Editorial Notes, 9

Contributor Bios, 12

Presidential Address: It’s Women’s Work
by Jenny Zorn, 14

Articles

Mediated Geographies: Critical Pedagogy and Geographic Education
by Chris Lukinbeal, Christina B. Kennedy, John Paul Jones III, John Finn, Keith Woodward, David Nelson, Zane Austin Grant, Nicole Antonopolis, Ari Palos, and Carol Atkinson-Palombo, 31

Abstract: Motivated by a need to engage students in the critical evaluation of visual information, and by a desire to teach students how to use digital technologies as a way of exploring and expressing geographical constructs and processes, the geography departments at Arizona’s three universities sought and received funding from the Arizona Board of Regents for learner-centered curricular development organized around the theme of “Mediated Geographies.” In this paper, we explore how critical pedagogy and learner-centered education strategies were used to engage students in semester-long documentary and photo essay projects. Some of the student projects discussed in this essay are posted for viewing at the project Web site. This project was funded by the Arizona Board of Regents’ (ABOR) Learner Centered Education Grant Program.

Concrete Babylon: Life Between the Stars
by Giorgio Hadi Curti, John Davenport, Edward L. Jackiewicz, 45

Abstract: In this paper, we utilize Martin Heidegger’s notion of dwelling and juxtapose it with an examination of touristic consumption in order to elucidate the effects the consumption of place has on the lives of those directly involved—tourists and residents. Hollywood, California, serves as the empirical focus of this study. Here, we discuss how a popular imagination—fueled by an assemblage of emotion, thought, and perception—has come today to dominate the purpose(s) and trajectories of this space/place. To illustrate this, we show how recent gentrification projects—particularly the entertainment and shopping complex we call Concrete Babylon—attempt to actualize and validate this imagination through building(s) for consumption to the detriment of dwelling; the politics, ethics, and real-life effects of which are often largely overlooked or simply ignored. Keywords: Hollywood, Tourism, Dwelling, Consumption, Heidegger, Social Imaginary

The Changing Cultural Landscape of El Paso de Robles
by Gary Peters, 74

Abstract: In and around the city of El Paso de Robles, the cultural landscape is changing rapidly. Two major causes of these landscape changes are population growth and the shift from cattle ranching to viticulture in the surrounding area. This paper focuses first on population growth and some of its impacts on the cultural landscape, then on the rise of viticulture and landscape features associated with it. Whereas most of the landscape changes driven by population growth are typical of places almost everywhere, those created by the upsurge in viticulture and the wine tourism associated with it are often unique and give the city and its environs a distinctive character and sense of place.

Urban Expansion in Oaxaca: Mexico: Research on the Fringe
by Marissa Smith, 88

Abstract: This research examines the land use change on the urban edge of Oaxaca, Mexico, and the associated environmental and social consequences of this transformation in the peri-urban community and municipality of San Jacinto Amilpas (SJA). The city of Oaxaca is expected to grow from a current population of approximately half a million to over a million by 2010. The dramatic growth and subsequent environmental change embodied in the process of urbanization is altering the economic, cultural and political face of SJA. Interviews with community members indicate that these changes have resulted in increased crime and conflict, amplified class divisions, and a population increasingly focused on individual pursuits and new sources of livelihood which are slowly eroding traditional community cohesiveness.

The Hottest and Coldest Places in the Conterminous United States
by Guy King, 101

Abstract: National Weather Service data published in USA Today are used to analyze daily hottest and coldest places in the lower 48 states. The dataset of national weather stations is restricted by population and elevation. Between 1995 and 2005, 264 places in the lower 48 states got the daily hottest record, while 364 places got the coldest record. Death Valley, California, had the highest number of hottest days (803). Stanley, Idaho, had the highest number of coldest days (398). The top coldest and hottest places were then climatically compared to other extreme weather stations in the conterminous United States using data compiled by the Midwest Regional Climate Center. The locations of hot and cold places vary considerably depending on what climate measure is used to determine mean temperatures. Death Valley has the highest mean July maximum temperature in the nation. If mean yearly maximum temperature is used, Death Valley ties with Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for being the hottest place. Key West, Florida, has the highest mean yearly temperature. For the coldest place in the conterminous United States, Darwin Ranch, Wyoming, gets the title if mean yearly minimum temperature is used. Tower, Minnesota, has the lowest mean January minimum temperature. Mount Washington, New Hampshire, has the lowest mean yearly temperature in the conterminous United States. The results of this study show that there is no single place in the conterminous United States that can claim to be the hottest or the coldest.

Current Issues in Global Warming and Mitigation Efforts: Focus on California
by Helen Cox, 115

Abstract: Global warming is almost certainly the most important problem addressed by the atmospheric community today and has recently become one of the hottest on the political agenda. Because it is such a vast and complex problem, the majority of atmospheric researchers are carrying out investigations on some aspect of it. The results of these studies are assimilated in computer-intensive global circulation models to simulate the earth’s climate. Despite such intensive efforts, there is still much contention over the nature and degree of global warming, over long-term climate prediction, and over the implementation of mitigating measures. In this paper, I review the scientific basis for global warming, present outstanding issues in climate modeling, and examine the reasons for the uncertainty in future predictions. Global impacts—those on California in particular—are discussed together with the measures that have been taken worldwide and at the state level to combat it.

The Changing Faces of Skagway, Alaska: A Story So Far
by Christopher Moreno, 133

Abstract: In this paper, I explore the multiple trajectories and relational politics from which Skagway, Alaska, has “become the new.” I engage Skagway through a “language of movement.” I tell “a story so far” about Skagway, Alaska, as a “place in motion.” The paper unfolds through an ethno-historic narrative of the multiple lines of social and economic differentiation, processes of change, and numerous face-lifts Skagway has undergone since the Klondike Gold Rush on through to today’s connectivity with the global cruise tourism industry.

