wilderness Act it is stated: “Wilderness is the land that was - wild land beyond the frontier...land that shaped the growth of our nation and the character of its people...Wilderness is the land that is - rare, wild places where one can retreat from civilization, reconnect with the Earth, and find healing, meaning and significance” – The Wilderness Act of 1964 (wilderness.nps.gov) In the modern world the meaning of nature has changed. There is a widely held notion that when left alone, nature is in balance. However, with the daily reminders of ever evolving climate change factors, it is becoming more and more obvious that our affect on the environment is not always a strictly physical or visible one. The word nature itself is singular, but it is composed of and describes a holistic system that is in fact plural and far more diverse and complicated than this singular word leads us to believe. (Cronon 1995) Frederick Jackson Turner described the West as a culture, not a territory. He says

that from the combination of traditional cultural practices with and in a vast open territory, a new culture emerges, one that initially seems to have endless new possibilities and outcomes. He goes on to say: “The wilderness disappears, the “West” proper passes on to a new frontier, and in the former area, a new society has emerged from its contact with the backwoods.

Gradually this society loses its primitive conditions, and assimilates itself to the type of the older social conditions of the East; but it bears within it enduring and distinguishing survivals of its frontier experience. Decade after decade, West after West, this rebirth of American society has gone on, has left its traces behind it, and has reacted on the East.” (Turner) In 1908 the geographer Otto Schlüte developed the opposing terms ‘original landscape’, Urlandschaft, and ‘cultural landscape’, Kulturlandschaft. In contrast to the uninfluenced natural landscape, the cultural landscape is permanently shaped and modified by humans (Wikipedia Natural Landscape).

Since we entered the proposed epoch of the Anthropocene, it is arguable that no part of the planet can be found in its original state. This is due to the overarching effect from man-made systems. It is no longer possible for an area of land, or component of the natural environment to exist free of human intervention. The environments and systems of the world have been affected to a point beyond reversal, as the actions of mankind have impacted the Earth’s geology, ecosystems and the atmosphere (Wikipedia Anthropocene).

It is from this progression of cultural developments that we arrive at the term Wasteland. A close synonym to Wilderness, especially in relation to the arid West, Wasteland is defined as an unused area of land that has become barren or overgrown (oxforddictionaries. com). Even in the discussion of preservation of Wilderness by the United States Government we see undertones of ownership and power over the land, or

“The appeal of the undiscovered is strong in America. For three centuries the fundamental process in its history was the westward movement, the discovery and occupation of the vast free spaces of the continent. We are the first generation of Americans who can look back upon that era as a historic movement now coming to its end. Other generations have been so much a part of it that they could hardly comprehend its significance. To them it seemed inevitable. The free land and the natural resources seemed practically inexhaustible. Nor were they aware of the fact that their most fundamental traits, their institutions, even their ideals were shaped by this interaction between the wilderness and themselves.”

– Frederick Jackson Turner (Turner, p. 205)

WILDERNESS – WASTELAND

FEDERAL LAND + WILDERNESS

USFS

BLM

NPS

FWS

109.511.966

650.000.000

ACRES

28.8%*

ACRES

5%*

DOD

758 AREAS BLM

FWS

USFS

FEDERAL LANDS

*OF TOTAL AREA

BLM

FWS

NPS

WILDERNESS AREAS

USFS NPS

*OF TOTAL AREA

WW fig. 17. • Federal Land and Wilderness

perhaps more precisely the same obligation to save or free it that derives from Manifest Destiny.

Kim Stringfellow writes of John C. Van Dyke, suggesting that his books are largely credited for shifting the perspective of the desert regions of the West. The perspective of these territories, which were once referred to by such names as “God’s mistake” or “Devil’s Domain” were, overtime and due to the writings of Van Dyke, able to be altered. This strange land of unimaginable vastness that contained such odd new flora and fauna was originally seen as an uninhabitable Wasteland. This reputation was also largely due to the stories and legends as well as the real accounts of several unsuccessful attempts of people to cross such “desolate” places as Death Valley. The word desert can be traced to origins meaning “thing abandoned” and is easily translated to Wasteland. The west was often described as “uninhabited and treeless” giving an implication of its more scientific denotation as an arid land. However, this was merely the perspective of the foreign

visitors of European decent. It was the view of the Timbisha Shoshone indigenous people that such a place, seeming so desolate and void of life to someone used to the lush forests of the Alps, was actually referred to as the “living desert”. It was this place, largely misunderstood still to this day, which provided these indigenous peoples all that they required to survive.

(Stringfellow).

Due to the selective documentation of the West by photographers and writers, the investors and stakeholders of westward expansion, the frontier was reimagined as an “idyllic agrarian paradise” in order to encourage settlement. It was not until the 1850’s that this myth was contested by migrants who had made the journey West (Stringfellow).

The well know contemporary photographer Richard Misrach discussed, in a lecture given at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in 2013, how the name of a place comes to be laden with so much meaning or value. He stated that:

39

ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

WILDERNESS – WASTELAND

WA MT

ME

ND VT

MN

OR ID

WI

SD WY

MI IA

NE UT

CO

CA

AZ

IL KS

WV

DE

VA

KY

AR

SC AL

GA

LA

FL

WW fig. 18. • Energy and Mineral Resources

40

“A space can be Wasteland because of the way we see it – a barren land, a place with no meaning to us, a deserted space without obvious function or because it has been turned into Wasteland through human impacts, such as dumps, test sites etc” (Misrach 2013).

While attitudes toward the desert have fluctuated through time, the title of Desert is forever synonymous with wasteland.

This is a misunderstanding that is even difficult to correct with scientific data, or governmental legislation. The idea that the desert is a Wasteland is so ingrained in every aspect of culture, from economics and a visual image of beauty and aesthetics, to religion. The Bible verse Isaiah 35:1 “Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.

The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon” (Bible Isaiah) puts forth these ideas of Wilderness

B 1

NC

TN

MS TX

NJ MD

OH

IN

MO

OK

NM

MINERAL RESOURCES BAUXITE COPPER GOLD IRON ORE LEAD MOLYBDENUM SILVER TIN ENERGY RESOURCES TITANIUM MAJOR OIL FIELDS TUNGSTEN NATURAL GAS FIELDS URANIUM COAL DEPOSITS ZINC

PA

500 KM

NV

NH MA CT RI

NY

and Wasteland, suggesting a negative connotation. As Wallace Stegner points to an “anthropocentrism and one-sided mindset fostered through extreme literal interpretations of Genesis 1:28” suggesting that, “in part, [this] led us to control and exploit the planet for human benefit alone” (Kim Stringfellow).

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Bible Genesis).

Harvard University professor of history of science and physics Peter L. Galison is noted as having compared the hundreds of nuclear wastelands of America with the wilderness areas to which they are adjacent.

Galison who speaks about the longterm situation related to nuclear waste storage suggests that these two seemingly opposite programs ironically share both philosophical and legal characteristics. It is

WILDERNESS – WASTELAND

this overlapping of such differing programs that have defined our contemporary view of these places and altered our image of the natural world (Ireland). It is here in the desert that we often look past the natural elements of the ecosystem in order to see those elements which can best assist us in our present needs. We use the resources of the desert with no attention paid to the affect or future condition we create.

The renowned American land artist Robert Smithson discussed his views on the mining reclamation laws in an interview in 1973. He suggested that the laws had been developed with no regard to specific situations and that this general approach to creating solutions was one, which actually caused more problems. He pointed out that, in a discussion with officials of the Kennecott Mining Company, they had stated that according to the law they were to fill the mine once the digging had finished. The mine official pointed out that this would take up to 30 years and would require materials from another mountain.

Smithson saw this as a feeble attempt to regain something that no longer existed, the American image of the frontier or Wilderness. He went on to point out that this image of Wilderness or Wasteland is one of perspective, of personal preference, and situational view. He discusses the opposing sides of the “profit desiring miner” and the “idealistic ecologist” pointing out that there are “all kinds of strange twists of landscape consciousness from such people” (Smithson 1979).

“So there’s constant confusion between man and nature. Is man a part of nature?

Is man not a part of nature?” (Smithson 1979)

POPULATION CHANGE 1970 - 2008

WW fig. 19. • Population Change 1970 - 2008

41

A 5

POPULATION CHANGE IN % < -50

0 – 49

50 – 99

100 – 249 250 – 499 > 500

500 KM

-49 – -1

SD fig. 20. • 33° 0’17.44”N, 111°36’50.14”W – Arizona State Route 87, Coolidge AZ

SONORAN DESERT

SONORAN / SUN CORRIDOR an urban landscape in the natural environment

44

The American Southwest is a land synonymous with the desert. Since early exploration of this region by United States government began in the 1800’s, the cultural image and understanding of the West has been evolving and shifting.

These changes stem from the greater understanding of the desert environments, or lack thereof, as well as through individual experience with the land and cultural shifts as a result of modernization and urban development.

