Cement or Environment?

by

Sarah Medill

June 9, 2004, I filled my car and did what I had said I would never do: work in the U.S. of A. I am proud to own and run the smallest car in Nevada, for here the SUV and jacked up supercabs are the vehicle of choice. I came to work on wild horses, a worthy cause, but the plight of the feral horse is minor compared to our overall ignorance and disrespect of the natural environment.

Right away I saw Las Vegas and me were not likely to get along. My second day in town I was told by the social security office that my entry status was "suspect" and if the powers that be disliked me I would be "sent to Iraq where I would be legally beaten". This is how America gets around its own strict torture laws. I was unimpressed to hear that this wife-beating pseudo-cop found the situation in Iraq so comical. I told him I was looking forward to receiving the full American experience.

Shortly upon my arrival I concluded that a city, let alone 2 of the 3 fastest growing cities in the US, should not be built here. They have levelled the desert and introduced lawns, golf courses, and big box stores. They haphazardly throw up casinos only to demolish and replace them with bigger casinos, elaborate water shows and mock oases as little as 40 years later. Las Vegas is growing like an invasive weed we brought with us when we settled here, taking over a habitat not really suited to human life.

Instead, we continue to create our own environment at the cost of naturally existing landscapes. Hoover Dam is touted as not only the most incredible engineering feat of its time, but they continue to call it an environmental feat. And what an environmental [de]feat it is! Apart from flooding vast acreages of land, creating lakes when none existed before, one of the purposes for building the dam was to control the snowmelt waters from Colorado and prevent natural flooding in southern California. Flood dependent species became threatened and risk-free highly fertile land for agriculture and horticulture was made available for corporate farms.

The dam also provides a local source for a much-desired energy. If it were not for the comfort of air conditioning there would not be the present rush to move to the southwest. In fact, air conditioning has been made law. Landlords must have cool air restored within two days of the unit breaking down, or they can face charges. There is also a steady draw of power for the famous lights of the Las Vegas strip. The nearly continuous drain on power sources for cool air and indoor entertainment creates further water conservation issues.

Many believe that the high rate of development in the desert is a good solution to the prevention of growth in other regions. If you were to fly over Las Vegas, you would see nothing but new residences and the much-loved gated communities pushing further and further out into the desert. People commonly believe the desert is just wasteland, suitable for only development or dumping. Accordingly, with the Yucca Mountain project the government wants to make Nevada its nuclear dumping grounds. Why not? After all it has an extensive history as a host of America's nuclear testing site. It's atmospheric tests of atomic bombs and a further 800+ underground detonations of nuclear warheads continued well into the 1980's.

The desert is one of the last ecosystems to be disturbed or exploited by us. We consider ourselves a conscious species, so we should be able to recall how it feels to miss something once it is gone. The loss of roaming bison and passenger pigeons has done little to raise awareness of the loss of less charismatic species. Despite legislation to disallow development without an environmental assessment and removal of species listed as endangered, most companies prefer to pay a per acre fee that allows them to proceed without taking any conservation actions.

A predictable thing happens when people move into a new environment. Not surprisingly, wildlife is displaced from prime habitat and must attempt to exist in a habitat they are less suited for. Here they face greater competition from, or are a threat to existing species. The plants and animals humans bring with them further complicate wildlife's existence through competition or threats. Humans then interpret the displaced species as invasive and begin to mismanage the region. For example, the feral horses (existing for over 500 years in North America) are forced deeper into the mountains and use higher elevation springs. The horses must also compete with the more recently introduced (for hunting) elk and existing native species, such as deer, for water. Predictably, these springs are at risk of losing their natural vegetation to grazing and trampling. The horse is an easy target for removal as they have very little value in terms of income (from hunting as the elk), and have a tenuous claim despite having preceded the settlers in the race to claim land.

The best wildlife management is undoubtedly no management. Only when humans move into a new environment and disrupts the availability of resources and/or behaviour of wildlife, the desire for management arises in order to preserve what fraction of the original ecosystem exists. Without further efforts to curve the trend of the human invasion to rural/remote areas, and the horizontal explosion of the current cities, this need and desire for intervention will continue to grow. Stronger legislation and education efforts are needed in order to encourage the respect that the planet NEEDS in order to sustain ALL life into the future, including our own. Without the presence and interference of humans, the earth can manage and maintain itself; it has done so for millions of years. We can only hope that it will be allowed to, and be capable of doing so, once again.

April 16, 2005, and happily I am back on the road, returning to Canada after finally receiving the full American experience: a foreigner harassed by the police for out-of-state plates. America has an incredible amount of fabulous landscapes, but it saddens me how many show the mark of heavy hands. I am writing this from a cave in Capitol Reef National Park, splendid, but still bears the sign of cattle grazing. The cattle are gone, and only the inscriptions of cowboys (and a horseshoe cemented into the wall?) remain, to confirm that perhaps we are heading in the right direction.