Student: Perri Pond
Graduation date: May 2017
Type: Concentration (single major)
Date approved: November 2014
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Summary
My concentration explores how the American West’s geomorphology has shaped the history of land use—specifically agricultural practices—and, in turn, how these anthropogenic practices have and will continue to impact these landscapes. The American West encompasses a variety of landscapes, resulting in a complex history of cultivation and conflict. To begin to understand rich history of this land cover and subsequent land use, I plan to study the various geomorphologies of the American West as well as the various geologic events, processes, and systems that led to the creation of fertile versus fragile soils, arid versus lush regions, and favorable versus limiting climates.
For example, I wish to further explore how geological events such as the emergence of the Rocky Mountains created a rain shadow that dried out the eastern plains. In addition to how the glacial retreat of the Pleistocene Epoch deposited loess, a mostly silty and slightly sandy soil that is ideal for agriculture, significantly contributed in formation of the Great Plains—a region known for its current and historical agriculture presence (Reisner 1986). Or how the California Central Valley, “one of the largest river valleys on earth” contributes to how it is regarded as one of “the richest agricultural regions in the history of the world” (Steinberg 2002). Or how major geologic events such as the Missoula floods deposited thick layers of silt onto the Willamette Valley creating a landscape laced with fertile soil favorable for agricultural practices.
Now, moving into the historical component of my concentration, I am interested in studying the “particular moment in time that saw the rise of the corporation and the national state in their modern institutional forms” (Cronon 1994). It is at this time, the turn of the twentieth century, that agrarian land use approaches evolved into the commercialization and industrialization of farming—the growth of specialized, one-crop industrial agriculture (Steinberg 2002). I plan to study how this transition occurred; the motivations behind this transition; the social, political, economic benefits, consequences and conflicts that occurred due to this transition; and ultimately how this transition altered the American West’s original landscapes.
I plan to examine how technological advancements such as John Deere’s steel plow, the McCormick reaper, and Henry Ford’s rear hitch permitted farmers to work more land than previously ever before (Montgomery 2007). Additionally, I plan to study how the construction of the railroad system had immense influence on land use politics in the American West. For example, “anyone who bought land from the railroads [was] utterly dependent on them for getting his harvests to eastern markets and receiving supplies in return” (Reisner 1986). The immersion pump, another example of the modernization of agricultural technology, “allowed farmers to withdraw fossil groundwater from aquifers thousands of feet below the surface” (Wilshire et al. 2008). Thus previous non-arable land could now be farmed with the onset of irrigation
The emergence of irrigation highlights one the West’s most defining characteristics: aridity. Without irrigation “agriculture could not be successful in arid western states” (Wilshire et al. 2008). I wish to explore how irrigation systems in the American West were constructed and the major ecological, social and political conflicts and issues associated with them. For example, the California Central Valley Project, the extensive water management plan that is responsible for capturing more than seven million acre-feet of water each year for the irrigation of California’s agriculture industry has historically, and continues, to be a major source of social, political and economic conflict.
Furthermore, the construction of the West’s complex irrigation systems demonstrates how land has been historically “mythologized” and misunderstood, and led to land misuse (Calvert 2011). I hope to study how settler’s misconceptions of the American West’s landscapes led to land misuse, meaning places where agriculture should not be practiced due to lack of water or fragile soils.
I want to study how current and future land use methods will affect the land cover and the biogeochemical systems in the American West. For instance, I would be interested in studying how the “conversion to agricultural land in temperate and boreal latitudes” such as those in the American West “may lead to a cooling of the surface as a result of increased albedo associated with a brighter land surface” (Asner 2004). Finally, though I have situated my concentration in the American West, I am also interested in studying these patterns and relationships between land cover and land use in more generalized context.
References:
Calvart, Scout. 2011. “West of Eden: Resource Wars and Nature-Cultures in the American West.” Science as Culture 21 (1): 129-134.
Cronon, William. 1994. “The West: A Moving Target.” The Western Historical Quarterly 25 (4): 476–81.
Asner, Gregory P., Jonathan A. Foley, and Ruth S. DeFries. 2004. “Land-Use Choices: Balancing Human Needs and Ecosystem Function.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2 (5): 249–57.
Montgomery, David R. Dirt: the erosion of civilizations. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2007.
Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1986.
Steinberg, Ted. Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in American History. New York City, NY: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Wilshire, Howard G., Jane E. Nielson, and Richard W. Hazlett. American West at Risk: Science, Myths, and Politics of Land Abuse and Recovery. New York City, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Questions
- Descriptive: How has the American West’s geomorphology and geological events, processes, and systems resulted in certain regions suitable and unsuitable for agriculture? How has technology, historically and currently, impacted land use practices and as a result altered the American West’s landscapes? What have been major social conflicts and debates on land use in the American West?
- Explanatory: Why did land use shift away from agrarian land use approaches and into the commercialization and industrialization of farming? What were the motivations for the American West’s transformation of land use practices? How have misconceptions, misunderstandings, and myths about the American West’s land cover lead to inappropriate land use? How does the American West’s aridity affect land use practices and approaches?
- Evaluative: How does studying the history and geology of American West’s landscapes help us explain and understand how our current and future land use practices will impact the American West’s land cover? What have been the benefits consequences of agribusiness in the American West? Is the development of the American frontier unique or do other frontiers have similar characteristics? How has an anthropogenic presence, specifically an agricultural presence, affected the biogeochemical systems as well as the ecology of the American West and how will they be affected in the future?
- Instrumental: How can we ensure the way we treat and use the American West’s landscapes will support our society in the long term? How can the agriculture industry adopt methods that do not further degrade and deplete the land of the American West?
Concentration courses
- GEOL 150 (Environmental Geology, 4 credits), fall 2016. Through this course I will be able to get a background in geology, which is crucial to learning about land cover and the geomorphology of the American West.
- ENVS 460 (Environmental Law & Policy, 4 credits), fall 2016. By taking this course I will gain a better background and understanding in policy and law that shape environmental problems and solutions, specifically exploring how land use policy has evolved and changed over time.
- HIST 261 (Global Environmental History, 4 credits), fall 2016. Through this course I would be able learn about and examine major historical shifts between humans and their environment. Thus I would get to examine how in particular how the peoples relationship to land and land use ideas have evolved.
- ENVS 499 (Independent Study, 4 credits), spring 2016. Building a foundation of literature on the key themes and ideas involved in the development of the American West will help me better uncover and discover the relationship between land cover and individualized land cultivations. I will specifically be examining the role water has played in the development and evolution of land uses in the American West.
- HIST 239 (Constructing the American Landscape), spring 2016. I will gain key insight into the human history with land, how land has shaped human history and behavior and in turn how humans have shaped land to their own interests, wants and needs. Taking this course will shed light on some of the social and political issues associated with land use in the American West.
- ELP 410 (Politics of Place: Southeast Alaska), summer 2016. Designed to explore the political landscape of Southeast Alaska I will learn the connections across tradition, economic development, and conservation in highly dynamic and polarized arenas. Through an interdisciplinary lens, this course will shed light on the historical, philosophical, economic, and cultural motivations behind land-use transitions situated in the Tongass National Forest.
Arts and humanities courses
- PHIL 215 (Philosophy and the Environment, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- HIST 134 (U.S. Revolution to Empire, 4 credits), Spring 2014. This course served as an introduction to U.S. history from the American Revolution till the turn of the 20th century. Furthermore, it shed light on impact of the industrial revolution, westward expansion and various other important social, economic and political movements.