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Route/Calendar: Fall 2004*

*Dates and locations are approximations, as Semester in the West tries to remain flexible throughout the semester. This page should serve as a reference, but may not include certain assignments which the information manager has not been told about.


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August
25Arrive Johnston Wilderness Campus: Noon-3pm. Please do not be late. The program begins at 3pm. If there are things you need to do in Walla Walla, (registration, buy stuff, see friends, etc), please come earlier, as there may not be time to do such things after this time.
27Depart JWC, drive to Wallowa County Camp
28Buckhorn: Phil in charge of orientation day; Mary talks in evening about her own background (science/advocacy/book
Reading: Vitousek; charts re: where major habitats are globally
Each night in journal: What is the most important thing you learned today about ecology; why is it important to you?
29Orientation to ecology; go out to Buckhorn overlook
Reading: Ebersole's piece on research on coolwater upwellings; Angela Sondenaa's two readings
Day: Chief Joseph Wildlife Refuge (meet Angela Sondenaa there to look at riparian areas)
Evening: Angela Sondenaa
30Precious Lands riparian survey work
Reading: Grasses piece by Josh
31Morning in Precious Lands (discussion of data recorded on previous day)
Noon: Leave for Cow Creek
Evening: Pack for backpack trip
Reading: Franklin (Pacific NW trees)
September
1Hike Cow Creek to Wing Creek
Readings: Zirov, Mack and Thompson
2 Pack up to Wing Creek, hike up to Mormon Flat (ungrazed) to do transects; back down to Wing Creek.
Readings: Klironomos/Van Putten (invasives)
3Hike to Rhodes Creek Cattle Allotment to do transects; then back down; pack gear that is at Wing Creek and hike partway down Cow Creek, enter transect research into common chart.
4Hike down the rest of the way, drive back to Starvation Ridge.
Readings: O'Brien chapter on aspen; Chong on aspen biodiversity
5DAY OFF
6Zumwalt aspen: data gathering on four clones by pairs of students
Afternoon: compile data; presentations by pairs of students.
7-8Wallowa County: Scott McClaren, Nils, Tree-farmers Bob and Leo...
Evening: of Sept. 8 Josh O'brien introduces his material.
9Josh O'brien: Exercise at Wallowa Lake; tram up to alpine area; backpack in
Readings: [TBA]
10Alpine ecology hypotheses work; presentations of results; write-up of results... Hike down, camp at Starvation Ridge?
11Ecology: Final; Closing discussion about seeing the West through ecology the rest of the semester.
13Depart Starvation Ridge for camp on Lochsa River, Central Idaho Panhandle.
Late Afternoon or Evening: Discuss Wallowa County Experiences with Phil
14Morning: Reading Time at Lochsa Camp. Continue reading Kemmis, and the Epilogue of Chuch Pzeshski's book, Wild to the Last.
12:45 Depart Camp, Drive back down the Lochsa to mouth of Pete King Creek
1:30 Meet forest activist Chuch Pzeshski and fish biologist Al Espinoza
EVENING: discussions with Chuck and possibly Al back at camp.
15Morning: Hike with Chuck
1:30: Depart for Kamiah, Idaho to Meet Bill Mulligan of Three Rivers Timber, a timber mill.
Return to Lochsa Camp
EVENING: Discuss last two day's events, and Kemmis book, "This Sovereign Land"
168:30am Depart Lochsa Camp
12:00 Meet Martin Nie (University of Montana School of Forestry) and Ali Duvall Jonkel at the Ovando Fire Station, up the Blackfoot River. We will spend the afternoon meeting people involved with the "Blackfoot Challenge," and innovative effort to conserve the wild character of the Blackfoot River area, while Plum Creek Timber is divesting its private forest lands.
Camp up the Blackfoot River at a site chosen by Ali.
17AM: Drive to Missoula, Meet Author Daniel Kemmis, at his office, Center for the Rocky Mountain West
NOON: Lunch in Downtown Park
AFTER LUNCH: Time to wander downtown Missoula.
3pm: Meet Chris Brick (Phil's Sister), Staff Scientist for Clark Fork Coalition
EVENING: Return to Blackfoot River Camp.
18AM: Depart for Bozeman, MT. Stopover in Butte, MT for lunch and a look at the Berkely Pit.
EVENING: Camp at Headwaters State Park, Near Three Forks.
19-23Meet Yellowstone environmental activists stationed in Bozemen on Monday, travel to a ranch (not yet confirmed) on Monday evening, then Tuesday and Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park, focusing on ecosystem management and predator reintroduction, and bison issues. Thursday and Friday: Travel down to Jackson, Wyoming.
24Travel to Rainbow Park, Dinosaur National Monument Area
(Wrap-up Class in Morning, Stop at Flaming Gorge, etc.)
25Morning to Early Afternooon: Meet Tamara Naumann, Park Botanist, Dinosaur National Monument.. Talk about native plants and invasive species in the Monument. SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT: Tamarisk removal in Rainbow Park.
Reading: John Rodman, "Restoring Nature: Natives and Exotics"
26Travel to Sites in Dinosaur National Monument
"Happy Pot, Worry Pot" Exercise in Echo Park
Reading, Journaling, begin writing epiphanies
27Long Travel Day from Rainbow Park to either Wells or Jackpot, NV area. (depends on campsite availability on a private ranch near Jackpot)
