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the west: america's new melting pot
By Jesse Mullins, Jr.
With population pouring in and major shifts
afoot, the American West is becoming
the nation’s crucible for change. But where are things going
and what are the stakes?
The words “Eastern” and “Establishment”
have gone together seemingly forever.
Or at least until lately. In our lifetimes
we’re seeing this connection challenged, and
in what remains of our lives it will be challenged
even more emphatically.
No longer dismissible as a backwater
province or as mere flyover country, the
West is now bigger than the rest. More than
half of the U.S. population now resides west
of the Mississippi River.
And while it might be premature to brandish
the term “Western Establishment,” we
are nonetheless moving into times when the
West will be thought of less as a near-empty
void and more as a place of activity, industry,
and leadership—including national leadership,
possibly astride a re-imagined brand of
Populist politics—as well as forwardness,
innovation, and job creation.
“The attitudes here
are much more cando
and ‘How can we
get it done?’ Whereas
for much of the rest
of the country, it is
still more ‘How can I
keep the other guy
from succeeding?’
In the West there is
still a lot of that old
kind of Populism
that says, ‘Y’know,
I’ll bet together there
is a way for both of us
to do just fine.’ ”
—Gov. Dave Freudenthal
Interestingly, the agenda for this summer’s
conference of the Western Governors’
Association appears to be based mainly on
matters involving the environment and
wildlife. Population growth is prompting the
governors of the 17 Western states to form a
plan to give wildlife populations leeway to pass
from one habitat to another, even when those
habitats are in different Western states. The
association observes in its agenda for the
coming session that “as states have grown in
human population, crucial habitat and wildlife
movement corridors are increasingly becoming
fragmented or destroyed through road
building, land use development, and energy
development.” (See related sidebar on
“Yellowstone to Yukon.”) Other issues for the
governors to consider are the growing conflicts
over water and the management of the
electricity transmission grid. As the agenda
states, “the grid… must be expanded to reach
location-constrained renewable resources
and other generation needed to meet the
demands of the region’s growing population.
Despite an unprecedented number of proposals
to build new transmission lines, few transmission
projects are under construction.”
Western Governors’ Association Conference
When: June 29-July 1
Where: Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Contact: www.westgov.org; (303) 623-9378
Public is invited; opening keynote address
by Tom Brokaw |
But is the West merely to become an
extension of the East, or a developing urban
region? What is the good in having the West
simply become like the rest? If this nation has
something to gain from having wide open
spaces, and if this nation can benefit from the
qualities of character that are bred in rural
places and rugged lifestyles and in adherence
to the kinds of traits that made the Western
people who they are, then what could the
loss of these things mean to all Americans?
These are questions that confront us as
major change unfolds.
Amidst this change, perhaps by default, the
West is becoming the nation’s laboratory for
experiments—in energy, water usage, food
production, conservation, employment, politics,
and perhaps even the social structure. Say
hello to the amenities economy, wildlife corridors,
and wind farms. And if you’re new to the
West, say hello to your neighbor. That might
spark the biggest development of all.
Nothing is Fatalistic
Author and academic Patricia Nelson
Limerick, professor of history at the
University of Colorado and chair of the
board of the Center for the American
West, remarks that the biggest changes
are the changes between the Old West
and the New West—between the old
industries like agriculture and ranching
and the new industries like recreation
and telecommuting.
“That transition has been going on for
awhile,” Limerick said recently. “People
have been saying since the 1800s that
the big boom in Western migration is
over, but it’s not. People keep coming.
We still have an extraordinary amount
of space. If someone from the East
Coast visits they’ll see what I mean.”
But the changes are here nonetheless.
“We can decide as a society that there is
worth in family ranching and agriculture,”
Limerick says. “Nothing is fatalistic.
The very existence of this periodical
[American Cowboy magazine], as well as
50 million movies on cowboys and
countless novels, show that there must
be something interesting, something
going on there. We can do that.”
Taking the Long View
Perhaps no one is better positioned to
survey the Western horizon than
Wyoming Governor David Freudenthal,
given his role as chairman of the Western
Governors’ Association. All 17 of the
Western governors participate in the
WGA’s annual conference, a three-day
confab that this summer will convene in
Jackson Hole. (See sidebar.)
