BIVOUACS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE: HUMAN-BUILT ENVIRONMENTS IN THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, COLORADO, USA

Since the beginning of human occupation, the face of Earth has been changed by the encroachment of human activities and their built environments and infrastructures on the natural landscape. Humans' search for resources necessary for survival, pursuit of establishing towns and cities, and expansion of recreational activities has resulted in long-term alterations of the natural environment. These alterations range from tropical environments through arid environments, and extend to high alpine and arctic environments. Though all these environments are fragile in their own right, we focus on the alpine environment, as we have more experience in this environment and think it is the most fragile. The alpine environment is fraught with the impacts of human occupation that range from mine spoils, dams, river modifications, slope modification, and removal of natural land cover. The effects of these endeavors have been exacerbated as human populations, with their leisure time and expendable incomes all increasing, encroach into pristine, sometimes precarious environments. Landforms have been altered or removed as the built environment advances into the alpine. With these modifications to the local geomorphology, natural hazards of the region are exacerbated. It is thus the responsibility of the geomorphologist to identify existing hazards and to consider the effects of landscape modification in enhancing the impact of hazards on humans and their built environment.