Grand Canyon Semester 2015 @grandcanyonsemester2015 - Tumblr Blog

Beautiful video featuring GCS! Check it out!

Returning

Belated update: we’re back! GCS ended our river trip on November 23rd at Diamond Creek, river mile 226.

How was it? How’d it go? There have been a lot of these questions floating around, it seems to be what people want to know.

The short answer: It was good, so good--the kind of well-rounded, nurturing, challenging, affirming, beautiful good that can happen on long wanders in the wilderness.

The river did its work. And I am immensely grateful.

That’s the short answer, my answer. And I can only speak for myself. In the last few weeks of the semester we’ll draw back together to demob gear, clean boats, wash the silt from our clothes, work on research projects, take care of each other and ourselves, reintegrate, remember, unwind our stories. We’re off the river but the trip is far from over.

Much love!

Alyssa

#grandcanyonsemester2015

Rigging boats at Lees Ferry. Launching in the morning. 17 days. 226 miles. Into the heart of Grand Canyon National Park.

Trailer Tetris!

And more packing...

More packing...

Packing!

20 dozen eggs, 300+ apples, 16 lbs tempeh, 17 lbs coffee, 38 lbs cheese, an ungodly amount of peanut butter...

Dry rigging boats in the Prescott College warehouse: 1 o' 6

The Core the the Milky Way

And other moments from the circumnavigation.

Photo credit to Becca Flesh

More notes and drawings!

Courtesy of the lovely, talented Brigitte.

Park Week Begins!

This week GCS is back on the South Rim working closely with NPS to learn about the inner workings of the park and some of the main challenges in the region. Today, we met with folks from NPS and USGS and started to delve into topics such as environmental planning process and public engagement, the current and future state of the Grand Canyon Backcountry Management Plan, backcounty permitting systems, the ever-changing state of the Colorado River and the Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP), and the CRMP Rapid Assessment River Project that we’ll be involved with while on our river trip.

Tomorrow we’ll be focusing on wildlife in the canyon and participating in a project with Hawkwatch International. There are a lot of issues in the park, and I would encourage all visitors to be active and involved with influencing how YOUR parks are managed and what they’ll look like in the future.

Remember that the first step is getting informed! We’ll be posting updates on current issues, so check back in. For now, here’s a great resource for learning about what’s going on in parks across the country, and what projects are open for public comment. What’s happening in your backyard?

The Painted Desert Project

Chip Thomas is an activist, artist, and doctor on the Navajo Reservation. In 2009 he started the Painted Desert Project, a self-funded public art project. Since then the PDP has expanded and brought local, national, and international artists together, turning the Navajo Nation into a hotspot for ephemeral public art.

If you happen to be in the area and want to find some of Chip’s art, here’s a map of installation locations. They’re all over the Reservation and here in Flagstaff, and worth seeking out as a way of learning about current events and issues in the region.

This piece is recent installation that’s a commentary on the Flagstaff Snowbowl, a ski resort on the Kachina Peaks (San Francisco Peaks) that has been making snow from reclaimed waste water. The Peaks are a sacred site for over 13 local tribes, and the snow manufacturing has been an unforgivable insult to the tribes and their culture. Here’s an article that Chip wrote about the installation, and here’s some more information about the initiative to protect the peaks.

-Alyssa

GCS hits the town.

As much as I love being in the field, there’s something wonderful and nurturing about a day in town. Time to nestle down in a coffee shop, do some research, and let the last few weeks settle in—and to begin turning them into some tangible expression—was much needed and definitely timely. Nothing like some beet-apple-carrot-ginger-cinnamon juice, chocolate, studying, invigorating conversation, and fall weather to get back on track and feeling better.

-Alyssa

Field Research with the Grand Canyon Trust!

Earlier in the week we had the privilege of working with Grand Canyon Trust on a rangeland restoration research project on their grazing allotments up on the North Rim. It was a rad few days of learning about the trust, contributing to the work they’re doing, and getting to know the landscape on a much more intimate level. The Trust is made up of a bunch of wonderfully dedicated and vivacious folks and it was great to learn from them.

We’re still working on a longer piece about our time with GCT, but check out their blog in the mean time! And while you’re at it, take a look at some of the other critically important work they are doing.

http://www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/tackling-cheatgrass-north-rim-lands

-Alyssa

Photo credit to GCT, AY