Rivers are our lifeblood . . .
John Wesley Powell's 1871 expedition
_ How can we foster the resilience of Southwestern rivers in an era of climate change? Rivers are the lifeblood of the Southwest, and yet humans have transformed them by trapping beavers, mining, logging, ranching, farming, building dams, and introducing new species of plants and fish. Urban development and an increasingly arid climate are sucking streams dry, so that many rivers are now merely “virtual,” according to fluvial geomorphologist Ellen Wohl. And yet if we look carefully, we can see patches of “wild nature”—places where natural processes assert themselves. My research explores the premise of “wild nature” as a reference condition and asks “what do we mean by wildness?” What is a natural river? What might “natural” patches tell us about the future resilience of Southwestern rivers as living ecosystems?
To explore these and other questions, I am working on three related books. Danger River examines the ways in which men and women have narrated their adventures down the Colorado and Green rivers. The River Runs Wild will explore a number of southwestern and northwestern rivers and consider what we mean by “wildness,” historically, ecologically, intellectually, and experientially. Finally, Living Rivers—a collaborative, interdisciplinary project involving scientists, historians, and a photographer—will explore the Green River--the principal tributary of the Colorado River--to assess changes over the course of the historical record and evaluate the prospects for resilience in an era of climate change. My collaborators on this proposed project include Wiebke Boeing (New Mexico State University), Ellen Wohl and David Cooper (Colorado State University), David Taylor (University of Arizona), Matt Johnson (Colorado Plateau Research Station), William deBuys (independent scholar), and John Dole (educator). Support for this research has come from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Huntington Library, the American Council of Learned Societies (Burkhardt Fellowship), and the University of Oregon.
“Resilient Rivers” brings together specialists in environmental history, photography, fluvial geomorphology, riparian ecology, avian ecology, aquatic ecology, terrestrial invertebrates, and experiential education. On a series of collaborative research expeditions, we will examine the Green River from its headwaters to its confluence with the Colorado River. Using rephotography stations as our common data points, we will observe and measure a column of indicators of ecosystem functioning— birds, stream morphology, vegetation, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, and fish—compare the streams, assess changes in their condition over the course of the historical record, and evaluate likely future scenarios in an era of climate change. We will also study the ways that human societies—through laws, policies, management, technology, and land-use regimes—have shaped and responded to these environments over time. Although most of the rivers we will study are highly altered, we expect to find patches of “wild nature”—places where natural processes assert themselves, a phenomenon we call “accidental ecosystems”— which will help us understand the resilience of these rivers as living ecosystems.
To explore these and other questions, I am working on three related books. Danger River examines the ways in which men and women have narrated their adventures down the Colorado and Green rivers. The River Runs Wild will explore a number of southwestern and northwestern rivers and consider what we mean by “wildness,” historically, ecologically, intellectually, and experientially. Finally, Living Rivers—a collaborative, interdisciplinary project involving scientists, historians, and a photographer—will explore the Green River--the principal tributary of the Colorado River--to assess changes over the course of the historical record and evaluate the prospects for resilience in an era of climate change. My collaborators on this proposed project include Wiebke Boeing (New Mexico State University), Ellen Wohl and David Cooper (Colorado State University), David Taylor (University of Arizona), Matt Johnson (Colorado Plateau Research Station), William deBuys (independent scholar), and John Dole (educator). Support for this research has come from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Huntington Library, the American Council of Learned Societies (Burkhardt Fellowship), and the University of Oregon.
“Resilient Rivers” brings together specialists in environmental history, photography, fluvial geomorphology, riparian ecology, avian ecology, aquatic ecology, terrestrial invertebrates, and experiential education. On a series of collaborative research expeditions, we will examine the Green River from its headwaters to its confluence with the Colorado River. Using rephotography stations as our common data points, we will observe and measure a column of indicators of ecosystem functioning— birds, stream morphology, vegetation, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, and fish—compare the streams, assess changes in their condition over the course of the historical record, and evaluate likely future scenarios in an era of climate change. We will also study the ways that human societies—through laws, policies, management, technology, and land-use regimes—have shaped and responded to these environments over time. Although most of the rivers we will study are highly altered, we expect to find patches of “wild nature”—places where natural processes assert themselves, a phenomenon we call “accidental ecosystems”— which will help us understand the resilience of these rivers as living ecosystems.