As was alluded to in discussing the concepts of Wasteland and Wilderness, the term “desert” is typically understood as a barren and desolate place. It is however not always so easily defined. In the Southwest region of North America there are four distinct deserts that run almost continuously across several thousand kilometres: the Great Basin, the Mojave, the Chihuahuan, and the Sonoran. The word desert is derived from the Latin desertum meaning abandoned place (etymonline.com). However this idea seems to have lost all meaning. Man has adapted arid land to his favour and created a place for himself in the desert environments of the world through manipulation of the land with the use of modern technologies like water control and desert farming (eds Philips & Comus 2000).

In fact, a desert is defined by its most distinct characteristic – lack of precipitation – which has shaped this

ecological region by creating a harsh environment that is only habitable to certain species of flora and fauna. While the living conditions within a desert are quite harsh by human standards, classified by less than 250mm (10 inches) of rainfall per year, this makes for a very specific environment that is quite diverse as many species have adapted over time and are only able to survive in such places (eds Philips & Comus 2000).

While each of the deserts of North America possesses specific defining features, the Sonoran Desert is particularly unique. This otherworldly place hosts seven of the eight biomes of earth, ranges in elevations from -69 meters to over 3.250 meters, and is home to an endemic population of unique plants and animals.

The Sonoran covers over 250.000 square kilometres (the size of main land Italy) and contains such diverse land features as coastal sand dunes, tropical rainforest, the “Sky Islands”, and even a sea, the Salton Sea. The “Sky Islands” alone are recognized as having some of the greatest plant diversity north of the tropics (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 125). The writer and historian William L. Fox has described the Sonoran Desert as being a “perversely lush desert” (Fox 2000, p. ix).

One of the most vital and diverse area typologies within the Sonoran is a biome known as a riparian zone. These special areas occur along and are synonymous with desert washes, where the perennial

“The deserts should never be reclaimed.

They are the breathing-spaces of the West and should be preserved forever.”

– J. C. Van Dyke, The Desert 59 (Stringfellow)

“A desert landscape that does not attract the nature lover that seeks a great view.”

– Aldo Leopold

SONORAN DESERT

rainwater runs and collects. While washes occupy less than 5 percent of the area of the Sonoran, they are know to support approximately 90 percent of the bird life.

The washes act as corridors moving seeds and animal life through the larger system of the desert. In addition, the riparian zones are home to larger trees such as the cottonwood and willow, which give refuge to many birds and support these ecological systems found within these micro regions of the Sonoran (eds Philips & Comus 2000 p. 124-125).

“And it is still totally compelling to those who have eyes to see an awesome witness to our capacity to destroy what we love and love what we destroyed” – Reyner Banham

For as diverse and lush as some of these areas can be, they have become increasingly fragile. Due to the consequences of such actions as groundwater pumping, arroyo cutting (wash cutting) and overgrazing, riparian habitat zones have been on the decline. This puts many plans and animals in danger of extinction. The construction of over forty dams throughout the past century has transformed hundreds of miles of riparian corridors into dry riverbeds.

These vital biomes can no longer support the plant and animal life that depends on them and the system of which they are a part (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 125).

In turn these actions, and others closely related to the urbanization of the desert, have caused the fragmentation of habitats throughout the Sonoran. This breaking down of habitat areas and developing barriers, physical or otherwise, has contained and separated the flora and fauna. Through this standard practice

of parcelling the land that has been practiced throughout the western world for hundreds of years, we are slowly breaking down the natural habitats and unintentionally creating spaces which cannot support these natural environments (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 124).

“Most of the Sonoran Desert was not at all naturally barren, but our misunderstandings have impoverished one of the richest arid landscapes on the planet.” – Gary Paul Nabhan (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 125).

Additionally however, the Sonoran Desert and surrounding regions have been home to indigenous peoples for over 12.000 and during this time they have used the land and environment to their benefit.

It is a common notion that indigenous people live within the rules and laws of nature, as one with the land. However this is as much true as it is a romantic idea of the ways of the past. While it is true that comparatively indigenous peoples respected and attempted not to abuse the land, they too played a role in changing the desert environment.

As early as 3.000 years ago the ancient people of the Tucson Basin planted nonnative maize with the use of well-water irrigation. Of course, agriculture was amongst the most intensive alterations to the land, and is still to this day. Early attempts at farming and irrigation included such techniques as flood-

45

SONORAN DESERT

plain-recession agriculture, which took advantage of the natural systems in order to create an artificial outcome. A more extreme example was the use of canals to divert water from rivers into agricultural fields. The Hohokam, later known as the Akimel O’odham, were able to engineer such canals and divert water to distances as great as 500 kilometres.

These methods were in fact the blueprints for some modern irrigation techniques.

The Hohokam also played a role in the manipulation of flora and fauna, and the systems they lived within. It was this type of manipulation that was the beginning of a cultural distribution of components of natural systems (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 105-117).

46

Today the Sonoran Desert is still home to seventeen indigenous tribes each of whom have made their mark on the land at some point in history. What sets them apart from contemporary societies and cultures is that the environment and their relationship with it was always tied closely with and included in their culture.

Additionally these cultural ideas were past on to future generation through cultural events such as song and story (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 125).

It was purely by coincidence that the Hohokam society collapsed, after enduring centuries of extreme climate change causing both flooding and drought, just as the first European settlers were arriving in the late 1600’s. With the Europeans came a different set of rules on how to “live off the land”. Of course they adopted irrigation methods and learned from the native tribes but they also had greater intentions and began to manipulate the land further (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 105-117).

While European settlers began to relocate to the southwest and the Sonoran Desert region they were not coming in great numbers until the later 1800’s. Their largest role in changing the “landscape” of the Sonoran Desert, and the rest of the Americas, was through the introduction of microbes, plants, and animals from Europe, known as the Columbian Exchange. It has been estimated that

upwards of 60 percent of the Sonoran Desert is currently dominated by approximately 380 non-native plant species. In addition, the introduction of animal husbandry and land intensive livestock grazing were concepts introduced by the European settlers that had a visible and lasting effect on the land (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 105-117, 124).

It wasn’t until the United States gained ownership of the majority of the southwest and began exploring and later exploiting the land that the noticeable long-lasting effects began to alter both the land and the environment, as well as, the future of the ecosystems in which they function. It was the precious commodities of silver and gold that began to attract more human presence. The abundance of these valuable metals encouraged ideals such as Manifest Destiny and the common man’s right to riches (eds Philips & Comus 2000, 105-117).

As the Southern Pacific Railroad began to roll into Arizona in the 1870’s so did the Era of Extraction and the influx of all that was a blight on the land. With the introduction of the railroad, ranching drastically increased; in the following decades the number of cattle grew from under 50.000 to approximately 1.5 million, with an additional 1 million sheep. (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p.

105-117).

“On March 3, 1877, the Desert Land Act was passed by Congress to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands of the Western United States. Through the Act, individuals may apply for a desert-land entry to reclaim, irrigate, and cultivate arid and semiarid public lands.” – Desert Land Act (blm.gov) While ranching and cattle grazing were industries that strongly benefited from the expansion of the railroad, mining was even more dependent on transportation infrastructure. Copper, known as one of the five “C’s” (Copper, Climate, Cotton, Citrus, Cattle) of Arizona since the early 1900’s, was the most abundant resource.

To this day the copper production of

“The desert that Richard Misrach presents here is the other desert. Not the pure unsullied wilderness ‘where God is and Man is not,’ the desert of Christian purification and American longing, but the real desert that we mortals can actually visit – stained and trampled, franchised and fenced, burned, flooded, grazed, mined, exploited and laid waste. It is the desert that is truly ours, for we have made it so and must live with the consequences” – Reyner Banham (gerrybadger.com)

SONORAN DESERT

Arizona makes up over 60 percent of that of the United States, 750 thousand metric tons (Wikipedia Copper Mining).

Many of the mines at the start of the extraction era were located in the upland ecological region of the desert. This area has since been abused, ecologically, through the expansion of the urban and industrial landscapes and infrastructure.

With advancements in technology over decades open-pit mining became feasible and began to visibly and ecologically alter the land. Some mines can be over to 3 kilometres in diameter and over a kilometre deep. This sort of industry creates, not only large openings in the earth, but also large land altering deposit mounds, known as “tailings” (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 105-117).

“The desert has long served as a kind of living laboratory for human and environmental experiences and developments. The world’s desert regions have been sites for urban construction, military testing and combat, religious

and spiritual traditions, natural resources, extraction, and a host of other aesthetic, scientific, and artistic interactions.”

— The Desert Initiative (aridjournal.com) As agriculture is the third heaviest “extractive” industry, products such as Cotton and Citrus have also take a toll on the land and ecologies of Arizona.