Book Review

Book Review: Coming to Stay: A Columbia River Journey by Mary Dodds Schlick
Reviewed by Ralph K. Allen, 150

President’s Plenary Session

Geography in a Diverse World
by Jenny Zorn, 154

The Importance of International Students on Our Campuses
by Kavita Pandit, 156

Geography Diversity Initiatives at California State University, Long Beach: The Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program
by Christine Rodrigue, 160

Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Faculty in a Public University
by Nancy Lee Wilkinson, 168

Report of the Sixty-ninth Annual Meeting, 173

APCG Distinguished Service Award, 176

APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 177

Resolutions of the Sixty-ninth Annual Meeting, 179

Abstracts of Papers Presented, 181

Articles

Presidential Address: How Successful Are Recent Immigrants to the United States and Their Children?
by James P. Allen, 9

Abstract: Recent immigrants and their children are a growing component of the United States population, but how well they are adjusting is not well known. In this article I synthesize research regarding the main features of the immigrants’ economic status and, because most of their U.S.-born children are still in school, those children’s educational status. Immigrants themselves take various paths toward economic advancement, including opening businesses or working in particular occupations or niches found useful by their ethnic group. Better-educated immigrants tend to have higher incomes, but after a 10- or 20-year adjustment period most immigrants attain economic success. The children of immigrants become proficient in English by late in high school and are generally successful in school. They do better in school when their U.S. education builds upon their ethnic heritage and when they avoid detrimental aspects of American culture, but students who do not complete high school run a much greater risk of spending time in jail or prison. I explain how educational achievement varies by ethnic group, gender, race identity, and neighborhood character; the low percentage of college graduates among Mexican-Americans is an especially significant and not easily explained finding.

Gila Bend, Arizona: On the Road Somewhere Else
by Kevin Romig, 33

Abstract: Gila Bend, Arizona, is a locale abounding with dichotomies: lying on a well-defined transportation corridor, it has rarely been a destination; it is a complex place as it continually redefines itself through time due to large economic swings, but its residents extol a grounded vision of quick fixes; the town is located in Maricopa County, which is rapidly growing in both population and economic output, but the town has been plagued by population stagnation and economic decline; it is situated in the midst of the arid Sonoran Desert, yet by regional standards, it has plenty of water. While this town may seem to be bypassed on many different levels within a region of intense growth, this is a place that uses its derelict landscape and poor economy in a strategic way. Gila Bend accepts the unwanted economic activities that bolster the growth in the region. Whether it is power generation, hazardous waste recycling, or a large prison population, Gila Bend’s backyard is open for business.

Two Russian Molokan Agricultural Villages in the Intermountain West
by Marshall E. Bowen, 53

Abstract: Agricultural villages established in the second decade of the 20th century by Russian Molokans in Glendale, Arizona, and Park Valley, Utah, bore striking similarities, with long, narrow house lots, dwellings aligned along a single village street, and outlying lands allocated for crop production. With the passage of time, the Glendale village lost much of its Russian flavor as families responded to individual opportunities, personal tragedies, and economic disaster by moving away. In contrast, the Park Valley village was struck down by drought and crop failure. Today, the Glendale village is inhabited entirely by non-Molokans, and is on the verge of being consumed by suburban sprawl, while the Park Valley village, abandoned almost 90 years ago, lies nearly hidden in a vast expanse of rangeland. But at each site it is still possible to find traces of a traditional Old World settlement pattern that was unable to survive in the face of new cultural, economic, and physical conditions that the villages’ immigrant residents encountered in the American West.

An Examination of Wetland Diversity in Ventura County, California
by Shawna Dark, Regan Maas, Jason Mejia, and Namrata Belliappa, 79

Abstract: Despite the importance of documenting wetlands for legislative and conservation purposes, little work has been done to provide a regional inventory of wetlands in southern California. In this paper, we begin the process of documenting the diversity and distribution of wetlands in southern California and provide an analysis of the spatial distribution of wetlands relative to potential human impact. Using photointerpretation and classification techniques from the National Wetlands Inventory, we determined that in our Ventura County study area there were a total of 166 unique wetland classifications and 8,805 wetland polygons inventoried. The Palustrine wetland classification represented the greatest amount of wetlands, followed by Riverine and Lacustrine systems. Nineteen percent of the wetland areas inventoried were given special modifiers indicating they were either modified or human-made. A total 19,916 acres of wetland area were found to be in places facing significant human impact and therefore determined to be a conservation priority. Although 90 percent of original wetland area in California has been lost, Ventura County continues to display a wealth of diversity in wetland type. Contrary to common belief, as evidenced by this Ventura County project, southern California is characterized by significant wetland diversity.

Mapping Race and Ethnicity: The Influence of James Allen
by Emily Skop, 94

Abstract: The theme of mapping race and ethnicity has been carried forward by many geographers, most by analyzing patterns to understand residential geographies and exploring processes of spatial assimilation of various racial and ethnic groups. James Allen’s work is considered by many to be among the finest, and most classic, examples of this type of research. Through the eyes of a young scholar, this paper discusses the influence of James Allen’s work on my own explorations in racial and ethnic geography. The paper outlines the themes and principal geographic concerns of James Allen’s research and suggests how his work continues to inspire new racial and ethnic “mappings” and geographies.

