We live in a place of extraordinary natural beauty. Our windows frame landscapes as dramatic as any other art displayed on our walls. Drought has made the power of the desert even more hard-edged. Still, capturing that power behind plate glass diminishes it to two dimensions and deprives us of an experience both intimate and profound. Granted, desert is not a place to be enjoyed when the spring winds wail unless you’ve been considering dermabrasion treatments anyway. Nor is midday in summer the ideal time to explore the desert. Mad dogs and Englishmen might find pleasure in the simmering heat and relentless white-hot light, but I for one am quite attuned to the wisdom of air conditioning. This autumn, as the days develop a crisp edge that dispels summer’s torpor, take the time to probe the desert’s secrets. Look closely at the open space on the mesas, in the foothills, and in the valleys. Notice where rock is a dominant feature, how water and air drain across the surface of the land, how the plants vary with the contours. Patterns emerge.

The wind-swept plateaus support small-leafed, limber-stemmed desert shrubs that survive with little water because they sink roots deep into rocky subsoil and spread shallow roots wide just below the soil surface, mining water from deep in the soil and efficiently capturing rain when the opportunity presents itself. South- and west-facing slopes harbor slightly different plants than do north- and east-facing exposures, and the plants on south slopes may be spaced farther apart, giving each green shoot more surface area to tap for moisture and nutrients. The heat absorbed and reflected by south and west slopes can create a microclimate consistently 10 or more degrees hotter than nearby north- or east-facing ones. Research indicates that some desert plants may even raise the air temperature surrounding themselves slightly, allowing them to inch northward or up slope, adapted to extreme heat but also able to shrug off the sudden spells of cold that climate change is intensifying. As you walk from one slope to another, up one canyon and down another, across flat stretches of open ground into shaded bosque, you will experience firsthand the difference that exposure makes.

 

 

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