Readings: Visit websites for the National Cattlemen's Association, Northern Nevada Stewardship Group, Blue Ribbon Coalition, Placerdome Mining
289:00 PST Meet Ranchers Steve and Robin Boeis at their ranch near Contact, NV. Steve is past president of the Nevada Cattleman's Association.
3:00 PST: Meet Attorney Grant Gerber in Elko, NV.
Dinner at the Star Restaurant (Basque, family-style food, lot of dead animals)
29EARLY morning. Drive to Crescent Valley. 9:00am: Meet Jim Collard and his staff at the Cortez Gold Mine. Tour mine.
Evening: Meet Jon Marvel, Western Watersheds.
30Day in the Field with Jon Marvel, Western Watersheds
October
1Pack up camp, travel back to Crescent Valley
Meet Mary and Carrie Dann, Chris Sewell, and Julie Fischel. Western Shoshone Defense Project. Camp at WSDP Site in Crescent Valley.
Readings: WSDP Website, Patricia Limerick, "Haunted America," from Something in the Soil
2Travel to Mono Lake, California, Meet Paul Hoornbeek
Late afternoon and evening: Epiphany Readings. (4 sets of 5)
3Begin writing course with Paul Hoornbeek, Mono Lake, California, and throughout the Eastern Sierra Nevada area.
Readings: Triggering Town, Articles on the Owens Valley, Mono Lake
14Paul's class ends.
Readings: Hal Rothman, Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the 21st Century.
Drive to Las Vegas via Death Valley, Camp at Red Rock Canyon through Saturday evening.
Introduction, Chapters 1, 3, 4, 8. These chapters are required. You may find other chapters useful for your epiphany, which must focus on Las Vegas and is due during the canoe trip (see below).
15Las Vegas
10:30 Meet Culinary Union Organizer Glen Arnodo
3:00pm Meet Jan Jones, former mayor of Las Vegas, One Harrah's Court.
Evening: Explore Las Vegas
MAILPOINT: Must arrive by October 15th
c/o Irene Rostine
4400 Powell Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89121
16Morning and Early Afternoon: Class Discussion, Writing Time. Prepare for Canoe Trip.
3:00 Meet Irene Rostine, Meg McPhaden's grandmother and long time Las Vegas resident, at UNLV library.
Homemade Lasagna and Discussion at Irene Rostine's Home.
17Meet author Hal Rothman, tour Las Vegas in Grayline Bus, Discussion.
Afternoon: Depart for Moab, Utah, arrive LATE.
Stay at Slickrock Campground in Moab. Laundry and Showers, trailer will not be fully unpacked.
18Begin Canoe Trip. Meet at 8:00am, fully packed and ready, at Tex's Riverways in Moab. They will provide transport. We will leave our vehicles in their secure parking lot.
Begin Canoe Trip. 52 Miles on the Green River from Mineral Bottom to the confluence with the Colorado River. 5 days, 4 nights.
Evening: Reading Aloud Selections by Terry Tempest Williams and Ellen Meloy
19-21Canoe and explore. First set of Las Vegas epiphanies due at dinner. Evening reading of ten epiphanies. Wednesday, October 20: Canoe and Explore. Finish Las Vegas epiphanies. Thursday, October 21: Canoe and explore. Evening: Discussion of Reading: William Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness."
22Canoe to confluence, Shuttle upriver by jet boat on the Colorado River to Potash (near Moab) by Tex's Riverways. Return to Slickrock Campground by dinner. Dinner out in Moab at Mexican Joint. Showers and Laundry.
23Morning: Move camp to site on public lands south of Moab.
Afternoon: Return to Moab, explore.
Dinner: Meet Ellen Meloy.
Readings: Selections from "A River Flowing From The Sunrise"
24Writing class with Ellen Meloy, Four Corners region, based near Bluff, Utah.
Readings: (ongoing): The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Meloy
Join up at Pack Creek Ranch near Moab. Meet with Ken Sleight, longtime backcountry outfitter, wilderness advocate, friend of Edward Abbey, and model for Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang character, "Seldom Seen" Smith.
Camp near Canyonlands National Park.
25Hite, Utah - A look at river "restoration" by drought, in which record low levels of Lake Powell on the Colorado River have unveiled a flowing river from beneath reservoir waters.
Hike near the Colorado confluence with the Dirty Devil River.
Camp on Cedar Mesa.
Reading: "Living Dry" in The American West as Living Space by Wallace Stegner
26Explore Cedar Mesa, head to Bluff.
27Sand Island base camp on San Juan River near Bluff.
28Evening slide show and orientation with Joe Pachak (artist, archaeologist).
29Begin two-day rock art site documentation with Joe Pachak, in the field near Bluff.
31Continue writing classes, readings from student work.
Day-hike with geologist Gene Stevenson (San Juan River hydrology).
Meet Mark Maryboy, local rep to Navajo Tribe government.
Day trip to Monument Valley.
Reading: "The Navajos" and "The Fragility of Understanding" in West of the Thirties by Edward T. Hall.
November
1MAILPOINT: Must arrive by November 1
c/o Ellen Meloy
Highway 191 - PO Box 311
Bluff UT 84512
4End of Ellen's class
5Day Free. Explore Monument Valley Are
6Travel Day. Depart 9:00am. Drive to Ponderosa Camp, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. Dinner: Meet Paul Arbetan.