While farming has been a part of the human culture in the Sonoran for over 3000 years, the extent to which the land is being manipulated today is far greater to that of even 100 years ago. The most drastic land altering action performed by the agriculture industry is the diversion of water for irrigation. While farmers of the past situated their crops in order to take advantage of surface water, today entire rivers have been dammed in order to support urban growth. “[The] Hoover Dam turned the Colorado into a tame ditch for the last 300 miles of its course to the sea. The Colorado and its tributaries, along with the other major

DEVELOPING MEGA-REGIONS 2050

SD fig. 21. • Developing Mega-Regions 2050

47

CASCADIA

GREAT LAKES NORTHEAST

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

D 4

FRONT RANGE

PIEDMONT ATLANTIC

ARIZONA SUN CORRIDOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

TEXAS TRIANGLE

FLORIDA

METRO AREA POPULATION DEVELOPING MEGA–REGIONS (URBAN ENVIRONMENT) DESERT ZONES (WILDERNESS)

GULF COAST

500 KM

+ 6.000.000 3.000.000 - 6.000.000 1.000.000 - 3.000.000 150.000 - 1.000.000

SONORAN DESERT

All of the major rivers that once fed the diverse wildlife of the Sonoran have been dammed and pumps have been built in order to access the natural ground water aquifers that lie deep in the earth.

It is estimated that the current rate of urban growth in Phoenix will top out at approximately 5-7 million residents at which point the water supply will no longer be able to sustain the city (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 105-117).

“The Southwest is the fastest growing region in the United States, the world’s fourth-fastest-growing nation.” (cis.org)

48

E C

RIVERS & STREAMS

The Southwest region of the United States stands out as the fastest growing region. While many trends have affected population shift in the Southwest, such as fluctuation in industries, taxes, and quality of life, the Government has played a large role. The policies of the federal government have helped to develop the Southwest since the late 1800’s. With various acts of legislation including the Mining Act of 1879 and the Homestead Act, the government has been incentivizing life in the desert. More recently, the national and state governments have been implementing economic incentives to companies within the oil and gas industries in an attempt to have whole companies relocate to the region. Today the factors related to population growth in the Southwest range from tourism and recreation to climate and quality of life. The population trend in the Southwest region has not significantly faltered for more than one hundred years, and has in fact increased of the last 90 years by 1.500 percent, compared to the whole of the United States at just 225 SD fig. 22. • Rivers and Streams

C 1

500 KM

rivers that brought water to the Sonoran Desert, […] became ghosts of the past, victims of the twentieth century, carcasses of sand whose lifeblood had been diverted into cotton fields, copper mines, and vast, sprawling cities.” ¬ Thomas E. Sheridan (eds Philips & Comus 2000, p. 106)

PERCIPITATION

SONORAN DESERT

500 KM

C 4

49

SD fig. 23. • Percipitation

percent. In the cities of Phoenix and Tucson the growth rate is astronomical in comparison. The population of Tucson has grown from just over 7.500 in 1900 to one million in 2006(cis.org). While Phoenix has experienced a hundred year growth of over 10.000 percent (geochange.usgs.gov).

“In geology, denudation is the long-term sum of processes that cause the wearing away of the Earth’s surface by moving water, ice, wind and waves, leading to a reduction in elevation and relief of landforms and landscapes” (Wikipedia Denudation).

This sub region of the Southwest, the metropolitan areas of Phoenix, Tucson and Nogales, is know as the Arizona Sun Corridor. The potential, and planned, merging of these metropolitan areas within the next 30 years is one that will have a great impact on the region (america2050. org). The impact of this future megaregion will undoubtedly be seen through the same trends as have been experienced over the last century, however, it is the ecological impact that will play the largest role on the future of life, both human and otherwise.

“The weird solitude, the great silence, the grim desolation, are the very things with which every desert wanderer eventually falls in love. You think that strange

perhaps? Well, the beauty of the ugly was sometime a paradox, but to-day people admit its truth; and the grandeur of the desolate is just paradoxical, yet the desert gives it proof.” – John C. Van Dyke, The Desert, 1901 (majaveproject.org)

NP fig. 24. • 31°58’8.10”N, 111°36’36.89”W – Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson AZ

NO_PLACE

NO_PLACE a place between wilderness and wasteland

AZ

CA

Sonoran Desert 52

Mexico Arizona Sun Corridor

Mex

ico

0

100 Miles

NP fig. 25. • Arizona Sun Corridor

“In a place where nothing officially exists (otherwise it would not be ‘desert’), absolutely anything becomes thinkable, and may consequently happen.”

– Reyner Banham (Banham 1989, p.44) “And what is the desert if not a place denied its place an absent place, a non– place.”

– Edmond Jabes

NO_PLACE

53

NP â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 26. Desert Scenes

NO_PLACE

PHX

C.A.P

Indian Affairs

Agriculture

TUS US Department of Defense

National Parks, Preserved & Wilderness Areas NATURAL PLACE 54

NP fig. 27. • Natural Place

“I’m not worried about the landscape.

What worries me are the people who care so little for it.”

– Robert Adams (Grundberg)

AFFECTED PLACE NP fig. 28. • Affected Place

NATURAL PLACE The natural places are those that are perceived as having nature with specific wilderness qualities. Often these spaces are contained in park-like settings and under preservation rules, as completely unaffected wilderness no longer exists the world over.

The natural places existing within the vicinity of the Sonoran Desert and Sun Corridor are those that have been put on a pedestal as having some exemplary quality of nature or wilderness. These spaces are often distinguished by their abundance of green flora and forest like appearance, one that matches our ideals of nature and wilderness. In addition they have been developed with paths, camping grounds and other minimal infrastructure to allow for their use as recreation areas. Within the rules set out by the governing bodies that oversee the spaces it is most often noted that preservation of natural qualities of these places is the priority.

AFFECTED PLACE Those spaces that fall under the category of affected place include all within the built environment from cities and urban sprawl to the production facilities that dot our landscapes, the “Kulturlandschaft” or agricultural production fields, as well as, infrastructure and production facilities.

Some industries that are most notable in the region of the Sonoran Desert and Sun Corridor are urban spaces, mining, water infrastructure, energy production, and agricultural land. These spaces are especially noticeable in this desert landscape as water use plays a key role in their functioning, however, water is typically and naturally a scarcity. These places are seen in varying degrees of impact, from minor/temporary to major/ permanent and even irreversible. Their use and program function under specific sets of rules designed to regulate their abundance, as well as, their current and future affect on the surrounding environments. In these places the preservation of human ecosystem is priority.

NO_PLACE

NP fig. 29. â&#x20AC;˘ No_Place

55

NO PLACE This is the currently unrecognized zone that is perceived as a place without any specific designation, program, or value. It is for these reasons that the No_Place is in danger of being viewed as a wasteland, an empty space that is underappreciated and therefore misused and eventually destroyed. However, it is important to note that this space possesses qualities indistinguishable from the natural landscape, as the natural environments of the desert are not ones that fall in line with our cultural understanding of nature.

Furthermore, the rapid development of the Affected Place is such that the edge of urban sprawl and the archipelago of industry are increasingly encroaching on the undefined zone of the No_Place. In this outer ring of the human ecosystem there is no set of cohesive or overarching regulations governing the use and treatment of the No_Place.

0

25

50 Miles

NEW PERSPECTIVES

NEW PERSPECTIVES exploratory devices

The American West is an unusual landscape and conflicting vision of WILDERNESS and WASTELAND. Arizona specifically is a land that includes some of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in America. These areas of Phoenix and Tucson combine to create the Arizona Sun Corridor, a conurbation that is speculated to more than double its population by 2050 to over 12 million (america2050.com).

56

The regions’ populace is nestled in the most environmentally diverse areas of the Sonoran Desert, and is planning future development in some of its most delicate and uninhabitable zones. Due to its situation in the NO_PLACE this environment is qualified mostly as WASTELAND, bleak landscape without any value for the sightseeing wanderer.

The “Human Biomes” are planned to be extended further in the near future, and have already begun to encroach on the Arizona Upland Desert Scrub biome which is the environment most effected and which overlaps the most with the edge of the developed land (eds Philips & Comus 2000).

While society tends to think of WILDERNESS and WASTELAND as separate entities they are one in the same.

The issue arises with the perspective from which one is viewing. WILDERNESS is a place, while WASTELAND is a NO_PLACE, allowing mankind to forget completely about the environmental significance of those spaces.

“No place is a place until things that have happened in it are remembered in history, ballads, yarns, legends, or monuments.” – Wallace Stegner, The Sense of Place

Using the words of Wallace Stegner as inspiration for a solution to the value placed on a space, it is the goal of this work to create just such legends in the NO_PLACE of the Sonoran Sun Corridor in order to alter the perception of this magnificent landscape and create a sense of fascination for this great place. The specific solution is to promote the exploration of this landscape by individuals and to arm them with the proper devices with which they will begin to see the landscape from new angles and in a new light, ultimately shifting the perception from WASTELAND to a place with a cultural value.

This solution will be implemented through the use of four elements of exploration Legends, Collections, Maps, Devices.

Throughout the No_Place the explorer will experience various visual landscapes.