President’s Plenary Session

Bringing Geography to the Public Through Books
by James Allen, 105

Writing for the Public/Writing for the Academy: Competing Goals with Uncertain Outcomes
by William A. V. Clark, 108

Writing Books for a General Audience: Motivations, Goals, and Challenges
by Larry Ford, 119

Reaching Beyond the Walls of the Academy: Publishing Scholarly Books in Geography for the General Market
Susan Wiley Hardwick, 132

Report of the Sixty-eighth Annual Meeting, 142

APCG Distinguished Service Award, 145

APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 146

Resolutions of the Sixty-eighth Annual Meeting, 147

Editorial Notes, 150

Abstracts of Papers Presented, 153

Articles

Presidential Address: The Conditions of Coastality
by David A. Plane, 9

The City as an Image-creation Machine: A Critical Analysis of Vancouver’s Olympic Bid
by Katherine McCallum, Amy Spencer, and Elvin Wyly, 24

ABSTRACT: The strategic mobilization of images, visual metaphors, and other forms of graphical rhetoric has always been central in place promotion. Images of place have assumed even greater importance, however, with the rise of locational tournaments of cities bidding for the “right” to host high-stakes transnational spectacles. In this paper, we adapt Harvey Molotch’s pioneering theory of the urban growth machine to illuminate the contemporary enterprise of city bids for the Olympic Games. Taking Vancouver’s successful bid for the 2010 Winter Games as a case study, we use a visual methodology framework to analyze the manifest (explicit, surface) and latent (implicit, subtle) visual narrative strategies used to craft a carefully considered representation of the city. Our analysis of the official Bid Questionnaire and the video presentation to the International Olympic Committee documents the sophisticated process by which a city is constructed to embody pristine urban nature, multicultural social harmony, and vibrant local cultures of sport in keeping with the spirit of Olympism. Whether imagined cities like this are effective is irrelevant: cities understand that half of their advertising budget is wasted (they just don’t know which half). The expanding symbolic economies of tourism, conventions, and hallmark events require that urban growth machines develop and operate a full suite of image creation machines, each attuned to the real and perceived desires of an elusive transnational audience in a perpetual movable feast of locational consumption.

Building and Maintaining Urban Water Infrastructure: Phoenix, Arizona, from 1950 to 2003
by Elizabeth K. Burns and Eric D. Kenney, 47

ABSTRACT: Clean urban water, distributed and collected through centralized regional infrastructure, is a driving force in development of the rapidly growing metropolitan regions of the arid Southwest. This study examines the internal magnitude and location of water infrastructure in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, from 1953 to 2003. Regional building-permit data were the basis for identifying six cycles of boom-and-bust real estate activity. Using Water Services Department GIS files, we find that the grid of 1-mile arterial streets provided a systematic framework for incremental water infrastructure expansion. Over this 50-year period, the water system consolidated existing settlements with private water sources and aggressively provided revenue-generating services to an expanding customer base. By 1994–2003, however, new urban fringe development existed only at the northern and southwestern boundaries of this extensive central city. Water infrastructure activities now increasingly included replacement for intensified service, renovation, maintenance, and repair. Detailed analyses of this and other urban water systems provide an additional source of broad insights into processes of both external fringe development and internal land intensification.

Case Study in Real Estate Appraisal: Temecula Olive Oil Company
by Nancy Summers, 65

ABSTRACT: This paper introduces geographers to the field of commercial real estate appraisal using the case study of the Temecula Olive Oil Company site in Aguanga, California. The appraisal was prepared by the author while an employee of Tierra West Appraisal & Land Use Dynamics, Inc. in Hemet, California, for Citizens Business Bank for purposes of new loan financing. The 26-acre site consists of level-to-rolling topography, expansive views, a lake and campsite, 5 acres of olive and grape agriculture, a business office, barn, storage shed, winery and olive press, and proposed event room. The steps necessary to properly appraise the site include concepts and analyses familiar to geographers, such as research into appropriate market areas, map interpretation and land use, slope analysis, strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT), and highest and best use. Real estate appraisal is a multidisciplinary field that incorporates aspects from geography, economics, finance, environmental planning, and law. Typical appraisal tools include aerial photos, topographic maps, as well as handheld computers, GIS, and GPS.

This paper summarizes the appraisal analysis and the conclusions as set forth in the appraisal report prepared for the Client (Citizens Business Bank1). This is a summary of an example of an actual appraisal, and so does not conform to the normal style and format of typical academic papers. Several terms that are routinely used in appraisals are used here, such as referring to the parcel under consideration as the subject property, and references to other works are lacking.

President’s Plenary Session

Major Directions in the Future Population Geography of the Pacific Coast
by David A. Plane, 95

Ethnic Geography Dynamics: Clues from Los Angeles
by James P. Allen, 97

ABSTRACT: The five-county metropolitan region of Los Angeles has such large ethnic populations that it can show ethnic geography trends and patterns not easily identified in smaller places. I use Los Angeles to illustrate three dynamics that seem neglected in the urban literature. First, significant out-movement from poor, more central areas of Los Angeles into suburbs means that Blacks, Latinos, and Asians are no longer trapped in such neighborhoods, as was the case a half century ago. Second, many suburbs, particularly those built after about 1970, contain racially and ethnically diverse populations, some with very low levels of residential segregation between groups. Last, rates of ethnic group intermarriage with other groups are higher outside each group’s area of residential concentration, and Blacks and Whites in Los Angeles are more likely to be married outside their respective groups than in the U.S. as a whole. All this evidence suggests the value of studying Los Angeles and suburbs as indicators of the nation’s future ethnic geography.

Letter to the Editor, 117

Book Reviews

Nicholas O’Connell, On Sacred Ground: The Spirit of Place in Pacific Northwest Literature, 119
Reviewed by Ralph K. Allen, Jr.