7-9Ecology Course, Valles Caldera and Bandelier. On morning of 9th, pack camp. Trailer will be moved to Camel Tracks site (outside Santa Fe) while students are at Bandelier. We will camp at Camel Tracks November 9-12. Ecology course at Camel Tracks, November 10 and 12. Possible Evening Speaker November 10 (unconfirmed)
11Possible morning class. Remainder of day and evening free. Explore Santa Fe.
13Break camp, depart by 8:00am. Drive to Silver City, NM. Driving Time is approximately 6 hours. Arrive Silver City, meet Jim Madsen, Eklektikas Gallery and explore Silver City. Drive to Camp, Gila River Farm near Cliff, NM. We will be staying at this camp the evenings of November 13-15.
14Ecology Course, Pinos Altos/Black Mountain Area
Evening: Possible meeting with author Sharman Apt Russell
15Ecology Course, Gila River Riparian Preserve, The Nature Conservancy
Afternoon: Meet Peter Russell, The Nature Conservancy. Possible evening speaker.
16Depart. Drive to San Bernardino Ranch, Sonora, Mexico. (near Douglas, Arizona). We will stay at this camp the evenings of November 16-21.
17-20Ecology mapping project, Sierra Madre hikes, etc.
21Pack Trailer, except for personal items, pacos, and sleeping gear. Drive to Sierra Madre Occidental, hike on Los Ojos Ranch.
Evening: Hot Springs Visit in Cajon Bonita, Los Ojos Ranch. Dinner and Slumber Party at the hot springs. Showers available.
22Return to San Bernardino Ranch, Depart Camp
Explore Agua Prieta.
Drive to High Lonesome Road Camp (near Bisbee, AZ…we will be here until we head north for home).
Time for Readings, Visit Bisbee, laundry, etc.
238:30AM Discussion about Collaborative Conservation and Ranching in the West
Readings: Page, "Ranchers form a 'Radical Center' to Protect Wide Open Spaces," from Smithsonian, 1997.
Tom Wolf Case Study on Malpai Borderlands, available on CD--copy to your computer please--(Kalin put it in trailer), or on web at www.redlodgeclearinghouse.org under stories> and Malpai Borderlands.
Knight, "The Ecology of Ranching," from Ranching West of the 100th Meridian, chapter nine, and also chapter 8 by Bob Budd, "Shades of Gray."
Kahn, "Fresh Tracks: The Trail Forks in American Conservation," from Northern Lights.
11:30 Depart to Meet Ranchers Wendy and Warner Glenn, Malpai Ranch (east of Douglas, AZ.)
248:30AM Leave camp to meet conservation biologist Trevor Hare, Sky Islands Alliance, in Sycamore Canyon, proposed Tumacacori Wilderness Area.
Readings: Chapters 2-4 of Chip Ward, Hope's Horizon: "It's a Trickster World-Just Ask Coyote," "Putting the Wolf at the Door," and "How to Fill the Sky Islands with Parrots and Jaguars."
Late Afternoon or Evening Discussion: Wilderness Politics in the West
Readings: Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness" (from earlier).
Waller, "Wilderness Redux," from Wild Earth 1996/1997
Keiter, "Keeping Faith with Nature," which is chapter nine in Keeping Faith with Nature. (Those especially interested in wilderness politics will also find chapter six useful.)
25THANKSGIVING DAY IN CAMP
Thanksgiving Discussion: How do we give back?: Environmental Activism and Ethics
Readings: Maniates and Luke essays on Individuation and Ruse of Recycling (from earlier: aka the "self flagellation chronicles").
Chaloupka, "The Tragedy of the Ethical Commons: Demoralizing Environmentalism," in Bennett and Shapiro, The Politics of Moralizing.
Patricia Limerick, "Mission to Environmentalists," from Something in the Soil
Evening: Readings and Remembrances of Ellen Meloy.
26Scheduled Meeting with Border Patrol (not yet confirmed)
Readings: "Deadly Journey of Hope" Los Angeles Times October 2004.
Patricia Limerick, "The Adventures of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century," from Something in the Soil.
Time to Work on Final Epiphanies.
27Work on Final Epiphanies
All Epiphanies Due by 10pm (Do NOT expect to print yours out at last minute.)
28Flex Day...We may leave early if weather suggests we should. If we leave early, we will read epiphanies at JWC.
Read Epiphanies in Four Segments.
29Depart Camp, Drive to Lake Mead
Drive to Boulder Dam. Evening visit with US Park Ranger Lena Boesser-Koschman in camp.
30Drive to Jackpot, NV Area. Camp.
December
1Drive to Drive to Johnston Wilderness Campus
2-5Work on Capstone Essay
Note: You must provide Kalin with a printed copy of your public epiphany (a revised, if necessary, version of one epiphany you presented earlier in the Semester) by dinner on Friday, December 3. This will give Kalin time to add slides that will appear behind you at your public reading. We will work together to make sure we don't have too many epiphanies on the same subject.
6Morning: Time to Work on Capstone Essay
3:00PM: Leave for Public Epiphany Readings, Olin 157
4:00PM Public epiphany readings to the Whitman College Community, in Olin 157.
7Morning: Time to Work on Capstone Essay
3:00PM: Leave for Public Epiphany Readings, Olin 157
4:00PM Public epiphany readings to the Whitman College Community, in Olin 157.
8Capstone Essays Due at NOON, no exceptions. Do NOT expect to be able to print out your essay at the last minute. Work with others to coordinate.
Afternoon: Clean-up Tasks, Gear Storage.
Evening: Final Dinner and Slide Show.
9Final Breakfast and Clean-up.
We will provide transportation to Reid Center for you and your gear. Please make sure you have made the proper arrangements in town.

