Sometimes it’s hard to “leave what you find.” Physical objects are inherently very meaningful to humans. This project attempts to subdue the intense (but ultimately patriarchal) desire to take things out of the environment by utilizing ritual practice and an ecology of caring.
This project recognizes the harms of leaving a physical mark on the land. The goal is to develop an alternative method of mark making to address the issue of vandalism at Bears Ears National Monument.
Biotic soil crust is disproportionately vital to the stability of the overall desert ecosystem. Humans account for the most frequent disturbances.
We can document the accumulation of wear on an exhibit of pillow-like objects through interactions, gathering imprints and scuffs on their surfaces. This a proxy for how compaction in volumes is detrimental to the desert, even if it’s unintentional.
The area of Cedar Mesa is home to many important and beautiful sites. Friends of Cedar Mesa helps protect this area with the help of hundreds of volunteers. This project is about taking a look into how to help facilitate the efforts of everyone who cares about this area.
Women’s stories have often been neglected from our history of the American Southwest. Women are not often the subjects of stories we tell of the Wild West nor are they the storytellers. I hypothesize that incorporating stories of women and from women can change the way we see this landscape and help us gain a greater sense of responsibility for it.
Bears Ears National Monument is a large area that has breathtaking landscapes, numerous archaeological sites and little to no infrastructure. This project aims to uplift indigenous voices, protect the landscape, and guide visitors safely around the park through ranger station outposts, local art, as well as park and district threshold markers.
Can natural garments protect the land we love? This project explores the potential of traditional textile production within the the Bears Ears monument combined with sustainable modern industrial processing.
As more people get out and enjoy the outdoors, our natural resources have begun to dwindle. When the proper care isn’t taken, these remaining resources can be completely destroyed. One of the biggest contributors of this destruction is the campfire. I am seeking to design and create a more effective, lightweight, and low impact product for campfire use in the backcountry.
There is an opportunity to teach children the visit with respect principles through means of encouragement and experience. Teaching these principles to children could encourage them to visit with respect in other locations and in their future. I aim to create this through an interactive platform.
What if a backpacker could enjoy a hot meal and then use the food packaging as contribution to fuel for heating their next meal? This package would have to be food safe, burn safe (for wood burning backpacking stoves), lightweight, compact, able to withstand boiling water in it for 20 minutes, and delightful to eat out of. The goal of this project is to eliminate food-packaging waste for backpackers.
The leave no trace principles are a preservation guide for the community of animals and people who share the landscape. My design will solve the difficulties to “pack out what you pack in” with a backpacking friendly compost system to carry out food waste, biodegradable packaging and supplies.
How might we facilitate Visit with Respect principles through the gear we bring to the outdoors? This project is an exploration of how we can improve the W.A.G. bag (waste alleviation and gelling bag) to make leaving human excrement in our monuments a thing of the past.
Understanding volunteering as a whole requires the consideration of numerous situational, dispositional, and demographic variables. Because of these variables a lot of individuals don’t have the means to volunteer for bears ears. The opportunity is to design an inclusive volunteering platform for Friends of Cedar Mesa that will offer a large variety of opportunities in which the community and others around the world can become engage.