Local Physical Geography: Arizona State - Essay Example

Local Physical Geography: Arizona State Arizona State is located in the Southwestern area of the U.S. The state of Arizona belongs to the mountainside states, and it is famously known for its picturesque landscape and the Grand Canyon. The capital city of Arizona is Phoenix. I live in a City called Mesa that is located in the Maricopa County, and it is located 20 miles east of the capital city Phoenix. The city of Mesa was established in the late eighteenth century around the 1880s and 90s. Before the settlers arrived, it was occupied by a native tribe of people called the Hohokam who came to the area and built large canals, which they used for irrigation in the desert. The settlers later came and settled in the area atop a mesa thus the name of the area came into being. This paper aims at discussing the local physical geographical characteristics of a town in the state of Arizona. The city of Mesa is located about 370 meters above sea level and it is located in a desert. The climate is mainly dry as characterized by the desert landscape with minimal precipitation. There are no rivers or lakes in the area, but that does not limit agricultural activities from taking place. The agricultural industry relies on canal water as a source of water for the various types of farming carried out. The area that Mesa sits on is raised and is flat on top unlike other high ground areas that have rugged terrain on top. This was used as a basis for choosing it as a place to set up camp. It provided a vantage point for a lookout against the enemies like the Apache Indians that the settlers had to fight through to get to this area (Cozzens, 2011). The location of this area was also strategic because it was along a route of travel where trade was made easy. The discovery of minerals led to a population boom because many people migrated into this region, in search of job opportunities. The Black Mesa and Kayenta coalmines presented this opportunity, and they are responsible for approximately 12 million tons of low sulphur per year (Woods & Roberts, 2012). The coal mining companies strip-mined and this led to the destruction of the beautiful landscape, but conservation efforts were initiated, and this helped heal the land. According to geologists in the area, the water table has been going down accounting for the drying up of natural sprigs in the area. The population explosion caused by the mining prospects has seen the annexing of native land belonged to Native American tribes, and this brought some confrontation on the part of land use and ownership. The biosphere in Mesa is comprised of natural forests that are high up on the Mesa, and it contains wild life of different species. Most wildlife is concentrated in the Mesa Verde National park, which is named as an important bird area by the Audubon society of Colorado (Smith, 2009). It has two protected activity centers and three breeding core areas where the threatened Mexican spotted owl is conserved. The location of the park’s location is strategic because its isolation and presence on the geographic transition zone makes it an ideal place for providing niches for a wide variety of animal species. There are about over a 1000 species of insects and invertebrates, six species of fish four of which are native, seventy four mammal species, 200 bird species, 16 species of reptiles and five species of amphibians are found in the park (Smith, 2009). There are infrequent cases of human wildlife conflicts where some animal species especially during the dry months venture outside the park in such of food and water. Some people have been prosecuted for illegal game hunting and encroachment on parkland (Desonie, 2008). The hydrosphere of Mesa has been greatly affected by human activities, and much of this effect has been negative because human exploitation of the vast resource has been in a non-renewable manner, which is exhibited by wastage and contamination through pollution. Through the efforts of the local administration and political leadership, a board was formed to help supervise and manage the utilization of water resources in the area in a bid to stem irresponsible exploitation of water resources in the county and the state as a whole. The local administration and the political leadership came together and set up a board to oversee the management of the state’s water resources. The board is mandated to ensure there is more sustainable utilization of this important resource to ensure that it is not compromised in such a way that it would not be available of sufficient to be used by the future generations. This was done through the implementation of key policies (Anderson, 2010). The conjunctive use policy was to achieve coordinated use of the region’s surface systems and ground water systems in a way, which would allow efficient use of each resource than could be attained by separate and independent use of each county’s specific water resources. Effluent management focuses on ways to increase regional water supplies through reuse and exchanges of reusable effluent in a manner that would be compatible with the water quality management plans. Interruptible supply arrangements were also put in place to achieve voluntary short term transfers of water supplies such as those associated with agricultural, industrial and in stream flow of water rights so as to meet municipal needs in time of shortage without permanent reallocation of water supplies (Anderson, 2010). The lithosphere of Mesa is composed of rugged terrain that is characterized by valleys, ridges, mountains and canyons that are excellently represented by the Grand Canyon. There are mountains that offer beautiful scenery and wildlife for nature lovers. The lithosphere of this region prompted miners to examine its viability and they were rewarded with the presence of coal deposits and other precious minerals. The city of Mesa remains my favorite place because of its wonderful wildlife and breathtaking landscape and rich natural history that is associated with the place. References Cozzens G. (2011). The Nogal Mesa: A History of Kivas and Ranchers in Lincoln County. The History Press, 2011. Wood A and Roberts S. (2012). Economic Geography: Places, Networks and Flows. Annoted Edition. London: Routledge, 2012. Smith D. A. (2009). Mesa Verde NationalPark. Illustrated Edition. Arcadia Publishing, 2009. Desonie D. (2008). Biosphere: Ecosystems and Biodiversity Loss. InfoBase Publishing, 2008. Anderson J. E. (2010). Public Policy Making: An Introduction. 7Th Edition. London: Cengage Learning, 2010. Read More