Philip R. Pryde, Editor, San Diego: An Introduction to the Region, Fourth Edition, 122
Reviewed by Carlos Tovares

Report on the Sixty-seventh Annual Meeting, 126 (PDF, 40K)

APCG Distinguished Service Award, 128 (PDF, 32K)

APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 129 (PDF, 32K)

Resolutions of the Sixty-seventh Annual Meeting, 130 (PDF, 40K)

Editorial Notes, 132 (PDF, 40K)

Abstracts of Papers Presented, 133 (PDF, 208K)

Articles

Presidential Address: The Joy of Geography
by Teresa L. Bulman, 9

Water Resource Planning in the Yakima River Basin: Development vs. Sustainability
by Christopher A. Kent, 27

Abstract: Water resource management in the agriculturally rich Yakima River Basin is at a crossroads. The vast majority of surface water withdrawals in the basin are used for irrigation, but current water supplies are frequently inadequate to meet this need. The recently proposed comprehensive Watershed Management Plan for the Yakima Basin relies on building major new water storage facilities, and $6.5 million in federal and state funding was secured in 2003 to study a huge new dam and reservoir. Yet local water users cannot pay for this $2 billion structure, and the national attitude toward water resource management is moving from a development paradigm to the recognition that water supplies have limits. Initiatives in the basin that are consistent with this latter approach include minimum instream flow targets, water use efficiency improvement programs, and making it easier to voluntarily transfer water rights. Future issues that have not yet been addressed will also affect water supply planning, but it is possible to set forth a recommended series of actions that can be taken now. The complex suite of water resource issues present in the Yakima Basin as of early 2004 should inform water resource management elsewhere in the West.

Geographic Patterns in U.S. Urban Inflation: 1990–2000
by Andreas Molin and Gordon F. Mulligan, 61

Abstract: Inflation is the rate at which the price of a basket of goods and services increases over time. This study investigates urban inflation in the U.S. during the time period 1990–2000. Data collected by local chamber of commerce offices are analyzed for 56 goods and services across 171 cities in the 48 lower states. These ACCRA data are noted for their geographic coverage, although questions arise about their acquisition and aggregation. Six different categories of goods and services are highlighted: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health, and miscellaneous. During the 1990s, overall prices increased by 35.8 percent (across all 171 cities), ranging between 32.2 percent (7 cities) in the Mid-Atlantic states and 41.0 percent (21 cities) in the West North Central states. Even more extreme geographic variation occurred in several of the six categories of goods and services (e.g., utilities). Multivariate techniques are used to identify the latent patterns of inflation and to cluster cities together according to their similarity in these latent patterns. Ten clusters of cities are identified for purposes of discussion. Regional patterns in urban inflation are very apparent; for example, in one cluster of 20 cities, half of the cities are found in the Pacific states.

Before “Surfurbia”: The Development of the South Bay Beach Cities through the 1930s
by Ronald A. Davidson, 80

Abstract: Few landscapes have been more trivialized for global consumption than the southern California beach. “Baywatch,” “Beach Blanket Bingo,” and Rayner Banham’s coinage of the term “Surfurbia” are among the myriad examples of culture products that depict the shore as a homogeneous fun space lacking historical and cultural complexity. However, the South Bay communities from El Segundo to Torrance (essentially the cities that Banham called “Surfurbia”) have long histories, examination of which reveals the richness and complexity of their geographies. The different cities emerged under the influence of a variety of developmental forces so that, despite the monolithic image of “Surfurbia,” the rise of the South Bay is in fact many separate, incompatible stories.

The Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara: History, Curriculum, and Pedagogy
by Keith C. Clarke and Susanna R. Baumgart, 95

Abstract: While the Association of American Geographers celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2004, the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, celebrates its 30th. This paper is a summary of the history of the department, as gleaned from written records and interviews with many of the protagonists. Included is a discussion of the curricula for the BA, BS, MA, and PhD programs, with special attention paid to the pedagogy of approach. The paper concludes with an examination of the highlights of the department’s mission statement, which shows the common departmental philosophy toward the discipline and the highly interdisciplinary treatment of geography at UCSB.

President’s Plenary Session: Portrait of Portland: History, Place, Region
by Teresa Bulman, 114

Maintaining Eden: John Charles Olmsted and the Portland Park System
by Chet Orloff, 114

Urbanism and Environment in Portland’s Sense of Place
by Carl Abbott, 120

Portland at a Crossroads: Sustaining the Livable City
by Judy Walton, 128

Book Reviews

Geza Szurovy, The Art of the Airways, 141
Reviewed by James Craine

Terence Young, Building San Francisco’s Parks, 1850–1930, 146
Reviewed by Shawna J. Dark

Philip L. Jackson and A. Jon Kimerling, Editors, Atlas of the Pacific Northwest, Ninth Edition, 149
Reviewed by Antonia Hussey

Report on the Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting, 151 (PDF, 36K)

APCG Distinguished Service Award, 154 (PDF, 28K)

APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 155 (PDF, 24K)

Resolutions of the Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting, 156 (PDF, 44K)

Editorial Notes, 161 (PDF, 32K)

Abstracts of Papers Presented, 163 (PDF, 220K)

Index, 215 (PDF, 72K)

Articles

Presidential Address: Water and the Geographic Imagination
by Nancy Lee Wilkinson, 9

Confounding Water Policy: Voter Representation and Choice in Tucson, Arizona
by Irisita Azary and Michael J. Cohen, 20

Abstract: The first, long-awaited deliveries of Colorado River water to Tucson, Arizona, in the early 1990s resulted in millions of dollars worth of damage to homes and generated thousands of claims and complaints. In 1995, voters decisively rejected decades of planning by local and state water agencies and approved a citizen-sponsored initiative that prohibited the city from delivering Colorado River water for 5 years. A challenge was defeated in 1997, but voters reversed themselves in 1999. Support for the prohibition of Central Arizona Project (CAP) water in 1995 was strongly correlated with those areas that received initial delivery of Colorado River water, which is particularly notable since close to 40 percent of those affected were ineligible to vote. The response of voters near a groundwater Superfund site, however, showed support for CAP.

