The opening plenary address for the 33rd Natural Areas Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona was given by Dr. Thomas Sisk, Professor of Ecology at Northern Arizona University. Dr. Sisk’s inspiring talk is excerpted here for the benefit of those who could not attend the conference.

Welcome to the Colorado Plateau, a gigantic uplifted plateau that extends north into southern Wyoming, east to the Colorado Rockies, and west into the Basin and Range region of Nevada. My hope is that we can see the Colorado Plateau as a helpful case study, a microcosm that allows us to see the many tangled threads of nature and of human natures that have created a world where we are needed to help redefine the role of stewards and rediscover and refine the knowledge and understanding that have sustained human civilizations through difficult times in the past. It is a big country, full of stories… and many of the stories are riddled with paradox.

So what is the Colorado Plateau? Geologically, it is distinct, a visible biogeographic unit. And at 130,000 square miles, depending where you draw the lines, it is a hefty chunk of the continent, a little smaller than Germany. Much is laid open to view; the folds in the Earth’s crust, the down-cutting of water on stone, the adaptations of plants and animals to a highly variable, mostly arid, climate. Biologically, it is diverse, with high levels of endemism, and high beta diversity across varied landscapes. Culturally, it is rich, with over half the native language speakers of our country residing on its mesas, in its broad valleys and steep-walled canons. Yet it is the least populated area of our country, with an average of 9 people per square mile (compared to about 45 per square mile for Arizona, and 612 in similarly sized Germany). It is a land that is loved by all who see it, but known to most from only a few visits. It can be a harsh landscape, and often appears so to the visitor from wetter, cooler climes. But it is inviting. It is magnificent. It fuels our imagination and excitement, and it confuses us with paradox.

When contemplating the theme of this conference, we might ask “is the Colorado Plateau part of the ‘New West’ or the ‘Old West’?” We can debate the ‘New’ vs. ‘Old,’ and what each might mean, but I 

We are all familiar with the myth of the West. Much of our national identity is tied up in this myth, with its white hats and black hats, big guns, and tough talk. But to many of the people of the Colorado Plateau, the West is an idea from elsewhere, crafted in theimaginations of people in Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Boston. The West was later packaged for us all by the movie moguls of Hollywood, most of whom sped across the Colorado Plateau in a train, or detoured south through the southern deserts, expressly for the purpose of avoiding the rugged passage across the Colorado Plateau. The West, new or old, is an idea not of this place, but anchored in the idea that the center—or home—is somewhere east of here.

To the Hopi, the longest human inhabitants of the Plateau, this is the center. The Hopi’s ancestors traveled in the cardinal directions to the edges of the land, returning from each migration to the mesas a few dozen miles northeast of Flagstaff. They found the oceans to the south and the north, the east and the west, and when they knew these places, they returned and recognized that this is home. And they have been here for over a thousand years. To the Navajo, this is the upper world, the “Fifth World,” which they entered from below. To the Spanish, this place is el Norte, the north, New Spain, once ruled from a capital in Mexico City. It may be helpful, even useful, to recognize that the concept of this place as the West originated with Americans of northern European ancestry, just one of the many cultures that share this Plateau.

As we focus ourselves on the West, new and old, it is helpful to realize that the stewards of the West are of many backgrounds and traditions. All have been affected by our myth of the old West that emerged from a violent collision of cultures that began in 1492. We might ask if a revision is in order. Is there a new western myth that can replace the old? If the new West perpetuates the idea that the Colorado Plateau,
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