Of Rock and Rivers: Seeking a Sense of Place in the American West

This beautifully written and deeply personal collection of essays paints a progressive view of the American West as seen by a geologist. Ellen Wohl traces her twenty years of living and conducting research in the natural landscapes of the West as she investigates the conflict between environmental history and widely held romanticized views of the region. Wohl grew up in Ohio, subscribing to a common perception of the American West as an unchanged frontier. Moving to Arizona, she became enthralled with how the landscapes and ecosystems of the West have undergone change, both through geologic time and during the historical era of European settlement. These essays tell of her early training as a geomorphologist and provide a memorable account of her research in the rivers of the West. As the lessons accrue, Wohl gives us the benefit of her experience and shows how years of studying and living in the Colorado Rockies have enhanced her understanding of landscape change through time. Building on the literary tradition of Joseph Wood Krutch, Terry Tempest Williams, and John McPhee, Wohl provides an up-to-date portrait of the West and brings a new urgency to the call for conservation of the region's land, water, and resources.

"Ellen Wohl has created a masterful and lyrical natural history of the Rocky Mountain West. She writes with a naturalist's attention to detail, an artist's eye for color, a geologist's long view of change, and an activist's passion. Wohl brings a fresh perspective to fundamental issues--grazing, fire, water, restoration, the limits of resilience--and reminds us of the crucial 'connectedness of humans and landscape'."--Stephen Trimble, author of Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America

"Ellen Wohl tells stories of the West beyond myth, stories of her own and her students' explorations of the land's dynamic past-into-present. How Americans have settled and used western lands owes much to myths of superabundance and inexhaustibility of a seemingly pristine world. The reality is dynamic change that too often has resulted in contamination and depletion."--Lauret E. Savoy, coeditor of Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology and The Colors of Nature

Ellen Wohl is Professor of Geology at Colorado State University and the author of Disconnected Rivers and Virtual Rivers, as well as Rain Forest into Desert.

List of Illustrations

Preface

Part 1. Discovering the West

The Western Reserve

A Sense of Space

River Days: Paradise Found

River Days: Paradise Lost

The Delicate Strength of Rock

The Western Rampart

Where the Winds Live

Part 2. Inheriting the Past

Colorado Burning

Let It Snow!

Equifinality

What Is Natural?

The Disillusioned Angler

Poisoning the Well

Epilogue: Adventures in the Still Unknown Interior of North America

Bibliographic Sources and Further Reading

Index