Historical Evidence for the Upslope Retreat of Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) Forest in California’s Gold Country
by Khaled J. Bloom and Conrad J. Bahre, 46

Abstract: In the Gold Country foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada, patches of ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) are scattered in a matrix of oak woodland and chaparral in a wide transition zone below the ponderosa pine forest of the higher slopes. A long-standing hypothesis regards these patches as relicts of a more extensive ponderosa pine forest that was destroyed by cutting, clearing, and burning after the Gold Rush of 1849. We have reviewed the historical evidence and found nothing to confirm this hypothesis. We conclude that the distribution of ponderosa pines along the west side of the Sierra Nevada has changed little, if any, since 1848.

Land Use, Riparian Vegetation, and Salmon: Historical Changes Along the Alsea and Yaquina Rivers of Oregon, 1952–1994

by Mark M. Van Steeter, 60

Abstract: Historically, the Alsea and Yaquina rivers in the Oregon Coast Range were densely vegetated with diverse riparian areas that supported large runs of salmon. Human disturbance of vegetation along the riparian and adjacent upland areas of these rivers through agriculture and logging has degraded freshwater habitats. This study used aerial photographs and a geographic information system (GIS) to examine changes in woody vegetation in the riparian corridor and adjacent uplands along approximately 50 kilometers of each river between 1952 and 1994. Results show that although there has been an increase in both the area of woody vegetation and average size of contiguous vegetated areas in most land ownership categories along both rivers, populations of coho salmon have declined.

Economic Development and Preservation: The Case of National Parks
by Lay James Gibson and Bryant Evans, 77

Abstract: Environmentalists sometimes overlook the economic consequences of crusades to preserve landscapes, whereas local development interests often assume that preservation spells doom for economic development efforts. A proposed Sonoran Desert National Park in southwest Arizona, especially if linked with one in northern Mexico, would likely generate significant economic benefit to local towns. National parks are important export-oriented industries whose role needs to be understood for effective strategic planning, particularly in the development of gateway communities.

Book Reviews

Roger W. Stump, Boundaries of Faith: Geographical Perspectives on Religious Fundamentalism, 95
Reviewed by Ralph K. Allen

Wanda Hurren, Line Dancing: An Atlas of Geography Curriculum and Poetic Possibilities, 98
Reviewed by Ralph K. Allen

Gary J. Hausladen, Editor, Western Places, American Myths, 101
Reviewed by James Craine

Report on the Sixty-fifth Annual Meeting, 108 (PDF, 28K)

APCG Distinguished Service Award, 110 (PDF, 232K)

APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 111 (PDF, 16K)

Resolutions of the Sixty-fifth Annual Meeting, 112 (PDF, 32K)

Editorial Notes, 115 (PDF, 32K)

Abstracts of Papers Presented, 116 (PDF, 140K)

Articles

Presidential Address: Alaska’s Great Land Experiments by Roger Pearson, 9

Mexican Farm Labor Networks and Population Increase in the Pacific Northwest
by Michael S. McGlade, 28

Abstract: As in many areas of the United States, there has been a rapid increase in the Hispanic population of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The largest contributors to this growth are in-migration from Mexico and California. In general, the areas with the highest population shares of Hispanic origin are in irrigated rural counties. However, the greatest part of the total Hispanic population increase has been in cities, largely consisting of people of Mexican origin. The urban areas experiencing the most rapid growth are near areas of significant, labor-intensive agriculture. Farm labor networks in urban fringe areas tap primarily into rural Mexican communities and the Southwest, bringing mostly people with low levels of human capital. A significant sorting of socioeconomic status is found in metropolitan areas far removed from areas of labor-intensive agriculture, where proportionately smaller Hispanic populations tend to have superior English skills, greater academic achievement, and lower levels of poverty. These metropolitan areas, including Spokane, the Puget Sound, and Eugene, have seen only limited transfers of rural-based poverty. The Mexican-origin population expansion in urban areas, because of its sheer size, is evidence that there are many people moving directly from Mexico to Pacific Northwest cities, circumventing rural residence and farm employment entirely.

The Trouble with Preservation, or, Getting Back to the Wrong Term for Wilderness Protection: A Case Study at Point Reyes National Seashore
by Laura A. Watt, 55

Abstract: How “untrammeled” must a wilderness be at the time it is designated as such? Should the intent behind designating wilderness areas be to protect existing areas that meet the official definition, or to create new ones through management actions? This question is explored by looking at the historical evolution of the Philip Burton Wilderness Area in Point Reyes National Seashore, which gradually has been transformed from a dairy ranching landscape to an apparently pristine wilderness. In the process, the history of human habitation and use of the area has been downplayed or overlooked. This case raises questions about the interplay between considerations of ecological functioning, recreation demands, and simple aesthetics in defining managed wilderness. It also suggests that new terminology for wilderness protection that differentiates between varying degrees of previous human use could help to avoid the erasure of history from preserved natural areas.