In this ever migrating environment of pre, post, and current alteration the view of the land will be in a constant fluid state. Just as Alan Berger describes three types of imagery related to the reclaimed landscape, the explorer will begin to experience similar blended and hybrid visions of the No_Place. The boundaries between altered landscape and its unaltered surroundings are often so blended that one cannot easily distinguish the two. In other instances altered landscapes appear harsh as scars, often times so large that no natural elements exist in sight from within the spaces. In still other instances, the comparison of natural environments to those affected by human use is so drastic that they seem otherworldly (Berger 2002).

The promotion of interaction with the No_Place as a collection of environments is one intended to alter the perception

of this particular landscape as well as landscape in general. As urban landscapes grow and begin to merge with or completely swallow natural landscapes it is important for mankind to take care not to completely overrun the natural environments but to find ways in which they can be maintained and can in turn elevate our own built environment.

Through the alteration of the perception of the NO_PLACE, from a WASTELAND into a WONDERLAND, the future approach to urban development and interaction with these landscapes will in turn be altered. New types of landscape that begin to blur the stigma of altered and pristine environments will develop, first as imagined realities, shifting toward perceived, and eventually into real spaces.

This leads to the creation of a new reclaimed landscape, one that is not only allowed to function naturally and wild as it once was, but is also intended to be made safe from human interference through the means of its existence as an imaginary wonderland, a place beyond the reach of man. The legend of the wilderness is once again a place of the unknown, a place to be cherished, no longer a No_Place.

The rewriting of this very real perception of the No_Place as WASTELAND is enacted in order to develop both a real and imagined future in which this space becomes recognized as a valued place.

Through the acts of naming, using, creating cultural legend, defining the components and collecting of elements and specimen, as well as the interaction through mapping and exploring, this real space becomes both imagined WONDERLAND and real PLACE.

NEW PERSPECTIVES

57

NW • fig. 30. Story Telling

NEW PERSPECTIVES

T I O N T I O N L E C L E C C O L C O L

58

LEGENDS

COLLECTIONS

Story of the No_Place

Findings from the environment

The story of the NO_PLACE, told as a legend of the beyond, the vast space which lies at the edge of the city. These legends will describe the magnificent places and fantastic phenomena that exist beyond the realm of the city. Words that harken back to the campfire tales of the West and the legends of the Native Americans passed down from generation to generation

This is a collection of elements, large and small, that make up the NO_PLACE. A set of real things that border on embellished reality, the collection will begin to catalogue the fantastic and mundane phenomena.

As perceivers of the landscape man has a difficult time relating to vast spaces and shifting environments. The unseen elements that collectively create these spaces will begin to be noticed as the explorerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes and ears are opened to the immense array of sensory mechanisms within the landscape. It is these details that are the most relatable elements within the landscape, allowing the explorer to see the space at all scales, simultaneously understanding its vastness and minutia.

NEW PERSPECTIVES

59

MAPS

DEVICES

Guiding the contemporary explorer

Enabling the explorer

The map is created to lead the explorer through the NO_PLACE and into the reaches of the beyond. It is intended to reveal the mostly invisible phenomena and assists the explorer in engaging with the landscape. Through this interaction with the map, and therefore the landscape, the explorer begins to discover the NO_ PLACE and create their own legends.

Four devices have been developed in order to allow the explorer to engage with the landscape at differing scales and in various environments through the use of different senses. These devices exist as portals to the NO_PLACE opening specific views both at macro and micro scales and allowing the explorer to imagine the whole, as well as, the parts.

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE a cycle

Fluvial landscapes are created as water moves through the landscape.

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

I

mmense expanses of water stream down from the mountain top, carrying with them tons of gravel and desert debris, mammoth branches of 30m tall conifer pines, and tiny, almost microscopic elements like seeds and sediment.

62

These masses of lost desert souls collect together in the foothills below. They spread out along the ancient mounds of compressed earth in gigantic fluvial-fanned forms, deposited by the life source of water that has transported them to their new home to become part of a new world and to serve the cycle of a new landform. Exposed to the brutal sun and deadly dry air they act as dabbed paint in a newly conceived magical landscape, colorful and diverse like the geological roots from which they come, the origin and maker of this land.

The ancestors of this sediment peak out as timid islands in a vast stony ocean carved with the deep scars developed over millennia into transportation route, temporary river, wild with rapids and churning with the building blocks of the very forms through which they stir.

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

63

FL • fig. 31. Legend Fluvial Landscape

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

Forms of Alluvial Fans

Average Annual Percipitation in Arizona

h’

g’ b,e,f

I c d

II c’

III g

b’ h

e’

f’

0

d’ Topographic map of Aluvial Fan

100

m

b c c’

d

b’

d’

e

Topography of an Alluvial Fan

f e’ f’ g

Alluvial channels

g’ h

64

h’ Radial and cross-profiles of Aluvial Fan Bedrock Facets

Fan Deposit 1

4km

Evaporation Playa

Anatomy of Alluvial Fan

Alluvium Bedrock Mountain-front Recharge

Basin-fill Aquifer

Lower drainage basin

Abandoned lobe

Active depositional lobe Basin-fill Aquifer are in unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel that partly fill basins

FL • fig. 32. Collection Fluvial Systems

Uplifted block

Recent debris flow levees and lobes

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

angulate

angulate subdentritic

dentritic

65

rectangular

colinear

radial

parallel

floodplain

karstic

FL â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 33. Collection Drainage Pattern

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

66

33° 5'17.24"N 111° 9'0.66"W

33° 0'54.18"N 110°52'57.88"W

32°57'8.25"N 111° 6'25.64"W

32°59'23.01"N 110°56'33.67"W

33° 3'31.21"N 110°56'41.07"W

33° 5'0.62"N 111°11'53.44"W

32°33'34.34"N 111° 6'6.81"W

32°38'9.12"N 110°57'22.46"W

32°41'52.14"N 110°51'39.59"W

32°48'40.62"N 110°42'27.34"W

33° 6'32.34"N 111° 7'57.77"W

32°28'7.63"N 110°37'54.35"W

33° 6'18.87"N 110°54'32.29"W

33° 7'28.43"N 111° 4'40.93"W

33° 5'51.24"N 111° 1'45.63"W

FL • fig. 34. Collection Fluvial Fans

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

67

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

Fluvial landscapes are created as water moves through the landscape. Water is the essential forming element of these landscape features. In the desert this landscape is a collection of landforms including alluvial fans and washes, arroyos; they are closely related to the mountains, at who’s base they lie, pediment, and inselbergs, all of which are geological forms that are part of the system which carries and directs water through the landscape.

68

Mountains are of course geological forms created through the shifting of the earth’s plates over a long period of time. The mountains play a crucial role as they help in the development of the weather systems, as well as, acting as a collector of water. It is down the face of the mountain, from the higher elevation peaks to the lower desert floor, which this water flows.

Pediment is a sub layer of bedrock that develops due to the erosion of the lower mountain face. As large weather systems bring intense rain, masses of water rush

over this bedrock bringing sediment which smooth’s out these surfaces.

Developing from this process are the alluvial fans, known as bajadas in groups.

As the water rushes down the mountain face the sediment that comes with it builds up into large fan shaped deposits called alluvial fans.

Washes are the dry riverbed-like forms that temporally or seasonally fill and channel water after sufficient rain. These desert landscapes are subject to periodic flash floods which are a consequence of massive weather systems that cause violent thunderstorms during rainy seasons.

As the mountains begin to disappear into the desert, the lowland desert scrub landscape develops. Pushing up through this seemingly dry sandy land are the remnants of ancient mountain ranges.

Know as Inselbergs, these small isolated hills accentuate the merging of systems and landscapes (eds Philips & Comus 2000).

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

Mountain Front

Alluvial Fan

Arroyo

Inselberg

Stream Channel

Evaporation Percepitation

69

Bedrock

Pediment

Inselberg

Alluvial Plain

FL â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 35. Functional Diagram Fluvial Landscape

Aquifer

FL fig. 36. â&#x20AC;˘ Map Fluvial Landscape The first thunder is the sign that Monsoon Season has begun. The storms peak between mid July and August. Downpours are short in duration but rainfall is heavy.

The No_Place receives half of its yearly rainfall during this period. Often the rain is visible beyond the mountains but it never reaches. Yet the mountain has done its part and collected water. I can hear the rumor of water crashing down the wash, stones rubbing together, masses flowing in a rush. Roiling water carries debris. The light changes and after the darkness of the storm has gone the sunlight opens on to the Earth below. I hear silent trickles far away and the awakening of flowers and plants that finally quench their thirst.

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE the PERIscope

2

3

N E

1 W S

FL fig. 37. â&#x20AC;˘ Collage The PERIscope

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

FL fig. 38. • Perception within Landscape

PERIscope : peri (greek) around A periscope is an optical device for seeing the environment from another perspective or angle.

74

The Periscope is carried through the No_Place on the back of the explorer, contained within a carrying case. Once placed at the desired coordinate the case acts as the launching pad for the device itself. The launch pad is secured to the ground and unfolded, transforming into a launching mechanism. The device once prepared is positioned onto the launching bow and the bowstring is pulled taut, loading the mechanism. The device is shot up, at a 90-degree angle to the earth’s surface, allowing the visual data to be gathered from as close to the origin point as possible.