Calling the WGA a practical, more
than partisan, group, Freudenthal says
that the governors focus on commonalities
such as environmental questions
and the problems of forest fires and
droughts. “It doesn’t matter whether it
is California or Wyoming—if the feds
are falling down on helping us fight fires,
that is an issue for both of us. Water is an
issue for all of us. The presence of so
much public land is an issue.”
Within Freudenthal’s own state, land
use planning and transportation planning
are a couple of relatively new disciplines.
“There are just some things that
naturally follow with an increase in population
numbers,” he says. “But it’s also
things like ‘Where do you locate the new
schools?’ and ‘What does that have to do
with where growth is going to occur?’ It
requires more management of ‘service
delivery’ than it did when you didn’t
have very many people. Then, a lot of the
growth would end up on its own well
and septic system and now that just
doesn’t work.”
“Frankly, I think it is good for the West
because it forces us to recognize that we
are not an island. A lot of people who
either grew up in the West or moved here
would like for it to be, somehow, ‘Can we
pull the covers over our head [laughs]
and pretend the rest of the world doesn’t
exist?’ But we’re not allowed
to do that—
it’s not a healthy attitude.
“But I also think that the attitudes
here are much more can-do and ‘How
can we get it done?’ ” Freudenthal says.
“Whereas for much of the rest of the
country, it is still more ‘How can I keep
the other guy from succeeding?’ There is
a great sense here that this is not a zerosum
game, and that for me to get ahead,
I don’t have to interfere with you getting
ahead. In the West there is still a lot of
that old kind of Populism that says,
‘Y’know, I’ll bet together there is a way
for both of us to do just fine.’ ”
“There’s freedom here. There’s freedom to
really explore. That’s what the West is about.
There’s still some exploration here that is deeply
rooted in history.”
— Robert Mirabal |
Global warming and Opportunism
Charles Wilkinson, professor of law at
the University of Colorado and a man
whom Outside Magazine called “the
West’s leading authority on natural
resources law,” sees a West that is in the
throes of creating, or re-creating, itself.
“Westerners are blessed by a landscape
the likes of which exists nowhere else,”
says Wilkinson. “Since World War II our
numbers have more than quadrupled.
We’ve gone too far in the cities, many of
them now megalopolises: The Front
Range, Southern California, the Bay
Area, the Wasatch Front, the Valley of
the Sun. Boise is coming on fast. There’s
an extraordinary disconnect.
“An overwhelming majority of
Westerners agree that we have gone too
far,” Wilkinson says. “Yet most of us also
believe there’s nothing we can do about
out-of-control growth. What we’ve done
affects us in so many ways. Water supplies
have growth tight, we’ve had health
affected, a drive across town seems to
take forever. Our sense of spirituality
towards the natural world has been
wounded. There’s another aspect to the
disconnect—all of us love the land. I see
two ways to begin to reach some sustainability,
some angle of repose. Towns
and cities need to hold meetings, need
to come together to look out into the
future 20 years or so ahead… Ironically,
the other avenue comes from the epic
threat of global warming, which also
offers an opportunity. By addressing
global warming, we will be required to
adopt a cure for the West’s ailments.
The cure includes resource conservation,
alternative energy sources, various
efficiencies, and a new and more
respectful way of looking at the natural
world.”
An Amenities Economy
Pat Williams, former congressman
and now Northern Director for
Western Progress, an eight-state progressive
policy center, says that over
the past two decades, the West’s economy,
population, and culture have
crossed an historic threshold.
“We can decide as a
society that there is
worth in family ranching
and agriculture.”
— Patricia Nelson Limerick |
“Prior to that, for a couple of centuries,
the economy was based on agriculture,
timber, mining, oil, and gas.
We’ve moved from that extractive
economy and culture to a new one that
is based on conservation, restoration,
high technology, and services. Of the
old industries, agriculture is the only
one left standing that has enormous
economic impact.
“This transition has been wrenching,”
Williams says. “People in some
places have been displaced… The
West’s population is multiplying more
quickly than any other region’s in
America. Population growth is 12 percent,
which is double what it is in the
rest of the nation.
“What we find is that it is the counties
that are located near the mountains,
rivers, and federal land that have
by far the greatest increases in population.
Some people are calling this the
‘amenities economy.’ Because people
want to live in the prettiest places.”
As for the risk of losing the
cowboy/rancher/farmer ethic, Williams
says that one way is to be certain we
don’t pave ourselves over with shopping
malls and parking lots.
