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By Simmons Buntin, January 10, 2012 10:08 pm

Terrain.org is pleased to present, with Sky Island Alliance, Writing Down the Jaguar: Writing Workshops in El Aribabi, Sonora, Mexico from March 23-26, 2011.

jaguar.terrain.org

Offered at Rancho El Aribabi in the beautiful Sierra Azul Mountains of northern Sonora, Mexico, Writing Down the Jaguar is a three-day workshop of classes, lectures, readings, and discussions on the craft and techniques of fine writing about the natural world.

Writing Down the Jaguar is for writers who want to improve and market their outdoor, natural history, and environmental writing, as well as environmental educators and activists who want to improve their writing skills for their work. The morning and afternoon workshops and evening sessions will benefit both professional writers as well as those with a personal interest in writing poetry, essays, journalism, screenplays, or fiction that relates to the themes of nature and environment.

Writing Down the Jaguar provides an intimate group experience for writers — with just four participants plus the instructor per workshop!

Participants will select one of the faculty members with whom they will work on writing, reading, and shared critiques.

• Elemental Poetry, led by Simmons B. Buntin
• Focused on Writing: Combining Words and Images, led by Scott Calhoun
• The Full-Throttle Narrative, led by Ken Lamberton
• Write What You See: Screenwriting, led by Dawn Sellers

The rest of the day offers a range of readings and discussions, with ample time to write and socialize. The teaching faculty is composed of professional writers and editors distinguished in their fields, noted for their teaching abilities, and dedicated to helping participants improve their skills. The cost for the workshop, including travel from Tucson, food, and lodging, is $450 per participant.

Come write down the jaguar with us in the rugged, wondrous Sierra Azul!

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By Megan Kimble, September 12, 2011 7:25 pm

After the fire, comes the flood — and then another summer. In a story on Arizona Public Media, forestry and fire experts acknowledged that the wildfires that burned more than one million acres of Arizona’s forests and grasslands this summer could have been made less severe with better forest management techniques — but also that wildfires are an unavoidable part of the landscape.

“I think we have to accept that in Arizona, particularly the White Mountains, fire is inevitable,” said Stephen Pyne, a fire historian and professor at Arizona State University, in an interview that aired on Arizona Week on August 26. “As long as we keep this as public land and we want to keep it in a quasi-wild state, fire is going to happen.”

Pyne said that prescribed burning would diminish the risk for the out-of-control fires, like the Wallow Fire, which burned a state record of 538,000 acres over five weeks this summer. “Right now, instead of tame fire, we’re relying on feral fire to do that ecological work.”

Arizona’s 2011 Wallow Fire (Photo: U.S. Forest Service)

In New Mexico, a historic practice of letting natural fires burn has helped current wildfires in the Gila National Forest burn with relatively low severity, said Molly Hunter, a professor of fire ecology at Northern Arizona University. But, she acknowledged, the practice works partly because of the region’s remoteness and lack of human habitation.

It’s an interesting conundrum — how to control the forest so that it can stay wild.

In August of 2009, the Station Fire burned 240 square miles of the San Gabriel Mountains, the biggest forest fire Los Angeles had seen in over a century. My family’s home was one of thousands to be evacuated, but luckily not one of the 80 homes that burned. I remember feeling at once terrified as I watched the flames crest the ridge behind our house, and simultaneously disconnected — told you so, nature seemed to be saying. The chaparral in the mountains is supposed to burn every decade. Fire regenerates the ecosystem. There hadn’t been a fire in over a century, so the unnatural magnitude of the blaze was due to our safekeeping and the layers of thick, dry brush spread over the hillsides. Thousands of homes were evacuated, eight burned, and two firefighters died fighting the blaze.

It was clear then, and it’s clear now, how much we have to have to push back nature in order to sustain and protect the settlements we’ve constructed. The question, then, is how much to push back.

“Fire is going to happen, and in many ways its essential. It’s part of the dynamic of the ecosystem. But we have a lot of choice in what kinds of fires we have — how big, how frequent,” said Pyne.

The kinds of fires we have reflect decisions in forestry management. We can turn fire over to nature, giving it room to run. We can burn the land ourselves. We can try to exclude fire, to suppress its presence. Or, we can try to change the landscape itself. Pyne thinks it’s a little of everything. Logging and other commercial uses won’t prevent forest fires, but neither will protection at all costs. “We will have to manage fire in the state something on the model that we manage water,” he said.

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Megan Kimble is noticeably more cheerful since she stopped commuting on the freeways of Los Angeles and started biking around Tucson, where she’s a student in University of Arizona’s MFA program for creative nonfiction (and a new contributor to the Terrain.org blog!). Find her at megankimble.com.

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By Simmons Buntin, January 8, 2011 9:57 pm

U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

The state of Arizona has been a contentious place to live, politically, for several years now. As a resident of Tucson, I know. We live in a state where it seems that hatred and a selfish, so-called pioneering “spirit” have been at the core of our legislature and governor’s seat, and perhaps beyond. Legislation that provides for racial profiling, that bans ethnic studies, and — most recently — that provides for the purchase of a handgun without background checks and the carrying of concealed weapons without a permit has been energetically approved by a legislature that prides itself on being “maverick” — as if leadership is defined by that singular trait — but has no overarching sense of community, respect, and compassion. These acts go beyond the ability of someone to reasonably protect him- or herself and into the realm of hate and anti-government. That polls and voting demonstrate that many of the state’s residents support such moves is astounding and disturbing. Or comes down to ignorance, self-imposed or otherwise, which is just as disturbing.

