Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Desert land-uses now are vastly different than in the 1800s, yet the laws remain nearly
unchanged. In particular, the balance of export and local use has changed, with explosive
implications for sustainable development in North America's deserts, and throughout the
American West.
16.5 Amenity Migrants and Resource Refugees
Today, more than 13.5 million people live in the four main desert Southwest states (Arizona,
Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah). Of these, almost 83% have moved there since the Second
World War; in the single decade between 1990 and 2000, Arizona's population grew over
66%.* The trend is even more pronounced in Southwestern cities: about 3.5 million live in
El Paso, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson today; almost 99% of them arrived
since World War II (see Malloy, this volume).
Few of these settlers make a living directly from the land; most newcomers, even in rural
areas, own parcels closer in size to large suburban lots than to the vast spreads claimed by
historic owners. More often than not they own only surface rights, the minerals beneath
them split off and held by others. Many “subsurface” or mineral owners are absentee or
corporate; their identities, in states like New Mexico, are deliberately kept secret and “pro-
prietary,” preventing surface owners from knowing who has dominant rights over their
homes. Small lots offer little room to accommodate extractive industry. Secrecy and philo-
sophical differences inflame the inevitable clashes.
The West's postwar settlers include large cadres who have been termed “amenity
migrants”
6
because they choose their homes primarily based on quality of life. Many are
retirees, free to live wherever they can afford. Employed amenity migrants tend to have jobs
that are portable, digital, and/or entrepreneurial. Amenity migrants are not tourists, but
choose to live in places, including deserts, that also attract tourism by their beauty, climate,
cultural associations, and relatively low densities of development. Amenity migration has
brought a new and influential demographic into the desert heart of extractive-resource
c ou nt r y.
Amenity migration entails many contradictions. Although not tourists, they are often
mistaken for tourists by established residents (and even some academics). Some amenity
migrants are back-to-the-land types, knowledgeable and committed about sustainability.
Their jobs (and/or retirement income) have positive economic impacts, while their gen-
uinely land-based lifestyles have relatively few environmental impacts. Other amenity
migrants, however, are looking for high-style living in the country. This is a resource-
consumptive lifestyle that contributes to rising global demand for resources.
Amenity residents of both kinds hold values that conflict with local resource extrac-
tion. They set high value on healthy and scenic lands, and look unfavorably on industrial
land-uses in their communities. Yet a host of rather recent technologies supports amenity
migrants: cars allow them to live far from sources of supply; air conditioners keep climate
at bay; communication systems make remote living (and working) safer and simpler than
*
U.S. Census, compiled per state 1790-2007 by InformationPlease, online at http://www.infoplease.com/
(accessed August 12, 2011). The page specific to demographics is http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004986.
html (accessed August 12, 2011).
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