FL fig. 39. • Albert Maul’s Rocket for areal phtotography, Germany 1906

At the pinnacle of the devices’ flight the shutter release is triggered by a gravitypropelled weight, simultaneously enacting the camera, and deploying the drogue parachute, which ensures controlled landing. During the devices decent back to land and the explorer, an instant image is developed providing the explorer with an overview of the landscape in which they stand.

This new information gives the explorer an additional perspective and understanding of the place with which they are interacting. Landforms are given a scale, while unknown land features are potentially discovered. The abundance of color, the painterly landforms and natural features are now comprehendible from within this unknown territory. Much like the Claude Mirror of the 1800‘s the Periscope allows for the framing of a spectacular view, and the gathering of an additional set of data.

The retrieved image allows the viewer to see new extraordinary perspectives that are otherwise only revealed by satellite imagery. As the explorer begins to further document the No_Place, a new image of their specific experience is compiled with images taken in differing locations and throughout the ever-shifting landscape.

max.

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

75

FL • fig. 40. Solution Fluvial Landscape

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

PARACHUTE

FLOATING DEVICE

fixe d

BALANCE WINGS

76

CAMERA DEVICE

SENSOR

SHUTTER

e ach

det

PICTURE RELEASE

e abl LAUNCHING DEVICE

FL • fig. 41 + 42. The PERIscope

LENSE

FILM

GROUND FIXTURE

FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE

1

2

3

Camera Device

Lense

Floating Device

Picture Release Film

77

Launching Device

Ground Fixture

Balance Wings

Parachute

BEE HABITAT a detail of the environment

In a 50 km radius area around Tucson the diversity of the bee population is estimated to be the highest in the world.

BEE HABITAT

D

eep within the vast and secluded range of the NO_PLACE great numbers of bees buzz from flower to flower, filling this endless desert landscape with their sounds and songs of vibration.

80

Hidden deep below the surface of this desolate world these glorious creatures construct labyrinthine corridors, structures for safety, security and protection from the vicious world above, in order to raise their young.

Languishing about in the flower filled shrubbery and high swaying branches of the deciduous cottonwood and alder trees, the bees unknowingly play the game nature has constructed as they cover themselves in pollen and without pause weave from one nectar source to the next.

BEE HABITAT

81

BH â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 43. Legend Bee Habitat

BEE HABITAT

Andreana

Svastra

Halictus (Mining bees)

Peponapis pruinosa (Squash bee)

Hylaeus

Stelis

Perdita

Agapostemon

Specodes

Euglossa

Tiriepolus

Centris

Melissodes (f)

Melissodes (m)

Exomalopsis

Megachile

Panurginus

Xylocopa violacea (Carpenter bee)

82

BH â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 44. Collection Bee Species

BEE HABITAT

83

BEE HABITAT

a: ystropha planidens

b: andrena viburnella

c: paragapostemon mutabilis

d: andrena erythronii

e: pedrita maculigera

84

f: colletes micheneriacum

g: perdita linualis

BH â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 45. Collection Bee Burrows

h: halictus dimorphos

BEE HABITAT

Adult Worker Bee

Queen Bee 85

Pupa

Eggs

Larva

BH â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 46. Collection Bee Life Cycle

BEE HABITAT

In a 50 km radius area around Tucson, AZ the diversity of the bee population is extraordinary high. Of the approximately 4.000 to 5.000 bee species found in North America, over 1.000 can be found in this tiny be haven. Unlike our standard mental image of bee life most of these desert bees are not living in a swarms or the typical beehive. The majority of these bees burrow in the ground building truncated caves in which they lay their eggs. Other species take advantage of the diverse plant life found in the Sonoran Desert by build their homes in tree and cactus trunks.

86

Diversity amongst the bees is also found in their pollination systems. Some bees are only attracted to specific flowers while others have no preference at all.

Furthermore, while the majority of bees practice a standard pollinating procedure of simply rubbing against the pollen of flower as they search for nector, there is a specific pollination method known as buzz pollination. In this method the bee hangs below the flower and vibrates until the pollen falls onto the bee (eds Philips & Comus 2000).

BEE HABITAT

Pollen

Mound of Soil

Ground Surface

Pollinating Adult Bee

87

Egg on Pollen

Larva

Pupa

BH â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 47. Functional Diagram Bee Habitat

Desert Soil

BH fig. 48. • Map Bee Habitat Now… I can hear the buzz. Surroundings vibrate in the rhythm of the bees. They call the fragile ground I’m standing on Home. All these micro-worlds at my feet, the underground caverns and caves. The water has rushed over these burrows and penetrated the earth. It knows where to go, how to get to the roots that call it. The system, the cycle goes on.

BEE HABITAT the AUDIOscope

bzzz

1z

1y

bzzz

1x bzzz

2

3 BH fig. 49. â&#x20AC;˘ Collage The AUDIOscope

BEE HABITAT

92

BH fig. 50. â&#x20AC;˘ Making Sound Visible

AUDIOscope : audire (latin) to hear AnAn Audioscope is an amplifier, which increases the power of a signal.

The Audioscope is carried with the explorer through the No_Place and can be easily implemented at any point along the journey. When encountering a bee habitat the explorer can activate the device and engage with the bees. The explorer directs the sound gathering funnel toward the bee, as it pollinates the local flora.

BH fig. 51. â&#x20AC;˘ The phonautograph is the earliest known device for recording sound.

The vibrations from the bee are collected and transmitted through the funnel and down the line where they are amplified against the sound membrane. The device focuses physical air pressure from the bee sounds onto the membrane, which concentrates the sound waves through liquid sensors and activates the recording

needle. Thus the sound waves are transcribed into a physical manifestation as they are converted into visible recordings.

Depending on the abundance and proximity to the bee habitat, recordings will appear more or less accurate and drastic. Other environmental sounds; birds chirping, airplane engines, automobiles, may also affect recordings, giving the user pause to consider these effects on the natural system.

This device produces a completely different landscape image, one that activates the senses. The audial image created displays a quality of the surroundings in an abstract form and tells the explorer the story of sound that can only be heard on site, in the No_Place.

BEE HABITAT

frequency rate 1

frequency rate 2

frequency rate 3 93

frequency rate 4

frequency rate 5

BH â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 52. Bee Frequences

BEE HABITAT

FUNNEL

LINE hand hold

AMPLIFIER

EAR PIECE

94

CONVERTER

MEMBRANE

SENSOR

VIALS

carry on

PEN

RECORDER

BH • fig. 53 + 54. The AUDIOscope

PAPER DRUM

BEE HABITAT

Funnel

Controlling Window

Line

Sensor

Vials

Membrane

Holding Strap

95

Ear Piece

Paper Drum Pen

Converter

Recording

HUMAN ARTIFACTS a network of installation

Marks of long-term influence from infrastructure and resourcing remain visible on the desert surface and in the environment.

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

O

nce plentiful monuments to the conquest of the west, the land, and those fruits that the world provides are in fact ephemeral in hindsight. These prominent markings, traces, scars, and growths are spread out like pockmarks across the desert scrublands.

98

These deeply dug holes, monumental barriers, and altered fields drastically effect and conflict with the natural paths of prehistoric beasts and the ancient waterways that connect continent and sea.

Acting as an infrastructural network of function and flow the grand and magnificent masterpieces of engineering have manifested manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to survive in the worlds most inhospitable, delicate, and unforgiving environments.

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

99

HA • fig. 55. Legend Human Artifacts

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

100

HA fig. 56. • Collection Human Artifacts

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

101

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

HA fig. 57. • Collection Human Artifacts

○

○

○

○

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

102

The affect, both short-term and long-term, of resource gathering industries on the desert landscape is drastic in many ways.

The infrastructure needed to enact these industries spans from roads and canals to large-scale machinery and permanent cuts in the land. Often these elements of infrastructure are left on the land long after their use has ended. This leads to often unseen consequences including the creation of environmental barriers, discarded junk infrastructure, as well as, toxic waste materials that are collected and distributed into the environment through the flow of water and wind. The physical marks remain from farming and mining are left visible on the landscape but are culturally accepted.

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

Cotton

Durum Wheat

Corn

Santa Cruz River

Winter Wheat

Barley

Pecan

Interstate 10

Alfalfa

103

Basin and Range Aquifer

HA â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 58. Functional Diagram Human Artifacts Eloy South

Pump Well

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

Stacker Dump

Twin Buttes Pit

Waste Rock & Alluvial Dump

Duval Mine Rd

Green Valley

Interstate 19

Green Valley Pecan & Co

104

Basin and Range Aquifer

HA â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 59. Functional Diagram Human Artifacts Green Valley

Santa Cruz River

Box Canyon Wash

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

C.A.P Central Arizona Project

Hot Rock Mountain

Silver Star Ranch

Cattle Farm

105

Pump Well

HA â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 60. Functional Diagram Human Artifacts Hot Rock Mountain

Basin and Range Aquifer

HA fig. 61. • Map Human Artifacts Discarded overgrown relicts of man-made structures. Old metal bars and wires strewn about. Wounded and marked landscapes. I only see them from away. They are ‘sacred’, lying on land that has been lost and can not be traversed.

