Noticias

For those of us living in the American West, we are intimately familiar with limits—limits of water in a drought-ridden landscape, limits of housing in small mountain towns, or limits of a community amidst a rapidly expanding tourism economy. These themes are expounded upon in the recently published book A Watershed Moment: The American West in the Age of Limits.

“What was so entrancing about that book was that he said that we needed a different politics and economics and community structure beyond the 100th meridian,” said Robert Frodeman, co-author of A Watershed Moment. “That is to say on the dry side, places where you need to irrigate to grow things. And I was just stunned by the argument, it stuck with me over the years. One way to understand this book is that we’ve explored the consequences of Powell’s sense that there are inescapable limits to life in the American West.”

Frodeman, a professor of philosophy and author or editor of more than 15 books, draws inspiration for his work from Beyond the 100th Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, Wallace Stegner’s biography of Powell.

Co-author Evelyn Brister, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a philosopher of science, emphasized how limits manifest in Western communities.

“We initially were envisioning limits being in terms of water resources, limits in Teton County in terms of our predominantly public land so there aren’t very many new places to build to make space for people to come into the community,” Brister said. “Limits because of limited housing in those kinds of places. A lot of the chapters in the book are ways to expand limits or overcome limits. Some of the more metaphorical ways—there’s some people who just by learning more, getting more knowledge, more data, we’ve learned how, for instance, deer and elk move across the landscape. And with that extra data, we can make space for them in ways that don’t get in the way. Sometimes just knowing more can help us overcome limits.”

The book is a collection of stories from contributors about limits in the American West, ways to think about them, and potential solutions. Brister highlighted the ethical underpinnings in the book.

“The issues that are raised in this book, they lie at the intersection of community sustainability, land use policy, and there’s a strong ethical decision-making component under the surface,” Brister explained. “Even though there are no chapters in the book specifically on ethics, one of the things that we encouraged authors in the book to think about was how they think about solutions to land use problems that can help the most number of people.”

Take, for example, housing—a significant limit in Western communities.

“The idea here was that each chapter would be on a place and a problem,” Frodeman said. “A place—Telluride, and a problem—housing; a place—Yellowstone, and a problem—overtourism. And others on Aspen and bears and whatnot. And we asked every chapter to end with some discussion of policy solutions moving forward.”

Frodeman pointed out that while rugged individualism and endless opportunity have long been hallmarks of the lore of the American West, there is also a deep-rooted spirit of collectivism.

“There’s a long history of collectivism in the West also—living in supportive communities,” Frodeman said. “When you do live in a harsh environment, living in Wyoming, or experiencing Montana winters, people in the West have been very dependent on tight communities supporting each other. Wyoming was the first state to give the vote to women. Utah obviously has a strong collective belonging and sense of support. Many of these stories are not stories of people being able to solve problems all by themselves.”

The book’s third author is Luther Probst, a Teton County commissioner. Contributors include policymakers, biologists, tribal members, writers, and Telluride locals like former County Commissioner Joan May.

Brister noted that fostering appreciation for all community members is essential for moving forward.

“It’s important if you’re a doctor or a nurse, but it’s also if you’re working elsewhere in the hospital or if you’re a teacher or if you’re working in food and beverage for the tourist industry or cleaning houses. All of these people are contributing to what the community is and are needed, but they’re not always appreciated. And that sense of appreciation for people in the community, I think, is found in a number of chapters,” Brister said.

A Watershed Moment: The American West in the Age of Limits is available online and in bookstores across the West.