While at the ranch, we got to build two small gabions. This physical practical exercise made me appreciate the hard work and the immense effort that goes into this method of land restoration. Earlier that same morning I had listened to Valer talk to me about how it all started and how the system of gabions is working.

She then spoke about her vision for a more peaceful future in the border region where land restoration goes hand in hand with providing meaningful employment for young people, making the drug trade a less attractive business to join. A transcription will be made from the video that documents Valers private talk with me. I may also do some video editing and perhaps use Valers voice over moving images. In an effort to visualize the land restoration project at El Coronado, I plan to create a series of graphic images or posters. The base for these posters will be aerial photographs of one particular area taken at intervals over ten years. Cindy was very kind to identify and pull the images that I will use.

What stands out in my memory from the first half of the ArtLab week is the talk about the Buffelgrass. We learned that Buffelgrass burns at very high temperatures and that the fire can reach a peak temperature of 1600 degrees Fahrenheit.

I contacted a colleague at UIUC and learned that carbon steel starts to loose its structural strength at 900 degrees F. The goal of my experiment is to heighten the awareness of the Buffelgrass invasion by visualizing its properties and opts strategy in taking over the Sonoran Desert. The experiment will be documented by time step photography and video.

An abstract representation of a saguaro cactus with one arm is built using thin steel string of the same type use in gabions. A carpet of Buffelgrass will be creeping in from the side until it covers the ground around the Saguaro. Then it creeps up and stuffs the wire mesh from the inside. A fire starts on the ground and will move up into the saguaro. The wire mesh will loose its strength and the cactus collapses. This experiment is on the dark side. Its focus is on the destructive nature of the Buffelgrass invasion.