Landscraping Prescott

At this point, of course, the hills scraped bare for the Lowe's project are a done deal. Spilt milk. Very yesterday. But they remain visible sores on the land as seen from up the hill behind my house. Not only can I catch a glimpse of the Lowe's debacle, but also the hillside beyond, cut to make room for the super Wal-Mart, plus earlier work to flatten the earth for our first major mall, to the right. But when I moved my camera angle just a tad, the trees now framed a view that includes the new bare ground created to run trucks and supplies for the revamped SR89/SR69 over/underpasses (left, below). I find myself wondering if the folk who are enjoying "forever views" from the ridge tops occasionally see what's happening below. The barrenness will probably last close to forever!

But I think that saddest of all are the sites scraped bare just before the building boom crashed. I'm wondering, for example, about the proposed small shopping center at Willow Creek Road and Gail Gardner Way. At one point, the sign said that a major chain restaurant was to be erected there. No more. I walked through the land the other day, not realizing that there was a no trespassing sign. So arrest me.

Of course, with the economy in the tank, how long do you think it will be until ground is actually broken for a shop or two? Most likely, we'll be stuck for some months (or years?) with the raw earth and plenty of dust blowing about. At this point, I'd prefer seeing buildings, as much as I don't think we need any more retail in our small city.

There were more than a few wild plants on this parcel a couple of years ago. The apache plum at left is just across the property line. But this is dry country. It takes many, many years for such a beautiful bush to develop.

Yet for some strange reason, the developers left this lone pine tree standing in the middle of desolation.

Linkage: If you're like me, you wonder about the safety of cyclists on those recumbent contraptions; carry that concern one notch higher -- The Artful RV blogger found a couple pedaling along in a tandem recumbent with an attached baby carriage. Friend k, down in Florida, has photographs of her amazing hearts of flame now in bloom. Talk about R.E.D.!

The misadventures of Lowe's

On the left, the modest manufactured homes of retirees in Prescott Canyon Estates. To the right, the denuded hillsides that surround the new Lowe's. Not visible from SR69: the built-up embankment between the big box's parking lot and the lower reaches of the subdivision.

That's where a wall lining the embankment gave way in three different locations, damaging one home. As you can imagine, a major civic hoo-rah has ensued. Inasmuch as we are enjoying another major Pacific storm, I would expect a few more tiles to drop in the next couple of days. But then the experts are presumably working to solve this problem. What about those ugly scars?

There's Lowe's, at the left. I wonder how long it will take for moisture to work other wonders on these barren hillsides. Our dry countryside is not desert -- but local plants are are a slow growing lot and the scattered junipers that the hired landscapers have planted look mighty sparse and lonely up there.

Yet the Lowe's folk could score a cheap public relations coup simply by spending a several thou on California poppy seed and covering those hillsides with blossoms this spring.

A few intense patches of bear grass here and there, interspersed with major plantings of cliff rose, sun flower and Apache plume would help, as would greater generosity in the number of junipers. Just contrast the landscape junipers with those in the untouched hillside below. Oh -- I guess some scrubby little turbinela oaks would fit in this as well.

But do pass the word to the Lowe's landscapers: plenty of California poppy seeds this year. It would cheer everybody up remarkably.

Commentary on Comments: It's always great when a post inspires readers to drop by with their comments. Especially when the subject is highly local -- and the commentators are old-timers who contribute new insights, as is happening to the notes I made about the "Empties on Miller Valley". Scroll down to read the latest! And, BTW, if you've never made a comment, don't be shy -- I'd love to hear from readers in Aliso Viejo and Tampa and Bradner and Las Vegas and Vienna, as well as anyone or everyone else!

Protecting the Granites

When bro & I visited the WalMart yesterday, we noticed the bright white of a picket fence going up and down amongst the granites behind the shopping center.

Very likely protecting pricey housing sites from (ugh!) nasty commercial operations and the hoi polloi, who might try to scale the vertically cut rocks.

Just for the record, here's the broader picture of the heights vs. the world of the common man. The maroon-roofed white buildings in the mid-ground are medical offices, BTW. No, I don't know who was here first, whether it was the merchants or the residents. I'm one who has little sympathy with people who buy near the airport and then complain about the noise, tho I certainly would understand if folks, who built a house and later had to endure a shopping center popping up next door, were a bit unhappy.

For All Us Map Freaks: There's this site called Strange Maps which has, among other oddities, a map of UFO sightings in the USA. Just so you are aware -- the incidence of sightings of alien craft is higher in the western states than back east or in the south ... does this tells us something?

The Verde Headwaters

A friend at the Citizens Water Advocacy Group asked me to blog about local rivers yesterday. It was a day on which many bloggers celebrated the environment; I chose the Upper Verde, an area I came to love over the years -- and an area that could well dry up to accommodate the demand for water as population piles into the Prescott region. My computer balked; now that my software has been tamed, I can continue....

The dam at Sullivan Lake. This is the spot where the Verde River officially starts, give or take a few feet. There's a small, narrow canyon at this point. Upstream, the same watercourse is called the Big Chino Wash; at one time in history, it, too, was a running stream.

A mile or so downstream, the canyon deepens and widens...