HUMAN ARTIFACTS the MACROscope

2 1

3 Z

Y

X

HA fig. 62. â&#x20AC;˘ Collage The MACROscope

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

HA fig. 63. • Traces of Human Artifacts

110

MACROscope: makrós (greek) long, large A MACROscope is an imaginary instrument, which brings vast regions of space into the range of vision.

HA fig. 64. • The Mold - O - Rama

The MACROscope is transported with the explorer through the No_Place.

When the explorer stumbles across the human artifacts that are strewn across the desert landscape they have arrived at their destination. The device is strategically placed at the center of the desired scanning area, as close to the human artifact as possible.

This device serves as documenter and storyteller. The scars and impacts of human existence in the desert are gathered as objects to be collected, displayed and discussed. The outcome of this device is simultaneously artifact, diorama, and dream catcher. This device collects real terrain and objects and produces a three dimensional model. It creates a stage for the story of the No_Place. And, as an object handed down, allows these stories to become legends, endowments to the future landscape.

Once the controls for scale, definition, distortion, and time have been adjusted to the desired setting the device is ready to scan. The landscape is transformed into a three dimensional form giving the explorer both an object to study and an artifact with which to pass on the legend of their experience in the No_Place.

“A map is a spatial embodiment of knowledge and stimulus to further cognitive engagements.”

– Cosgrove (Berger 2002)

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

artifact item 1 canal

artifact item 2 mine

111

artifact item 3 sprawl

artifact item 4 fields

HA â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 65. Artifact Items

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

SPRAWL SUPPLY

CANAL

MINES

RADIAL INSPECTOR

FIELDS

LANDSCAPE SCANNER

DATA CONVERTER 112

OUTER BOX

COOLING FAN MOLD FORMER LOCAL CONTROLS MOLD OUTPUT

COLLECTIBLES

HA • fig. 66 + 67. The MACROscope

HUMAN ARTIFACTS

Scanning Process

Cooling Fan

113

Radial Inspector

Progress Display

Outer Box

Local Controls

On/Off â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Switch Artifact Item Output

NATURAL LANDMARKS sky islands – a steady object, a landmark

Madrean Sky Islands - an archipelago of diversity islands in a desert ocean.

NATURAL LANDMARKS

E

nclaves of great trees stand out atop alien mountains pushing up through an otherwise flat and deserted setting.

116

The journey from base to peak is mystical and transcending. As one steps through all the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biomes from the desertous scrub and grasslands, through the wooded grasslands and woodlands of the oak, out onto the rocky slopes of the pine oak and chaparral woodlands, and eventually pushing up through the clouds and treetops on to the peaks of these mountains and into the pine and conifer forests that float through the skies.

Isolated as if on a deserted island, high above the boiling heat and dust of the desert floor, life emerges in this parallel universe.

As time passes below this world functions autonomously, creatures and plants here are found nowhere else in the world. These islands in the sky are truly worlds unto their own.

NATURAL LANDMARKS

117

NL â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 68. Legend Natural Landmarks

NATURAL LANDMARKS

PAJARITO MOUNTAINS

SIERRITA MOUNTAINS

WINCHESTER MOUNTAINS

MULE MOUNTAINS

1596m

1886m

2336m

2250m

SANTA TERESA MOUNTAINS

DRAGOON MOUNTAINS

GALIURO MOUNTAINS

WHETSTONE MOUNTAINS

2280m

2293m

BABOQUIVARI MOUNTAINS

SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS

DOS CABEZAS MOUNTAINS

RINCON MOUNTAINS

2356m

2881m

2546m

2641m

SANTA CATALINA MOUNTAINS

PATAGONIA & HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS

CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

PINALENO MOUNTAINS

2791m

2201m & 2886m

2975m

3270m

2350m

118

NL • fig. 69. Collection Sky Islands

NATURAL LANDMARKS

119

NATURAL LANDMARKS

Mixed Conifer Forest

Pine Forest

Pine - Oak Woodland

Chaparral

120

Oak Woodland

Oak Grassland

Desert Grassland

Desertscrub

NL â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 70. Collection Bioms

NATURAL LANDMARKS

10,000

North - Facing Slopes

South - Facing Slopes

3.000

9,000

8,000

7,000 2.000 121

6,000

5,000

4,000

1.000 3,000

2,000

Feet

NL â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 71. Collection Elevation

Meter

NATURAL LANDMARKS

Circling the southern territory of the No_Place is an archipelago of mountains that have developed into diverse micro ecosystems. These are biological phenomena known as the “Sky Islands”.

The diversity found here is due in part to the drastic elevation change between the desert floor and the mountain peak where the elevation ranges from 500 to 3250 meters. While the lower lying lands typically have a hot dry climate, at higher elevation climate is more consistent with oak woodland or pine forest.

122

These twenty-seven Sky Islands evolve independently, encouraging such a diversity of micro-ecosystems that often flora and fauna are only found at the peak of certain mountaintops. In fact, the Madrean archipelago is the only sky island complex to straddle two major floristic and two major faunal realms, as well as, the convergence of three major climatic zones, tropical, subtropical, and temperate.

In addition to the diversity found in this micro-region of the Sonoran Desert, each of the world’s biomes occur in the Sonoran Desert, including tropical rainforests (eds Philips & Comus 2000).

NATURAL LANDMARKS

Catalina California Ground Squirrel

700

2791

Mount Graham Red Squirrel 800

2336

900

123 3270

Conifer Forest Pine Forest Oak Woodland

900

Santa Catalina Mountains

Galiuro Mountains

NL â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 72. Functional Diagram Natural Landmarks

Pinaleno Mountains

NL fig. 73. â&#x20AC;˘ Map Natural Landmarks Landmarks are celebrated. They stand out, are highlighted and put in pose.

A journey takes me from the desert temperatures up the hill. I feel it begin to cool. Like a travel back in time I see stages of plants, the higher in altitude I go the more lush the land becomes. I reach the peak and can gaze back upon the time, the change of place and landscape.

NATURAL LANDMARKS the KALOSscope

2

3270

1’ 3

1 728

2’

NL fig. 74. • Collage The KALOSscope

NATURAL LANDMARKS

NL fig. 75. • Viewing Landscape Qualities

128

KALOSscope: kalos (greek) beautiful A KALOSscope is a device through which one can observe beauty.

NL fig. 76. • A cyanometer (from cyan and -meter) is an instrument for measuring ‘blueness’, specifically the colour intensity of blue sky. It is attributed to Horace-Bénédict de Saussure and Alexander von Humboldt. It consists of squares of paper dyed in graduated shades of blue and arranged in a color circle or square that can be held up and compared to the color of the sky.

The KALOSscope is carried with the explorer, much as binoculars, and can be accessed at a moments notice. The explorer has arrived at the desired location when they find themselves in the No_Place and wish to ponder the beauty of the surroundings.

As the explorer looks through the device they are able to adjust for brightness and time of day through the opening and closing of the aperture. The focus can also be adjusted for the viewing of objects or landscapes. The catalogue of landscape references can be scrolled through allowing the explorer to match their landscape with those collected. The corresponding identification code can be referenced in the catalogue handbook, which describes the various characteristics of beauty seen in any given landscape. Lastly, the device is intended to give a personal experience to

each individual explorer. Therefore, the beholder filter can be selected to fit ones mood or personality in order to optimize the experience.

As this vast and often under appreciated landscape is viewed one can often overlook both the minutia and overall beauty that lies before them. The cultural aesthetic and idea of landscape is typically one of lush green forests and rolling hills, however, as Wallace Stegner famously said, “You have to get over the color green…” With this device at hand an explorer of the No_Place can begin to appreciate these foreign landscapes and create their own sense of beauty in the world.

“Wenn man in der Landschaft mittendrin sitzt, eignet sie sich nicht mehr als Objekt ästhetischer Betrachtung. Dann wird sie eine verdammt ernste Sache.” Alex Capus, Leon und Louise

NATURAL LANDMARKS

53

52

51

1

2

3

4

50

5

49

6

48

11

43

10

44

9

45

8

46

7

47

15

39

14

40

13

41

42

12

38

16

37

17

35

36

18

20

34

19

21

33

22

32 23

31

24 25

26

27

NL • fig. 77. Landscape Wheel

129

28

29

30

NATURAL LANDMARKS

STRAP

THUMBSCREW

FINE ADJUSTMENT

APERTURE KNOB

LANDSCAPE WHEEL

FOCUSING LENSE

APERTURE

BODY

EYE PIECE

OCULAR LENSE

BEHOLDER FILTER

LANDSCAPE CHART

130

SCIENTIST

LANDSCAPE VIEWER

FILTER COLLECTION BEGINNER CHILD

“The weird solitude, the great silence, the grim desolation, are the very things with which every desert wanderer eventually falls in love. You think that strange perhaps? Well, the beauty of the ugly was sometime a paradox, but to-day people admit its truth; and the grandeur of the desolate is just paradoxical, yet the desert gives it proof.”

