NOTES FROM THE SESQUICENTENNIAL COLORADO RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION: JOHN WESLEY POWELL AND THE FUTURE OF THE WEST

With the connection of the transcontinental railroad and the launch and completion of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Colorado River Exploring Expedition, the contiguous United States was interconnected and the frontier was at bay. The 150th anniversary of Powell’s historic expedition provides an opportunity to reflect on the impact of one individual on science, settlement and society. His systematic approach to understanding the resources of the West incorporated survey, mapping, and quantifying what was available for settlement. He also was a force for arguing the role of Government as a tool for the public good. Ove the past 150 years we have seen the impacts of his work as the Arid West has been reclaimed for agriculture, the proliferation of large-scale water projects, supporting economy associated natural resource extraction and urban-centered population growth. We have also seen the desert reclaim that same land back as fields are fallowed in water trades that amount to exchanging food for communities for water. The West is the fastest growing region of the United States, a major agricultural region, mineral and energy resource, cultural hearth, and land of national treasures represented by our National Parks, like the Grand Canyon, and public lands. The Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploring Expedition (SCREE) commemorates the impact of Powell on the landscapes of the West and continues the dialog about the resources of the Colorado River Basin and broader Arid Region that began with Powell 150 years ago. The Colorado River is a resource that unites and divides the region with complex geographies of space, sacrificial and consumable landscapes. Geopolitical boundaries determine the rules that partition our shared resources, but nature does not obey those rules of law and politics. Aridity, regardless of causation, affects more than residents of the West, it affects the nation. At the completion of our own expedition in the summer of 2019, we can reflect on how to systematically enter the next 150 years in a manner that Powell did so many years ago.