Prose by Gregory McNamee
Photos by Stephen Strom
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The American plant geographer Forrest Shreve spent years trying to work out a satisfactory explanation of just what constitutes a desert. “It is impossible,” he concluded regretfully, “to define desert in terms of a single characteristic, just as truly as it is impossible to differentiate species by such a procedure.” He went on to suggest at least a few features that distinguish deserts from other places: irregular and modest rainfall, the low level of moisture in the soil, the swift winds and correspondingly high evaporation rate of surface waters, the land’s poorly developed drainage systems, the widely spaced plant life, and rocky or sandy ground. Mudhills and desert brush, Cottonwood Canyon, Utah |
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Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural
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