“That is a different trick, but it will
require bonding for open space, plus
preserving an agricultural way of life,
possibly through tax credits, plus getting
ag folks a proper price for their
commodities, or getting them free
markets, or whatever way there is.”
“These are unknowns. And we are
finding that there is both good and bad
with wealthy people moving in and
buying these big spreads. Often they
improve the spread, but the bad thing
is often they wall it off from the public.
They even prevent people from accessing
their own rivers.
“I would say that the Rocky Mountain
West is America’s last attempt to get
progress right. America has now crossed
the brow of its final hill and has to decide
which way to turn—whether toward conservation
mixed with sound economy, or
whether we will just do things as we
always have, helter skelter, and simply
wreck the best of the last, best places.”
Defining Traits
“By addressing global
warming, we will be
required to adopt a
cure for the West’s
ailments.”
—Charles Wilkinson |
“There’s freedom here. There’s freedom
to really explore, if you’re looking
for it. That’s what the West is about.
There’s still some exploration here that
is deeply rooted in history.”
So says Robert Mirabal, a member of
New Mexico’s Taos Pueblo community
and a Grammy-winning musician, as
well as a painter, poet, author, farmer,
and horseman.
“Even growing up here, I still have a
fascination with the West,” Mirabal
says. “Just knowing that I can still see a
sunset that my grandparents saw.
“I live on the Taos Pueblo Indian
Reservation, and there’s not too many
things that have changed there. We still
have a committed effort toward a cultural
lifestyle that is based on the interdependent
aspects of living. We know
where to get our medicine, we know
where it comes from, we know what to
plant and when to plant it. As an agrarian
community, we’re still defined by the
land . The land defines you in the West.
“If you come from a place where every
inch of the land is used, and you come
out to the Southwest, you really see how
much land there is. That in itself creates
a different way of expressing what the
land is about,” Mirabal says.
“It’s going to be radical when the next
few generations are coming in. They’re
going to have to really understand on
every level what the land means—and
beyond that what the water means—
because now in the West, because of
global climate changes, a lot of people
are tapping into the sources of pure
water. That’s the new petroleum, that’s
the new gas.
“In the West, you’re also still dealing
with land issues from Colonial times.
You’re dealing with Spanish land grant
issues. You’re dealing with Native
American traditional issues. You can’t
just dig anywhere and start thinking that
that’s free for all. The references here
are deeply diverse, just as the land is. I’ll
say again: The West defines you, you
can’t define it.”
Look ’em in the Eye
Governor Freudenthal, when asked
what he hoped will survive in this
changed and changing West, remarked:
“Culturally, what you hope is that we
retain a sense of who we are and communicate
that to the people who move
in. If we get to a point where, as it is in
many places, people just don’t look each
in the eye—and I know it sounds like a
small thing—but if you ain’t gonna look
at someone you ain’t gonna work with
them. So there is an attitude that you
hope can be retained.”
Yellowstone to Yukon
There’s “thinking big,” and then
there’s thinking really big, as is seen in
the Yellowstone to Yukon initiative, a
sweeping plan of coordinating various
wildlife corridors from Wyoming to the
far reaches of Alaska.
Sarah Emegili, conservation manager
of the Y2Y program (Yellowstone to
Yukon), says that with swift changes
coming to so many regions of the West,
the risks to wildlife populations are
ever increasing. Keeping routes open
whereby wildlife populations can move
from one habitat to another is critical
to maintaining wildlife viability.
It all comes down to sharing knowledge.
“Traditionally, Westerners
depended on land for their livelihoods
in fields such as agriculture, forestry,
and ranching,” Emegili says. “These
‘Western’ fields required a deep understanding
of ecosystems.
As the West
develops, industries change, and new
people move here, local understanding
of the environment is lost. Newcomers
who move to small Western towns
often lack local knowledge about how
to interact with the wild.
“We want to educate people about
the region and ultimately protect the
entire corridor in the best manner possible
for everyone: animals, ecosystems
and humans,” she adds. “At Y2Y we
work with more than 300 different
organizations in the U.S. and Canada to
that end.
“More people needing more space [is
a situation that] suggests to me that the
corridor could become fragmented or
lost completely. This growth will affect
how effectively Y2Y is able to connect
wildlife corridors. If we lose that land
we will lose part of the Western identity—
like cowboys, ranchers, and agriculture.”
And that’s a prospect we just can’t
afford.
—Joanna Nasar |
—Additional reportage by Joanna Nasar
and Tom Wilmes. |