But the tragic events of today, when U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot point blank along with 18 others, when a federal judge, a nine-year-old girl, and a Congressional aide were murdered (among others) by a 22-year-old man with a semi-automatic assault gun at a public event in a public space, has surpassed anything most of us could have feared.

The editors of Terrain.org send our deepest condolences, thoughts, and prayers to the families of those injured and killed. We hope for fast and full recoveries by Congresswoman Giffords and the others who were injured.

We also call for an overhaul of the state legislature, a full repeal of the race-based and hate-based legislation and dangerous gun legislation. The effects of such legislation, though indirect, are nevertheless evident in the actions of today.

We live in a geography of rich cultural and ecological diversity, a diversity that should be celebrated with respect, openness, and compassion. Hate has no place here.

Congresswoman Giffords is an amazing person, the U.S.’s biggest elected representative for renewable energy, a strong advocate for place and the kind of diversity that can make this state such an inspiring and wonderful place. Just a year ago she wrote the guest editorial for Terrain.org’s 24th issue: “Solar is the Bridge to Our Future.”

Let us build from this tragedy to create a state that values diversity and compassion, and let us always remember those who lost their lives and suffered injuries.

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By Simmons Buntin, May 21, 2010 2:47 pm

Corporations and foundations create campaign that will fund environmental nonprofits to protect the Colorado River

Fort Collins, CO – A coalition of seven sustainably driven corporations and foundations has united to raise funding and awareness for the environmentally threatened Colorado River. The campaign, initiated by New Belgium Brewing and the Clean Water Fund, will donate money to environmental nonprofits in the Colorado River basin working to promote water conservation and protect the river.

“We are proud to bring this dedicated group of environmental philanthropists together,” said Kim Jordan, CEO of New Belgium Brewing. “The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the American Southwest, and it is the lifeblood of the people and the companies that thrive here.  Although the threats to this river are enormous, we want to step forward and begin the necessary work to help keep it alive.”

The philanthropic campaign includes partners from the beginning of the Colorado River basin all the way to the end:

• New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado
• Patagonia, Ventura, California
• Aspen Snowmass Environment Foundation, Aspen, Colorado
• Kenney Brothers Foundation, Denver, Colorado
• National Geographic Maps, Evergreen, Colorado
• Environment Now, Santa Monica, California
• OARS, Angels Camp, California

In an average year, the Colorado River flows with approximately 5 trillion gallons of water. Over the last decade, dams, diversions, and a population of 30 million users have completely drained the Colorado so that it no longer reaches the Gulf of California but ends in an ecologically degraded mud flat.

Climate change, population growth, and drought threaten to deplete the river even further. Recently, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proclaimed that within 2 years the water level in Lake Mead could drop so low that serious water and electric shortages will occur in Las Vegas. The river also contains four endangered species of fish that are clinging to life amidst the dammed and depleted flows.

The “Save the Colorado” campaign will donate funding through a granting cycle twice a year for three years – 2010, 2011, and 2012.  Granting will total nearly $500,000 and will focus on three programmatic areas:

1. Efforts that raise public awareness about the threats to the Colorado River and its water supplies.
2. Efforts that promote water conservation, or change public policy about water conservation, in cities that receive Colorado River water including the Denver/Front Range of Colorado, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.
3. Efforts that protect and enhance the ecological health and biodiversity of the Colorado River and its tributaries, including addressing the threats of new diversions and dams, mitigating past degradation and securing “instream flows.”

“The beauty and scale of the Colorado River are inspiring to all of us in the West,” said Hans Cole, Environmental Grants Manager for Patagonia.  “But, the river also provides a dramatic example of how fragile such a powerful force of nature can be when faced with the combined threats of overconsumption, drought and climate change.  The River and the natural communities that rely on it need our help.  We are honored to join this campaign.”

Visit http://SaveTheColorado.org to learn more about how businesses, environmental non-profits and individuals can get involved. The first granting cycle accepts applications from June 1 – June 30, 2010.

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By Simmons Buntin, February 1, 2010 8:43 pm

Join Terrain.org editorial board member Alison Hawthorne Deming and other authors at the Friends of the Patagonia Library Writers’ Round-up 2010: Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 10.00 a.m. – 3.30 p.m. at Cady Hall in Patagonia, Arizona.

Scheduled writers include Mark Bahti, Betty Barr, Byrd Baylor, Elizabeth Bernays, Joel Bernstein, J.P.S. Brown, Stephen Cox, Philip Caputo, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Elizabeth Gunn, Lynn Hassler, Juanita Havill, Mike Hayes, Fenton Johnson, Ken Lamberton, Susan Lowell, Gregory McNamee, Tom Miller, Gary Paul Nabhan, Margaret Regan, Richard Shelton, Stephen Strom, and Janet Winans.

For more information, visit http://www.patagoniapubliclibrary.org/?p=874.