Quality of Life in the U.S. States: 1970 and 2000
by Gordon Mulligan and Rachel Burke, 73

Abstract: Social scientists are showing renewed interest in quality of life (QOL) issues at a variety of geographic scales. David Smith’s (1973) study of social well-being across the continental U.S. states is now recognized as being a landmark among the earlier contributions. Using an array of 47 variables spread across six major categories (income, housing, health, education, social disorganization, alienation and participation), Smith attempted to capture the wide diversity of factors that comprise QOL. In this paper, we update Smith’s data set to the present and fully replicate his analysis. We begin by pursuing his initial line of inquiry, computing standard scores for the same six QOL categories and then rank-ordering the states according to both their category-specific and their overall performances. Then we follow Smith’s second line of inquiry, applying well-known multivariate techniques in order to allocate the states to a small number of relatively homogeneous groups. A remarkable degree of QOL stability—both in the state rankings and in the state groupings—is our main finding, although there are cases of exceptional change. The correlation coefficient between state-level QOL in 1970 and state-level QOL in 2000 is remarkably high (r = 0.872), although the degree of stability is much higher in some QOL categories (income and housing) than in others (social disorganization, alienation and participation). Based on the overall standard scores—capturing QOL performance across all 47 variables—the biggest state losers (e.g., Arizona and California) were generally found in the nation’s Southwest and Midwest, and the biggest state winners (e.g., North Carolina and Vermont) were generally found in the nation’s Northeast and South.

“Bowling for Dollars”: Economic Conflicts and Challenges in Contemporary Cuba
by Edward L. Jackiewicz, 98

Abstract: This paper has two primary and interrelated objectives. The first is to examine how the very nature of Cuban society has been instrumental in the fractured perseverance of socialism in Cuba. The second objective is to assess the impact of “dollarization” (the legalization of the US dollar) on social and political relations. The social relations that were fostered during the “high period” of socialism in Cuba have been challenged like never before during the “Special Period,” placing extreme pressures on the Socialist state. Oddly enough, capitalist-inspired remedies such as the hyper-development of tourism, the legalization of the dollar, and an emergent self-employment sector have dramatically altered the social landscape of the country while providing economic stability and, in turn, helping to preserve the government. In addition to providing stability, these policies have also generated new social conflicts or divides such as those between people who possess or can access dollars and those who cannot. While this paper avoids any hasty predictions about the future of Cuba, it does hope to broaden the dialogue by incorporating certain societal elements that are unique to this island nation and often absent from discussions about the future of Cuba.

Regional Dependence on Tourism: The Significance of Seasonality
by Lay James Gibson and Bryant Evans, 112

Abstract: Seasonal swings in employment and income flows can have significant implications for the economic health of regions. Resource-based industries such as forestry, agriculture, and outdoor recreation are notorious for being highly seasonal and for underutilizing both human resources and hard infrastructure during periods of the year. The development of a ski area housed within an Indian Reservation in east-central Arizona has helped reduce seasonal swings in demand for locally available goods by enhancing opportunities for winter tourism. This paper looks at winter tourism in general and skiing-driven tourism in particular. It also underscores the role and importance of the ski area on the region’s economy as well as how it is connected to the close but generally under appreciated relationship that exists between the Indian and non-Indian communities. Findings indicate that additional investments in the ski area would likely leverage existing investments and support income growth throughout the region. These findings are intended to inform policy makers who are asked to increase public investment in the ski resort.

Essay: Our Intellectual Heritage from the End of the First and the Beginning of the Second Millennia
by Donald F. Lynch, 128

Abstract: A thousand revolutions of the earth around the sun is but a brief time, given the presumed history of both the earth and solar system. Mentally and scientifically, however, we find this time span to be of enormous length without realizing how we in our minds and most of the inhabitants of the earth today in their way of living still remain in the world of a thousand years ago. Exploration then, as today, was a search for knowledge, for mastery of the earth’s resources, as well as a means of worshiping God’s Creation. I try in this brief presentation to explore what of the world of a thousand years ago remains our heritage today, both in our understanding of the world in which we live and of the questions we ask, and in the mental approach we use. We ask today the same questions, we have today the same disputes, and we travel the same age-old physical and mental routes. Although we may use different words, our modern approaches to the search for knowledge would contain few surprises to the scholars of a thousand years ago, although the results they might find both astounding and iniquitous.

Presidential Plenary Session

The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill
by Roger W. Pearson, 146

Remarks by Walter J. Hickel
by Walter Hickel, 149

Geography—A Sense of Place or a Sense of Price? Or: Walter Hickel in Santa Barbara
by Robert Sollen, 154

The Santa Barbara Oil Spill: A Retrospective
by Keith C. Clarke and Jeffrey J. Hemphill, 157

Book Reviews

Yingnong Xu, The Chinese City in Space and Time: The Development of Urban Form in Suzhou, 163
Reviewed by Yifei Sun

John Walton, Storied Land: Community and Memory in Monterey, 167
Reviewed by Dennis J. Dingemans

Report on the Sixty-fourth Annual Meeting, 171

APCG Distinguished Service Award, 175

APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 176

Resolutions of the Sixty-fourth Annual Meeting, 177

Editorial Notes, 180

Abstracts of Papers Presented, 181

Articles

“I Too of the Wild Hills”: Experience, Meaning, and Place
by Tina Kennedy, 9 (Download PDF file, 11.9 MB)

The Changing Political Landscape of California, 1968 to 2000
by John Heppen, 25 (Download PDF file, 340 K)

This article explores the political geography of California by analyzing regional voting behavior and the nature of the population at the county level from 1968 to 2000. Most methods have recognized three political regions in California: Southern California, Northern California, and the Central Valley. The logic for these regions is based on primary settlement patterns and political cultures. Patterns of Republican vote for president from 1968 to 2000 and the percentage of white population from 1970 to 1998 show that the state may be moving toward two political regions: one consisting of a more racially varied and urban coast; the other a less racially diverse and more rural interior.

