Saquero? Saguera? Saguaro!

Saquero? Saguera? Saguaro!

The first alarm clock rang at 6:45am. The second at 7:15am. I woke up this time to make sure I could get breakfast before we left for our morning in the desert. After a quick pancake and eggs breakfast I piled into the van with the other students, Professor Takacs, and Professor Jeremy Vetter. Professor Vetter was a Professor in Dickinson’s History Department for a few years until coming to Arizona. We quickly arrived at the King Canyon trailhead and set off on the river basin section of the trail.

This sand and gravel pathway is a spillway for when the monsoon rains come. There was not a chance of that happening today though. The forecast called for sunny and wind-more on this wind later. As our pace quickened we stopped only briefly to admire some petroglyphs. Soon we were above the canyon and making our way towards Wasson Peak, the highest point in the Tuscon Mountain range. With our quick pace we made it to the saddle of Wasson Peak and several other fall summits. 

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From here it was about a mile left of trail with a 500-foot elevation increase. A tough section in the wind and desert sun, but everyone managed it easy enough. At the summit we enjoyed some peanuts and oranges, took a group picture (or seven with three cameras), and then started the trek down.

Nick and I jumped ahead enjoying the lack of wind and the multitude of saguaros. Throughout the hike we took notice of the many different landscapes before us. Meinig would be happy to hear us talking about the old walls and layout as artifact and problem. We stopped to wait for the group once we reached the canyon that we hiked up originally. Quickly the group joined us and after a brief water break we were off again. We took the ridge trail above the canyon from there and before long were back at the van.

Sustainability is a key factor in our mosaic. Respect for the environment is a key part of sustainability. That is why this hike was so important. I believe that it, as well as our visit to Taliesin West, has set the tone for the rest of the trip and the rest of our work. While we may have had to leave the mosaic’s Environmental Historian Professor Pawley in winter, we were lucky enough to have a colleague of hers with us. Professor Vetter was extremely knowledgeable about the area, as well as being an Environmental Historian himself. During the entire hike he educated us on the history of the area, the park itself, and the various flora-sadly no fauna was seen.

Being in the desert we had to take notice of the incredible biotic landscape that was before us. The area is technically a forest, boasting over 200 species of animals and plants, and mostly saguaro cacti. Everything is adapted to live with as little water as possible. The cacti swell and contract, certain plants choose not to bloom unless it is raining, and the kangaroo rats extract water from seeds during digestion (1). He even was able to show us how humans have attempted to adapt to this dry desert.

Sag AerialIn the valley to our south were large man made bodies of water that are a part of the Capital Arizona Project (CAP). This initiative is a water delivery method for Tuscon. As water comes down the canal from the Colorado River it enters these basins, which sponge it into the aquifer that the city then draws its water from. This process has seen less water lately because of the large drought the US is currently experiencing, as a result of the multi-year climate cycle in the Plains states. California has senior water rights on the Colorado and can therefore draw as much water as they need before others utilize the river, which they have been doing as Southern California has yet to see the full effects of the drought.

This issue of water rights is one that is going to become a very frequent issue, with increases in precipitation irregularities due to climate change. An increase in the unpredictability factor of desert regions is sure to rise with an increase atmospheric temperature, and this could potentially damage the already fragile desert society that we have been enjoying these past few days. It will take a truly innovative, possibly inventive approach to solve the coming water crisis and its effects on the Sonora, as well as all of human development.

Entrepreneurs have been looking for ways to overcome water shortages in areas already experiencing drought. A company in Austin, Texas has begun purifying rainwater as a product, there are more than a handful of construction firms selling rain catchment tanks for homes and commercial areas, and even the Indian government is getting creative with their canal systems. They have begun covering them in solar panels in order to generate electricity without using space for agriculture, while stopping evaporation loss on their canals. Arizona could maybe take a lesson from them as there is ample sunlight here and the desert heat most likely is causing evaporation loss in the large open topped water basins.

Sources Cited:
(1) Price, Mary and Nick Waser. “Where Rivers Run Dry or Ten Feet High: Variation and predictability matter more than averages for the desert ecosystems.” Arid Lands Newsletter, Office of Arid Land Studies, The University of Arizona. Issue 59. 2007.