Chapter 18: Hawaii

     Arizona is probably the most opposite state of Hawaii.  Their topography, their climate, their agriculture, and their population are far from similar.  However, both Hawaii and Arizona are both under heavy government land ownership.  Roughly half of all land in Hawaii is government owned, with the state, not the federal government, controlling 80 percent of that land.  Most of it is in the agriculturally less desirable portions of the islands, and the bulk is in forest reserves and conservation districts.  Most federal lands are primarily in national parks on the Big Island and Maui, or in military holdings on Oahu and Kahoolawe. (http://countrystudies.us/united-states/geography-23.htm)

     This map of land ownership in Arizona shows that most of the land is under government control.  The red being the only privately owned land in the state.  The white represents federal land, the blue state land, and the brown, a major portion, tribal land.

Chapter 16: The North Pacific Coast

     Stretching from northern California to southern Alaska, the North Pacific Coast has little in common with the region's physiology.  The region is home to several plateau's including the Snake River Plateau, and river systems, which, like Arizona's, are major resources in the production of hydroelectric power.  Begun two years after the start of construction of the Hoover Dam and also under the autorization of Roosevelt, the Coulee Dam was built for the production of hydroelectric power and irrigation, impounding water from the Columbia River with a flow volume larger than the Mississippi River.  It has become the largest electric-power producing facility in the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Coulee_Dam).  The regions high precipitation and rugged topography provide the North Pacific Coast with a hydroelectric potential power unlike anywhere else in America.  Forty percent of the US's potential is contained in Oregon and Washington alone (Regional Landscapes of the US and Canada [textbook])

     Like Arizona, the region was home to a relatively large Native American population prior to European settlement.  The Native Americans of the region were provided with a plentiful supply of deer, berries, roots, shellfish, and salmon.  Unlike the Native Americans of Arizona and the rest of the southwestern and eastern regions of the United States, Native American tribes of the North Pacific Coast were unable to form an organized opposition because of each tribe's isolation.  This led to their quick and quite disappearance. (http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080618212828eaifas5.130512e-02.html)

Chapter 15: California

(The Colorado River diving California and Arizona)

     California and Arizona are similar in many ways.  Both share a border with Mexico, contributing to their large Mexican population.  Both their agriculture relies heavily on irrgated water.  California and Arizona also share the water that borers them.

(Parker Dam, Arizona)

 

     The Colorado River is a major source for both California and Arizona.  Much of  southern California's drinking water comes from the Colorado River Aqueduct, which also provides water for central Arizona.  Along the Colorado River are several dams that utilize the water for hydroelectric power for both Arizona and California.  The dams most contributing to California's power are the Hoover, the Imperial, and the Parker Dams. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Arizona#Rivers)

     California also helps Arizona out in a big way.  Arizona receives 60% of its gasoline the Arizona's West Line that runs from Los Angeles to Phoenix.  It takes 7 days for a gallon of gasoline to reach Phoenix through the West Line. (http://www.azgovernor.gov/estf/distribution.pdf)

    

Chapter 14: The Southwest Border Area

     Stretching from Southern California's Pacific Coast to Texas' Gulf Coast, completely engulfing the state of Arizona, the Southwest Border Area is a diverse culture region of coexisting Spanish American, American Indian, and Anglo cultures.  Both Native American and Spanish cultures have coexisted in much of the area since the arrival of the Spanish at the end of the 16th century before the immigration of Anglo cultures in the 19th century. (http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080618211737eaifas0.8352472.html)

     Large-scale Anglo settlement was most likely discouraged well into the 19th century because of Arizona and it's surrounding regions' dry, arid climate.  This ensured that a large number of Native Americans remained in the area.  The largest tribes of the region are found in Arizona: the Navajo in the Four Corners Region, where the states of Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico meet, the Apache, the Papago in southern Arizona, and the Hopi in northwestern Arizona. (http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080618211737eaifas0.8352472.html)

     Despite it's climate, the region continues to boom in population.  Arizona was the third most rapidly growing U.S. state on a percentage basis in the 1980s, following only Nevada and Alaska.  All of the region's states during this period grew at a rate well above the national average. The city of Phoenix has doubled in size several times since 1950.  Since 2000, Arizona's population has increased by almost 27%.  Phoenix, the largest populated capital in the United States, grew 31% in population from 2000 to 2008.  It is now the 6th largest city in the United States. (http://phoenix.about.com/cs/living/a/census01_2.htm)

Chapter 13: The Empty Interior

     The Empty Interior of the US stretches from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains west to the Sierra Nevada of California, the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the Coast Mountains of British Columbia.  The name "Empty Interior" is derived from the areas low population density across its space.  Arizona is completely encompassed by the Empty Interior.

     The terrain of the Empty Interior is much more rugged than that of the eastern United States.  Younger mountain ranges result in higher elevations and more pointy, rugged peaks.  Glacial carving also played a major role in the western Interior's topography. (http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080618210046eaifas0.9248011.html)

     The Empty Interior is home to more plateaus than mountains.  The Colorado Plateau encompasses half of Utah and nearly half of Arizona's total land.  

 

     A substantial part of America's total national park system is found in the interior West, including such famous parks as Yellowstone, Glacier, and Arizona's Grand Canyon.  But the national parks are only a small portion of the total public land area.  The largest share of these lands is held by the Bureau of Land Management, a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which puts this land to many uses, grazing being the most important.  The bureau has also been the main agent in the construction of irrigation and hydroelectric dams in the area.  Arizona is home to some of the most complex irrigation systems and hydroelectric dams.  Over 80 percent of the water from these federally supported projects is used to irrigate over 4 million hectares.  (http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080618210046eaifas0.9248011.html)

Chapter 12: The Great Plains and Prairies

     Grasslands in northern Arizona are actually closely related to the Great Plains. The vegetation of this section is usually thought of as being the western extension of the short-grass plains that occupy a region just east of the Rocky Mountains.   

     About 30 years ago, grasslands covered nearly 25 percent of the state.  But invasion by plant species from other proximate vegetation associations may have reduced the area covered by grasslands.  Arizona has three types of grassland: mountain meadow, plains and desert. Mountain meadow grasslands are scattered throughout the spruce-fir and montane forests at elevations ranging from 7,500 to 10,000 ft. The plains grassland extends southwest into Arizona where it grows mostly in the northeast as nearly uninterrupted ground cover between 5,000 and 7,000 ft.  The desert grassland is principally in southeastern Arizona between about 3,000 to 5,000 ft. (http://southwest.library.arizona.edu/azso/body.1_div.4.html)

Chapter 11: The Agricultural Core

     The Agricultural Core's environmental conditions make the area best suited for the production of corn.  Corn was also once a reliable food source for Native Americans living in Arizona.  Evidence of the first farmers in the region has been found in the rich alluvial valleys of Cochise County dating from around 2,000 BC.  At this time, corn or maize was first domesticated as a reliable food source. Ancient corn had separately sheathed kernels in a husk, attached to a small cob. Acceptance and cultivation of this ancestor of corn transformed human social and economic life from hunting and gathering to farming and trading. The simultaneous introduction of beans, chili and squash, along with corn, provided complete nutrition for early man. (http://southwest.library.arizona.edu/azso/body.1_div.1.html)

(Cotton Farm in Arizona)

     Despite its dry climate, agriculture is still a $9.2 billion industry, its top commodities being luttuce, cotton, and hay.  Arizona makes enough cotton a year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in the US.  So if you're wearing pants, thank Arizona.  Arizona is also a valuable source of cattle and dairy goods, it being their most valuable farm product. (http://www.agclassroom.org/kids/stats/arizona.pdf)