Old Traditions, New Lifestyles: The Emergence of a Cal-Ital Landscape
by Jennifer J. Helzer, 49 (Download PDF file, 3.3 MB)

Italian immigrants have long been associated with the development of northern California’s wine industry. Pioneering Italian-American grape growers and viticulturalists successfully adapted old-world winemaking traditions to new lands in many places in northern California. Historically, family-run wineries built their reputations on producing wines closely linked to Italian styles. The popularity of Mediterranean cuisines and cultures has revived interest in Italian grapes such as Sangiovese and Barbera and the production of wines from classic Italian varieties. Today’s northern California winescapes are dotted with Italian surnames that not only suggest traditional roots of pioneering viticulturalists, but also highlight the recent emergence of a new Cal-Ital landscape. Efforts to introduce consumers to Italian-style wines have led to the reinvention and cultural packaging of Italian ethnic landscape signatures and Italian immigrant heritage. My findings suggest that promotion of the Cal-Ital theme is shaping local and regional identity.

Phoenix: The Newest Latino Immigrant Gateway?
by Emily Skop and Cecilia Menjívar, 63 (Download PDF file, 504 K)

The increasing importance of Phoenix as a large urban conglomerate (it is the 6th largest U.S. city) located in a border state and as a receiver of native and immigrant newcomers both contribute to the growing Latino population in the city. The recent influx of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Cubans to the Phoenix metropolitan area has the potential to alter the sociocultural, political, and economic landscapes of this city, and begs the question of whether Phoenix is becoming the newest Latino immigrant gateway. Relying on qualitative, in-depth interviews with 60 recent arrivals over a 2-year period, this research introduces the immigrants and their geography: first, by focusing on patterns of immigration to the Phoenix metropolitan area; and then by describing the immigrants’ novel patterns of settlement and residential behavior in the city.

Water Supply and Climate Change in the Upper Deschutes Basin, Oregon
by M. L. Shelton and Roxane Fridirici, 77 (Download PDF file, 276 K)

Climate change is expected to alter the time and space characteristics of the global hydrologic cycle and to impact regional water supplies. The Upper Deschutes Basin is in one of Oregon’s fastest growing regions, and the increasing population is straining regional water resources. Surface water is fully allocated and increased groundwater use will require careful management to offset seasonal or long-term declines in aquifers or the depletion of stream flow. While altered temperature and precipitation accompanying global change are both concerns, the watershed is more sensitive to changes in precipitation than in temperature. Watershed climate simulation reveals a 25 percent increase in mean monthly runoff, and extremely high monthly runoff is four times more frequent. These changes indicate an increased risk of winter floods, greater spring and summer runoff, and a shift in the occurrence of the minimum runoff month to earlier in the year. Increased potential evapotranspiration, a decrease in the amount of precipitation stored as snow, and changes in the amount and timing of runoff will constrain water development options for humans, agriculture, and regional fisheries. Water restrictions will magnify water-use conflicts in the watershed and increase the risk of regional economic discord.

Flooding and Fragmentation: How Physical Features Structure Political Conflict Over Flood Control in California’s Pajaro Valley
by Keith Douglass Warner, 97 (Download PDF file, 304 K)

The Pajaro River on California’s Central Coast has flooded repeatedly over the past 40 years, causing millions of dollars of flood damages. The original levee system, expanded and rebuilt in 1949 by the U.S. Army, was designed based on insufficient hydrologic data, and local efforts to reconstruct it and maintain the flood channel have been tangled up in interjurisdictional discord. The chief political boundaries between the four counties in the watershed are based on physical features: the river itself and the mountains created by the San Andreas Fault. The four counties in the watershed all have different stakes in flood protection and different geographies of taxation, hobbling efforts to prevent further flooding. The unusual geography of the watershed resists efforts to structure an equitable taxation scheme, further illustrating the problem of managing rivers that serve as political boundaries. Efforts to build consensus about taxation schemes within the basin will likely be more successful if they focus on the ecosystem services provided to the upstream counties by flood control measures in the downstream counties.

Presidential Plenary Session
Geography’s Contribution to Resource Management
by Tina Kennedy, 119 (Download PDF file, 40 K)
Geography’s Covert Operation in Water Resource Management
by Nancy Lee Wilkinson, 121 (Download PDF file, 44 K)
Stewarding the Earth: Commentary on Resource and Environmental Geographies in the West
by Les Rowntree, 128 (Download PDF file, 68 K)
Famine and Famine Early Warning: Some Contributions by Geographers
by Charles F. Hutchinson, 139 (Download PDF file, 56 K)

Book Reviews

Peter Russell, Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’: A Life
rev. by William A. Koelsch, 145 (Download PDF file, 44 K)

Sonia P. Juvik and James O. Juvik (eds.), Atlas of Hawai‘i (third edition)
rev. by Antonia Hussey, 152 (Download PDF file, 28 K)

Martin Kenney (ed.), Understanding Silicon Valley: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial Region
rev. by Dennis J. Dingemans, 155 (Download PDF file, 32 K)

James G. Moore, Exploring the Highest Sierra
rev. by Michael Swift, 159 (Download PDF file, 32 K)

Ronald G. Knapp, China’s Old Dwellings
rev. by Antonia Hussey, 164 (Download PDF file, 32 K)

Reports

Report on the Sixty-third Annual Meeting, 168 ( Download PDF file, 28 K)
APCG Distinguished Service Award, 170 (Download PDF file, 636 K)
APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 172 (Download PDF file, 16 K)
Resolutions of the Sixty-third Annual Meeting, 173 (Download PDF file, 24 K)
Editorial Notes, 175 (Download PDF file, 32 K)
Abstracts of Papers Presented, 177 (Download PDF file, 148 K)

Articles

Taking a Moment to Bask in Our Past: Six Decades of APCG and AAG Presidential Addresses
by Robin E. Datel, 9 (Download PDF file, 176K)

Natural and Human Factors in Recent Central Valley Floods
by Roxane Fridiric and M. L. Shelton, 53 (Download PDF file, 252K)

The Towns that Coal Built: The Evolution of Landscapes and Communities in Southern Colorado
by John L. Keane, 70 (Download PDF file, 3.7M!)