...revealing a grassy bottomland spread...

...with a line of deciduous trees in the background. These trees mark the spot where the springs begin...

...filling what has come to be called Stillman Lake. My late husband and I walked and climbed this area many times during the late 80s and early 90s. For many, many years, this was a favorite playground for outdoor type families from Chino Valley. The land to the south was still ranch land; it has since been developed. Access was primarily by climbing down one of the little side canyons. For the record, these pictures were taken June 3, 1991; I say this because of the surprising amount of water in the lake (and in June, a dry month.) In visits in later years, it seemed to us that the water level had fallen.

We first ventured down into the canyon from the north rim when we spotted what I always called the "monkey" petroglyphs. Obviously, early Amerinds found this to be a bonnie locale!

We found that there was almost always a signature glyph at the sites we visited over the years. In this case, it was the pregnant deer. Most striking was the glyph above; the art below was placed for visibility from the rim and difficult to photograph. I believe that there is a third preggers animal, but couldn't find any photos in our archives.

The Stillman Lake area is located within a large swath of state land (see map here). It and some parcels downstream have come under management by Arizona Fish and Game, including most of the final mile of Granite Creek as it joins the Verde. F&G is restocking its holdings with native fish; one has to hope that their actions are not in vain. Everybody should take a long look at the Upper Verde before it's too late.

Environmental Tuesday? sheoflittlebrain has proposed that bloggers devote their Tuesday posts to the environment. If that includes my assorted critters and wildflowers, I'll go along with the idea! Anyone else?

All Politics Is Local

That's the saying to explain why Americans are, generally, down on Congress but mostly happy with their own congress critters. However, the crowd dressed in black at the Square on Friday was there to protest what they see as arrogance on the part of the county board. The issue: widening Williamson Valley Road from two to five lanes. There were signs aplenty.

Highlight of the rally: the announcement that the Friends of Williamson Valley are filing a complaint against all three county supervisors, accusing them of ignoring the General Plan, which does not include the big road widening project. Guess which people on the steps comprise the FWV board members and which is the lawyer.

My position? I'm for anything that will slow creeping Californication of Yavapai County -- especially the back country, what's left of it. Way to go, Georgene!

Another Day, Another Hillside

"Hey, hon," says the Phoenician to his wife, "it's too hot down here. Let's go up to the mountains to cool off." "Good idea," says the wife. "We can get away from Sprawlsville. It's a lot prettier up in Prescott."

So they make the big mistake of heading up I-17. To be greeted with Ranch this, Antelope that, Quail the other. Everywhere, new houses. Bulldozers. Denuded hillsides. Prescott's own contribution to this scene of destruction: one more ridge (above) getting the treatment.

The warning sign comes when the water tank is first installed. Keeps the dust down. EPA, you know.

Actually, the shock of one more hill being gouged out in the name of big box retailing is worse when you head east from Prescott.

Home improvement, yes. Hometown improvement, questionable. And how many $mil is Lowe's getting in subsidies from the same city fathers who couldn't bring themselves to buy the Dalke property to save it as open space?

Son-in-law noted that the contractor's name can be read, "A mes(s)."

Here is the hole in all its glory. There isn't even a basalt layer or two to hold the ugly cut together -- it looks like the dirt is sliding down as fast as those machines scoop it out.

And to think that one might have bought a small retirement home over on that hillside. My husband had the right idea; he almost always drove up SR89 -- the White Spar Road -- into Prescott. The mountain curves scare many flatlanders, but you arrive in Prescott through the national forest, without a single reminder that there are serious people out there trying to turn our town into one more extension of the California that other people are running away from.

Mucking Up the Mountainside

The rise in this picture is the lower, Southeast slope of our very own volcano, Glassford Hill. For most of my years in Prescott, it was a pleasant small mountain, clean, with no man-mades to ruin the prospect. No longer. Prescott Valley can't grow fast enough for its city fathers. So what's wrong with a car dealer up on the mountainside. Good way to get noticed. Especially at night, when the place is all lit up. In fact, it is so bright that a friend and my daughter, independently, call it The Mother Ship. Truly garish, it is.

In contrast: this huge hillside apartment complex which matches the basalt outcroppings and almost looks as if it might be a monastery. The architect or builder should be congratuated for restraint, tho I'm told that at night, when the tenants all are home from work, the lights do come on.

Nearby, a sight that truly makes me shudder -- blades lined up cheek by jowl on both sides of SR69, California-style, ready to flatten more mountain for more shopping center. Just what we need -- lots of sales tax for the government and low-pay retail jobs for the subjects. BTW, I'm not ranting -- just commenting. But take a read of former PV councilman Tom Steele's blog, The Truth Prescott Valley. Might well get your juices worked up. And while I'm on the subject of PV, Steve Words had something to say about a concert at the new arena over east of Glassford Hill.

Local Link of the Day

Read it and weep! Sunday's AZ Republic featured an article predicting/saying/warning that Phoenix is on the march north and south, to finally stretch from the Mexican border through Tucson and on up toward Prescott. No mention of Ashfork. Maybe it's time to invest in one of those el cheapo 40-acre parcels with no water up in Juniper Woods! Sell it to several Californians.