–John C. Van Dyke 1901, The Desert NL • fig. 78 + 79. The KALOSscope

NATURAL LANDMARKS

Aperture

Aperture Knob

Strap

131

Eye Piece

Ocular Lenses

Landscape Wheel

Beholder Filter

Focusing Lense

NW â&#x20AC;˘ fig. 80. SY Field Studies

EPILOGUE

The promotion of interaction with the No_Place is one intended to alter the perception of this particular landscape and the way in which one perceives landscape in general.

A series of recording devices is designed to enable the alteration of perception. The devices are intended not only to produce a subjective individual experience but also to generate new data and knowledge of the No_Place.

The devices are inspired by the instruments and actions of the explorers and surveyors of the West.

Viewing and experiencing the landscape as an explorer puts the scale of landscape into perspective and reveals environmental qualities and details that otherwise would never be revealed.

It is now the contemporary explorerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duty to produce their own recordings of the landscape. Thus creating ballads, yarns and legends to enrich the value placed on this underestimated territory.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Thank you â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Prof. Stefano de Martino, for the patient guidance, encouragement and advice you have provided.

Faculty and Staff of Gestaltung 1, for lending a helping hand.

Bill and Sara, at Center for Art + Environment for your kind assistance and vast knowledge.

Matthew, at the Center for Land Use Interpretation Ian, for helping me keep things in perspective. For being amazed by little things and sharing my fascination for desert explorations. One one.

To my Family, for the continued support and encouragement throughout my studies.

Alexa, Gerald, Gunnar, Steph and Stine for endless discussions, proofreading, layout help and finalizing this work. And for your friendship.

Atelierfreunde, this work would have been all the more difficult without your help and support.

Finally, to all my colleagues and friends for the endless support and good times.

INDEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbey, Edward: Desert Solitaire: A Season on the Wilderness, New York: Ballantine 1971 Auster, Paul: The New York Trilogy, London: Faber Firsts 1987 Banham, Reyner: Scenes in America Deserta, Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press 1989 Berger, Alan: Representation and Reclaiming: Cartographies, Mappings, and Images of Altered American Western Landscapes in: Landscape Journal 2002

138

Boyd, Sean: Landscapes of Abandonment 2012 http://cargocollective.com/UCLA/ Abandonment (28 Jan 2016) Burtynsky, Edward: Manufactured Landscapes (movie), 2006 Capus, Alex: Leon und Louise, München: dtv (3. Auflage) 2012 Carlson, Dane: The Humanity of Infrastructure: Landscape as Operative Ground. http://scenariojournal.com/article/ humanity-of-infrastructure/ (18 May 2015) Cronon, William (edt.): Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, New York: W. W. Norton & Co. 1995 Fox, William L.: The Void, the Grid & the Sign: Traversing the Great Basin, Reno: University of Nevada Press 2000 Francisco, Jesús de: The Rings of Saturn in: Places Journal, December 2010. https://placesjournal.org/article/the-rings-ofsaturn/ (29 Jan 2016) Grundberg, Andy: article on http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/ arts/interpreting-the-landscape. html?pagewanted=all (17 Feb 2016)

Ireland, Corydon: Wasteland and wilderness: Galison uses a Radcliffe year to ponder ‘zones of exclusion’ on: http://news.harvard. edu/gazette/story/2009/10/wasteland-andwilderness/ (27 Jul 2015) Jabes, Edmond cited here: https://books. google.at/books?id=dfpJqgYC7x8C&pg=PA 176&lpg=PA176&dq=And+what+is+the+d esert+if+not+a+place+denies+its+place+an+a bsent+place,+a+non+%E2%80%93+place& source=bl&ots=UDWI6kca3n&sig=AT6RB08UyCal9zoid7b44Udyk&hl=en&sa=X&redir_ esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false (17 Feb 2016) Jackson, John Brinckerhoff: Discovering the Vernacular Landscape, New Heaven: Yale University Press 1984 Leopold, Aldo: The Green Lagoons in: Bergon, Frank: The Wilderness Reader, Reno: University of Nevada Press 1980 Longmire, Stephen: Back West: Reviewing American Photography, Afterimage, SeptOct, 1997 http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/01/ theory-back-west-reviewing-american.html (17 Feb 2016) Lopes, Shana: New (and Old) Topographics in: Places Journal, March 2010. https://placesjournal.org/article/new-and-oldtopographics/ (28 Jan 2016) Lustgarten, Abraham: End of the Miracle Machines: Inside the power plant fueling America’s drought on: https://projects. propublica.org/killing-the-colorado/story/ navajo-generating-station- (17 Feb 2016) Manaugh, Geoff (edt.): Landscape Futures: Instruments, Devices and Architectural Inventions, Barcelona: Actar 2013 Meinig, Donald W.: Introduction in Meinig, Donald W. (edt.): The Interpretation of

Ordinary Landscapes, New York: Oxford University Press 1979 Meinig, Donald W.: The Beholding Eye, Ten Versions of the Same Scene in Meinig, Donald W. (edt.): The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes, New York: Oxford University Press 1979 Milligan,Brett: Landscape Migration in: Places Journal, June 2015. https://placesjournal.org/article/landscapemigration/ (27 Jan 2016) Misrach, Richard: Lecture in Fort Worth on Oct. 9 2013 Amon Carter http://www.cartermuseum.org/press/releases/ amon-carter-museum-of-american-art-topresent-transformative-color-photographyexhibition Philips, Steven J. (edt.); Comus, Patricia Wentworth: A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, Tucson Arizona: Arizona – Sonora Desert Museum 2000 Radioshow KERA: The Westmap http://www.kera.org/2014/10/15/mappingthe-u-s/ Rothman, Aaron: Natural Artifice, Artificial Nature in: Places Journal, August 2012. https://placesjournal.org/article/landscapephotography-new-visions-part-4/ (07 Jan 2016) Rothman, Aaron: Landscape Forensics in: Places Journal, February 2014. https://placesjournal.org/article/landscapeforensics/ (07 Jan 2016) Rothman, Aaron; Mann, John; Nikonowicz, Drew: A Tiny Toy Telescope in: Places Journal, September 2015. https://placesjournal.org/article/a-tiny-toytelescope/ (30 Jan 2016) Sigman, Fred: Bottomlands: Photographs of

INDEX

the Las Vegas Wash, notes from the archives of the Center of Art + Environment Nevada, box 1110, 06.11.2013 Sebald, Winfried G.: The Rings of Saturn http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/721481this-then-i-thought-as-i-looked-round-aboutme (17 Feb 2016) Smithson, Robert: Essays from: Nancy Holt (edt.): The Writings of Robert Smithson, New York, New York University Press 1979 http://www.robertsmithson.com/essays/ entropy.htm (02 Feb 2015) Stegner, Wallace: Wilderness Letter in: Bergon, Frank: The Wilderness Reader, Reno: University of Nevada Press 1980 Stegner, Wallace: The Sense of Place http://www.pugetsound.edu/files/ resources/7040_Stegner,%20Wallace%20 %20Sense%20of%20Place.pdf (17 Aug 2015) Stringfellow, Kim: John C. Van Dyke and the Desert Wasteland http://mojaveproject.org/dispatches-item/ van-dyke-desert-wasteland/ (15 Oct 2015) The Desert Initiative http://aridjournal.com/about/ (17 Feb 2016) The Wilderness Act of 1964 http://wilderness.nps.gov/document/ wildernessAct.pdf (17 Feb 2016) Tuan, Yi-Fu: Thought and Landscape, The Eye and the Mindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eye in: Meinig, Donald W. (edt.): The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes, New York: Oxford University Press 1979 Turner, Frederick Jackson: The West and American Ideals on: http://journals.lib. washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/article/ view/5246 (17 Feb 2016) Further Links: http://www.america2050.org/arizona_sun_ corridor.html (17 Feb 2016) http://aplusd.org/exhibitions-future/ drylands#prettyPhoto (17 Feb 2016) http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/

lewis-clark/ (07 Jul 2014)

Land_Management (17 Feb 2016)

http://www.azlibrary.gov/arizona-almanac/ five-c (17 Feb 2016)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene (17 Feb 2016)

http://biblehub.com/nlt/isaiah/35.htm (17 Feb 2016)

http://www.etymonline.com/index. php?term=desert (17 Feb 2016)

http://biblehub.com/genesis/1-28.htm (17 Feb 2016)

http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/changes/ anthropogenic/population/ (17 Feb 2016)

https://bicycleresearchproject.wordpress. com/2013/04/09/131-dw-meinigsinterpretation-of-ordinary-landscapes/ (17 Feb 2016)

http://www.gerrybadger.com/inphotographica-deserta-the-desert-cantos-ofrichard-misrach/ (17 Feb 2016)