A Comparison of Attitudes and Knowledge about the Endangered Species Act
by Jeffrey D. Hackel, 95 (Download PDF file, 76K)

Presidential Plenary Session: Studying, Teaching, and Serving Your Locality in a Globalizing World
by Robin E. Datel, 112 (Download PDF file, 288K)
Studying Ethnic Patterns in Local Areas, by James P. Allen, 115
Guidebooks as Community Service, by Paul Groth, 122
A Seat at the Table: Geographers and the Formulation of Environmental Policy, by Philip R. Pryde, 137

Book Reviews (Download PDF file, 92K)

Gary Brechin, Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
rev. by Dennis J. Dingemans, 144

William W. Speth, How It Came To Be: Carl O. Sauer, Franz Boas, and the Meanings of Anthropogeography
rev. by Robert Hoffpauir, 147

Hilgard O’Reilly Sternberg, A Agua e o Homem na Várzea do Careiro
rev. by C. Gary Lobb, 152

Paul Farmer, Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues
rev. by Terry Simmons, 155

Report on the Sixty-second Annual Meeting, 158 (Download PDF file, 244K)

Abstracts of Papers Presented, 167 (Download PDF file, 156K)

Roxane Fridiric and M. L. Shelton
The Central Valley historically has been flood-prone, but the construction of extensive flood-control facilities and the development of flood-management strategies have attempted to minimize damage. Simultaneously, land-use changes and regional population increases have placed more people and property at risk. In 1986 and 1997, powerful subtropical storms delivered heavy rainfall to watersheds draining into the Central Valley, resulting in widespread and destructive flooding. In 1998, there was acute concern that El Niño-related precipitation patterns would create floods as extensive and expensive as those in earlier years. Heavy rains in 1998 drenched much of northern and central California, causing flooding along many rivers, but as flood damage and mudslides occurred throughout the state, the Central Valley remained virtually free of major flooding. Precipitation, snowpack, and stream discharge, in conjunction with water management and land-use decisions, are examined as they relate to the destructive 1986 and 1997 floods, and the absence of Central Valley flooding in 1998. Flooding resulted from heavy precipitation in 1986 and 1997, but the timing and spatial characteristics of precipitation and the performance of flood control facilities exacerbated the flood conditions. Despite early concerns, the 1998 El Niño-related precipitation produced little flooding in the Central Valley.

John L. Keane
Geographers have long taken interest in communities created for intensive exploitation of natural resources. More recently, geographers have looked at these “landscapes of production” after the resource is exhausted. Do these communities maintain themselves afterward? How? The literature has identified three alternative fates for mining towns in the United States that exhausted their primary resource during the late 1800s and early 1900s: prompt abandonment; slow, stubborn decline; or post-industrial survival by repackaging and marketing their old landscapes. Lacking is a comprehensive view of the specific factors that might promote the long-term sustainability of these resource-extraction communities. This paper examines a former coal-mining region in southern Colorado to see how its post-mining landscape fits into the patterns previously identified in the geographic literature. Historical census data, regional and corporate histories, historical photographs, and site visits were used to reconstruct the evolving mining community landscapes. Several very different kinds of factors appear to be likely predictors of community sustainability. The relative geographic dispersal or concentration of the resource exploited, as well as the location of subsequent resource processing and use, appear to be profoundly important. Multiple versus single controlling companies and capital sources may be another key variable. Finally, a community may be more likely to outlive its mines if the community’s built environment or cultural landscape provides inhabitants more and different meaning than that provided by the oppressively hegemonic landscapes of the most rigorously controlled “company towns.”

James P. Allen
Geographers have much to offer local communities. Other academics and the public are eager to see maps of and learn about their locality. Because making maps is the one distinctive thing that geographers do, it makes sense for geography departments to produce an abundance of local area maps covering a range of topics relevant to people’s lives. The second task is to learn as much as possible so as to be able to explain the patterns on the map in nonacademic publications and in talks to local audiences. I provide examples of local area map-making, research, and teaching on ethnic populations, an especially hot topic in my locality, greater Los Angeles.

Paul Groth
Two very traditional geographical skills–providing written guides to local places, and conducting architectural resource surveys–are often overlooked as genuine services that geography departments can offer to residents of ordinary sections of nearby communities. A self-guided student tour of the city, using a photocopied class guidebook and following a single city bus line, has proven an effective way to interest students in the American center city in general, and in Oakland, California, in particular. Student research about the city, and volunteering for urban service, have increased substantially among students who have taken a half-day cross-sectional tour of the city. Similarly, a Caltrans-funded survey of workers’ cottages in the West Oakland neighborhood has had surprising uses for community activism and preservation. In addition to “how-to” and “what-not-to-do” hints, these two case studies explore a cultural landscape approach to the city, Grady Clay’s cross-sectional study techniques, and social-class analysis of houses whose exteriors seem to be very much alike but whose interior floor plans reveal sharp cultural divides.

Philip R. Pryde
It is unfortunate that many geographers, in the course of their academic career, interact very little with their local or regional communities. Yet this kind of interaction can have very positive pay-backs for the geographer, his or her department, and the community at large. The most common form of interaction today may be funded projects, particularly those that are GIS related, but an individual’s geographic expertise can be applied to community issues in a great many other ways as well. Ways of establishing “expertise” within the community are numerous, ranging from writing op-ed pieces for newspapers, to volunteering for citizen advisory groups, to getting to know some of the local elected officials. Once a geographer has established expertise in some aspect of community or regional affairs, a strong synergistic effect is possible between their academic classes, their research, and the relevant community agencies and organizations.