Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Monsoon Grassland I

The monsoon can create convection quickly in August. How is it that we see this? It is water, heat, convection, rain, and life. Why exactly do we not see the planet as an organism we inhabit?

The Convection Sequence, Las Cienegas National Conservation Area

Driving into the Empire Ranch south of Tucson early an August morning. The convection was awake as I left Tucson and I resolved to wander through the Las Cienegas looking for what plants were blooming. Instead, I discovered moisture creating a storm. Twenty minutes elapses between images one to three. I'm fifteen miles from the storm.

 Convection 1

 Convection 2

 Convection 3

Humboldt Canyon, Patagonia Mountains

The photo below is of a canyon under threat because of the 1872 Mining Act. Essentially, arbitrary economic claims on the public good mean we the public do not get to choose whether to have an alternative economy. A law from the 19th century explains the public's right of ownership over mineral resources below the ground. There are alternative economic structures emerging that will support a viable alternative economic model–that model is a restoration economy.


The crest of Aztec Canyon, Patagonia Mountains


This sequence of three images is taken from the crest of Aztec Canyon. It looks northwest toward the Santa Rita Mountains, with Mt. Wrightson in the center. This is the thick monsoon light of moisture as a storm moves in from the northeast. We were digging ocotillo sprouts for restoration research on private land and had walked to the crest of the hill, looking to the northwest and the shifting light as it settled on the near and far ground. The mountains shone. My friend took us to an Agave parviflora plant, a plant whose type locality was collected nearby. the smallest flowered Agave.



The Ocotillo hug the southeast facing slopes, looking south directly into Mexico.















Amsonia grandiflora


From the Whetstone's to the Huachucas



Looking across Las Cienegas NCA, the sky held the immense heaviness of moisture. The rain was coming.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve, I am rereading A Sand Country Almanac and there is much in Leopold's essays that remind me of your blog. To wit: "there is much confusion between land and country. Land is the place where corn, gullies, and mortgages grow. Country is the personality of land, the collective harmony of its soil, life, and weather." Love, Dad

James Buckley said...

Dad's right... Leopold is a great comparison.... .keep up the great work and more importantly - keep taking these amazing pictures!