Valuing the American West through Stegner's living space concept

¶ … American West as Living Space by Wallace Stegner, Stegner discusses the West with many different angles, but always as an arid area that must be contended with. No, Stegner's book is not a prophecy of doom; it is a realistic and quite correct assessment of the "arid" West, as he calls it. The entire region does depend on water, and many of his prophecies are indeed coming true, as in the evaporation of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the change of habitat and ecosystems along the Colorado River, and the gradual decline of the availability of Colorado River water. This is forcing all those communities who depend on it to seek water from other sources (i.e. Las Vegas wants to pump water from Northern Nevada to help ease its water woes).

Stegner wrote this book originally in 1987, and 20 years ago, it may have seemed that the West would not continue to grow as much as it has, or that global warming and climate change would drastically change water patterns, or that people could possibly use so much water. It may have seemed to many that Stegner was simply expressing a bitter lament or was being a naysayer, but in fact, what he predicted is actually quite close to the truth. The West is being settled as an insane rate, and there is simply not enough water to continue this growth. Certainly, there are other issues that make up the West, from its complex history to its varied ecosystems, peoples, and cities and towns. The fabric of the West is a patchwork, but if people do not evaluate it as "living space" above all else, and change their basic view of the West as never ending and always available, the West is going to undergo such a drastic and permanent change that it may not be inhabitable for a majority of those who live their now. Stegner, instead of being a negative doomsday predictor was a prophet who should have been listened to a long time ago.