Course Description

Preferred Meeting Times:

Day, time and location To Be Arranged; will use Honors Forum for non-field meetings (no classroom needed to be scheduled).

This 1-credit seminar lets students study Northern New Mexico’s mountain Wilderness Areas—how they came into being and how they are used today—first-hand and on-foot thru hiking, backpacking, and camping.

New Mexico is home to 26 designated Wilderness Areas among it’s 27 million acres of federal land. These range from forest to desert across the state, but Northern New Mexico’s mountain Wilderness Areas exhibit a unique cultural and natural character that shapes what it means to live in the Land of Enchantment. For example, the Sandia Mountain Wilderness sits adjacent to the state’s largest metropolitan area and serves as it’s wild backyard to residents and visitors alike. In contrast, the alpine Nambe Lake and overlooking Lake Peak provide insight into the remote Southern Rocky Mountains in the Pecos Wilderness Area above the city of Santa Fe.

Students in this course will explore the intersection of geography and culture in three on-campus seminar discussions and in two extended field studies—a day hike along the 10,678 foot Sandia Crest in the Sandia Mountain Wilderness Area of the Cibola National Forest adjacent to the city of Albuquerque on Sunday, September 15th; and a strenuous 3 day/2 night backpacking trip to Nambe Lake and up the 12,408 foot Lake Peak in the Pecos Wilderness Area of the Santa Fe National Forest from Friday afternoon thru Sunday afternoon, September 27th thru 29th. Students in this seminar will need to be physically able to hike and backpack 3-4 miles per day up steep slopes at elevations above 10,000 feet and camp outside in a variety of weather. Students must provide some of their own camping and hiking gear. Cooking gear will be provided and students are expected to contribute approximately $30 toward the group purchase of backpacking food, gear, and travel expenses.

Texts

Students are required to purchase a course reader and field notebook in which to complete assignments with reading selections from Julyan’s The Mountains of New Mexico; Julyan and Stuever’s Field Guide to the Sandia Mountains; Julyan’s Hiking to History; and the Southwest Natural and Cultural Heritage Association’s Pecos Wilderness: Santa Fe and Carson National Forests; as well as US government publications about wilderness, including: Public Law 88-577 “The Wilderness Act of 1964”; the National Wilderness Steering Committee’s Embracing the Distinction between Wilderness and Backcountry in the National Park System; NWPS’ 2020 Vision: Interagency Stewardship Priorities for America’s National Wilderness Preservation System; and Landres et al.’s Keeping it Wild 2: An Updated Interagency Strategy to Monitor Trends in Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System. Students will also watch on their own Fitzpatrick and Serna’s documentary film Mile...Mile and a Half.

Requirements

Graded assignments will be based on seminar discussions and completion of a series of observational and reflection exercises in a field notebook. 

Students must provide some of their own hiking and backpacking gear (such as appropriate footwear, backpack, sleeping bag, and tent). Gear lists and information about where gear can be purchased or rented thru UNM Rec Sports will be provided. Cook wear and stoves will be provided. Students will be expected to contribute approximately $25-$35 toward the group purchase of backpacking food (such as dehydrated meals) and for some travel expenses.

Students in this seminar will need to be physically and mentally able to hike and backpack 3-4 miles per day up steep slopes at elevations above 10,000 feet and camp outside in a variety of weather conditions.

About the Instructor(s): Troy Lovata

Professor Troy Lovata, Ph.D. has taught UNM Honors courses on artifacts, landscape, and culture for more than two decades. He is especially interested in how people from prehistory through the present understand, visualize, and mark the landscape.