Final Notes

Final Epiphanies

By final, I mean your last epiphany of the program. Like most epiphanies this semester, we have tried to leave these as open-ended as possible. You might choose a topic covered in our final week (wilderness politics, collaborative conservation, ranching, borderlands issues), or you might take this opportunity to write about the West from the broader experience of your past three months traveling throughout the region. My only request is that these epiphanies be primarily about the West, and not about you or about our group. It is certainly OK, in this context, to make connections to personal thoughts and experiences, as Ellen showed us how to do. But as both Paul and Ellen emphasized, our writing should address the West and audiences beyond our group. As always, your epiphany might take a variety of forms. It might be a poem. It might be a rant. It might be…. Here's a short list of possible titles, so you might get the idea: "A Letter to Environmentalists;" "I Want to Tell You Something About the American West;" "Nevada: An Appreciative Essay" (for Savanna), etc. etc. For some more ideas, you might have a look at Patricia Limerick, "The Shadows of Heaven Itself: The Demanding Dreams of the American West, from Something in the Soil, in each cook group reading box.

As always, epiphanies are short essays that we will read aloud to each other, and later to others.

Capstone Essay

We will spend the final week of the program (early December) up at the Johnston Wilderness Campus. During this time, each student will write a capstone essay that addresses a significant aspect of the American West, as experienced during the Semester. The goal is to use this final week to produce a highly polished essay, and it will likely draw on material from your journal, class notes, readings, and new research.

Because Semester in the West is an interdisciplinary program, capstone essays may take a variety of forms. It may be a traditional policy essay, such as might appear in a feature article in High Country News. Or, it might be a more academic essay addressing a thorny theoretical question that you might illuminate with some aspect of your field experience. Or, it might be a series of poems that share a common theme. In all cases, your capstone essay should illuminate an environmental/social/political problem or question we touched on while on Semester in the West. The instructor must approve topics before we arrive at JWC.

Students will NOT be expected to work on their capstone essay during the semester, though certainly, you must be thinking about what topic your essay will address, and what form it will take.

Although this may vary by topic and form, I expect that capstone essays will require between ten and fifteen pages to do justice to whatever theme you select. You will have approximately six days to complete this assignment.

The capstone essay is worth 20% of your combined grade for politics and environmental studies.