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/blm_ special_areas/NLCS/Wilderness.print.html (17 Feb 2016) http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/ lands/desert_land_entries.html (17 Feb 2016)

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ pike-expedition-sets-out (07 Jul 2014) http://www.historynet.com/westwardexpansion (07 Jul 2014)

http://www.cap-az.com/ (17 Feb 2016)

http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/ trappers,_traders,_and_explorers/ fremontsexploration.html (07 Jul 2014)

http://cis.org/southwest-water-populationgrowth (17 Feb 2016)

http://mojaveproject.org/dispatches-item/ van-dyke-desert-wasteland/ (15 Oct 2015)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ anthropocentric (17 Feb 2016)

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/ definition/american_english/wasteland (17 Feb 2016)

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/ explore/dgexplore.cfm?col_id=200 (17 Feb 2016) http://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_ expansion/ (07 Jul 2014) http://www.edgate.com/lewisandclark/ (07 Jul 2014) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westward_ Expansion_Trails (10 Jul 2014) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler_ Survey (17 Feb 2016) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_land (17 Feb 2016) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_ landscape (17 Feb 2016) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denudation (17 Feb 2016) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/ definition/american_english/frontier (17 Feb 2016) http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/minerals/ (17 Feb 2016) http://www.pugetsound.edu/files/ resources/7040_Stegner,%20Wallace%20 %20Sense%20of%20Place.pdf (17 Feb 2016) https://rbsc.princeton.edu/exhibitions/ framing-frontier (28 Jan 2016) http://wilderness.org/bios/former-councilmembers/wallace-stegner (17 Feb 2016) http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/ WhatIsWilderness (17 Feb 2016) http://www.wild.org/how-we-work/policymgmt/defining-wilderness/ (28 Jan 2016)

139

INDEX

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

fig. 01-07: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013 fig. 08: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013 fig. 09-10: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013 fig. 11: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://www.knrc.ws/images/jpegs/02%20 map.jpg 30.06.2014 http://www.kshs.org/exhibits/blc/graphics/ map_fremont.jpg http://prosper.cofc.edu/~magazine/wpcontent/uploads/2012/10/Map1.jpg http://www.emersonkent.com/images/ us_territorial_growth.jpg 27.06.2014

140

fig. 12: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://www.emersonkent.com/images/ us_territorial_growth.jpg 27.06.2014 fig. 13: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/thumb/7/7b/OldSpanishTrail. png/250px-OldSpanishTrail.png 30.06.2014 http://www.upa.pdx.edu/IMS/ currentprojects/TAHv3/GIS_Data/ West_Expansion/Westward_Trails_Image.jpg 30.06.2014 http://www.cherikayclifton.com/images/ site_graphics/Oregon-California_Trail.jpg 08.07.2014 http://www.nps.gov/safe/planyourvisit/ images/Santa-Fe-Trail-Route-Map_2.jpg 30.06.2014 http://www.emersonkent.com/images/ 27.06.2014 http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/ ward_1912/us_population_railways_1900. jpg 09.07.2014 fig. 14: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/ media/img/photo/2012/05/the-americanwest-150-years-ago/w01_0010017u/ main_1200.jpg?1420516269 17.02.2016 fig. 15: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016, referencing: http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/05/ the-american-west-150-years-ago/100304/

14.02.16 http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/05/ the-american-west-150-years-ago/100304/ 14.02.16 http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/ anseladams/index.html 14.02.16 http://www.americanphotomag.com/ wall-month-robert-adamss-newtopographics?image=3 14.02.16 http://collection.whitney.org/object/8193 14.02.16 http://www.artribune.com/2015/10/ mostra-fotografia-edward-burtynskypalazzo-della-ragione-milano/ riserva-indiana-salt-river-pimamaricopa-sobborghi-di-scottsdale-arizonausa-2011-edward-burtynsky-courtesy-admiramilano/ 14.02.16 fig. 16: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013 fig. 17: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_ Land_Management 26.03.2014 fig. 18: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/maps/ jpg/NAM_US_THEM_Resources.jpg 28.02.2014 fig. 19: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ST9a6MHq4E/T5R-t_eTokI/AAAAAAAABjU/ b9M6mRKTrwQ/s1600/ Population%2Bchange.jpg 22.01.2014 fig. 20: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013 fig. 21: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://www.america2050.org/2050_Map_ Megaregions2008.png 23.06.2014 fig. 22: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/atlasftp. html?openChapters=chpwater#chpwater 21.01.2014

fig. 23: Sylvia Baumgartner 2014, referencing: http://www.gcrio.org/CONSEQUENCES/ spring95/gifs/WaterFig2.gif 27.01.2014 fig. 24: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013 fig. 25: Sylvia Baumgartner 2015, referencing: http://tucson.com/news/local/imaginetucson-in-the-sun-corridor/article_e0d1cd186c4f-5405-8d06-4f4c14f9e713.html 30.06.2014 http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wo/ Communications_Directorate/public_affairs/ landscape_approach/ecoregion_maps.

Par.48107.Image.-1.-1.1.gif 30.06.2014 fig. 26: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013 fig. 27-29: Sylvia Baumgartner 2015, referencing: http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/metadata/ usgswrd/XML/basin_and_range_aquifers. xml#stdorder 30.10.2015 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/maps/ gis_files.html, 19.10.2015 http://azconservation.org/downloads/biotic_ communities_of_the_southwest_gis_data 19.10.2015 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/maps/ gis_files.html 19.10.2015 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/maps/ gis_files.html 19.10.2015 http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/121/arizona/arizona. html 20.10.2015 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/maps/ gis_files.html 19.10.2015 http://mrdata.usgs.gov/mineplant/ 16.12.2015 http://corridordesign.org/linkages/arizona 24.10.2015 http://uair.library.arizona.edu/item/292543/ browse-data/Vegetation%20%2526%20 Animals 19.10.2015 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/maps/ gis_files.html 19.10.2015 http://uair.library.arizona.edu/item/292543/ browse-data/Water 12.12.2015 http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Data/State-

INDEX

Downloads.html#Riparian 24.10.2015 http://uair.library.arizona.edu/item/292543/ browse-data/Transportation 20.10.2015 http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles/ index.php?year=2015&layergroup=Urban+Ar eas 28.10.2015 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/maps/ gis_files.html 19.10.2015 http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Data/StateDownloads.html#Riparian 24.10.2015 http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Data/StateDownloads.html#Riparian 19.10.2015 http://en.openei.org/datasets/dataset/nrel-gisdata-arizona-high-resolution-wind-resource 27.10.2015 fig. 30-31: Sylvia Baumgartner 2015 fig. 32: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016, referencing: https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/ nhsd_geologic_origin.php http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN. pl?az0415 https://wrrc.arizona.edu/opportunities/newarizona-water-map http://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mpl/Ge126_ Reading_List/Ch14.pdf http://www.usclimatedata.com/ on 06.02.2016 fig. 33: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016, referencing: http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ content/296/1/167/F11.large.jpg

fig263.jpg 31.10.2015

fig. 74-75: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016

fig. 46: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016, referencing: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uthtZwSp NRs4LkFCELWi4bvdKh10pgvtUCqaRCT5 NsslRtWt514J0xsMPpF90-o0qk94OQ=s104 17.02.2016

fig. 76: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/ wp-content/uploads/2014/05/cyan.jpg 12.02.2016

fig. 47: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016

fig. 80: Sylvia Baumgartner 2013

fig. 48: see fig. 27-29 fig. 49-50: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016 fig. 51: https://49.media.tumblr.com/0316 42fe6ca669a544f01d868882ba5e/tumblr_ nonpacbyXe1s6mxo0o1_500.gif 12.02.2016 fig. 52-55: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016 fig. 56: Sylvia Baumgartner 2015, referencing: earth.google.com fig. 57-60: Sylvia Baumgartner 2015, referencing: http://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape/ 10.01.2015 http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/ maplocator/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layo ut=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails &carea=%24ROOT)/.do 19.01.2015 fig. 61: see fig. 27-29

fig. 34-35: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016

fig. 62-63: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016

fig. 36: see fig. 27-29

fig. 64: http://www.moldville.com/ image/48121103.jpg 12.02.2016

fig. 37-38: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016 fig. 39: http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/ baumanpr/geosat2/RS%20History%20I/ FIGURE-12.JPG 12.02.2016

fig. 77-79: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016

fig. 65-68: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016 fig. 69: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016, referencing: earth.google.com

fig. 40-44: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016

fig. 70-72: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016

fig. 45: Sylvia Baumgartner 2016, referencing: http://www.insects.ucr.edu/ebeling/figures/

fig. 73: see fig. 27-29

141

“He arrived in a neverland of fragments, a place of wordless things and thingless words. [...] the state of is-ness. That was the ground on which the happenings of the world took place. [...] When words come out, fly into the air, live for a moment, and die. Strange, is it not?”

– Paul Auster, The New York Trilogy, City of Glass

(c) Sylvia Baumgartner 2016