University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2002 Saguaro and the octopus: Exploring natural history through personal essays and illustrations. Beth Peluso The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Peluso, Beth, "Saguaro and the octopus: Exploring natural history through personal essays and illustrations." (2002). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 5000. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/5000 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maureen and Mike MANSFIELD LIBRARY The University of Montana Permission is granted by the author to reproduce this material in its entirety, provided that this material is used for scholarly purposes and is properly cited in published works and reports. **Please check "Yes" or "No" and provide signature** Yes, I grant permission No, I do not grant permission ___________ Author's Signature: Date: 3D T /lo a olCDD^ Any copying for commercial purposes or financial gain may be undertaken only with the author's explicit consent. 8/98 The Saguaro and the Octopus: Exploring Natural History Through Personal Essays and Illustrations By Beth Peluso B.S. Augustana College, 1996 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science The University of Montana Spring, 2002 Approved by: lairperspi Dean, Graduate School Date UMI Number: EP40464 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation WblisMng UMI EP40464 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Peluso, Beth, M.S., Spring 2002 Environmental Studies The Saguaro and the Octopus: Exploring Natural History through Personal Essays and Illustrations Advisor: Donald Snow Abstract Scientific research into biology and geology and other -ologies often contains fascinating stories, such as how the Missouri found its current bed, or why buffalo gnats bite. But the stories, more often than not, stay sealed in scientific journals and language. Only a few people hear them, which is a sad fate for a good story. This collection of four essays and eight paintings intertwines natural history with personal narrative in an effort to make natural history accessible and relevant on an individual level. The concentration and patience required for observing the natural world, both artistically and scientifically, can serve as a tool to make people more aware of a sense of place. In turn, this sense of place can lead to questions about how humans relate to the world around them. These essays are connected by the thread of exploring the natural history of new places and the personal reflections those explorations generate. The paintings represent a different method of exploration of landscapes and their inhabitants. Instead of gradually revealing a place over die duration of a written story, they present images that can be comprehended in an instant, mirroring the impact of seeing a place first-hand. These two methods complement each other to give a fuller vision of the landscapes I explore than would be possible separately. In the end, I hope to stir up curiosity with paintings and writings such as these. At least enough curiosity for people, if not to run out and start snooping around the natural world on their own, to think more deliberately, observe more carefully, and to realize that when you start erasing the details, the whole picture becomes that much more faded. Acknowledgments This project represents a shift in the focus of my life, and I would like to thank my committee members Donald Snow, Hank Harrington, and Marilyn Bruya for their knowledge and talents. Hank introduced me to the world of natural history literature before I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Don has been a sensitive and excellent editor for the past several years, finding themes and ideas in my writing I didn’t know existed, and encouraging me to risk bringing those ideas to light Marilyn helped me dust off the principles of painting I had forgotten I knew, with the result that I feel I've made enormous steps in handling the difficult and sometimes cantankerous medium of watercolors. I would like to thank my parents, Tom and Linda, and my siblings, Karen and John, for their support and confidence in my talents, even though they were never quite clear on what exactly ’’environmental studies" entailed. Thanks also to Rebecca Lawrence and Deborah McArthur for their enthusiasm and laughter in our many adventures through the terrain of graduate school and Montana. And thanks to Brett Walker for keeping me afloat in these final months of writing when I wasn't sure I would make it. Parts of my graduate studies were funded by an Erasmus Scholarship from the Philosophy Department, by a Ron and Nancy Erickson Scholarship from the Environmental Studies Department, and by helping to organize the Environmental Writing Institute. iii Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgments iii List of Illustrations V Introduction: Observing Like a Painter 1 1 Diving the Yongala 5 2 Giants in the Desert 17 3 The Flow of Time 33 4 The Mountain Carvers 79 iv List of Illustrations Resurfacing 7 Flustered (Octopus) 12 The Morning Watch (Red-Tailed Hawk) 21 Organ Pipe National Monument 27 LaBarge Rock 48 The Mud Masons (Cliff Swallows) 54 Athabasca Glacier 84 Thirsty (Bighorn Sheep) 106 v Introduction: Observing Like a Painter I came to graduate school because of a quotation book. Well, more like one quotation book too many. I worked at a book publisher after college, one of the few people I knew employed in the same field as her Bachelor’s degree. Of course, studying literature didn't prepare me for thinking in picas instead of inches, or writing book specs, or schmoozing with sales reps. (We actually published a book about schmoozing, written by the man who was the original Ronald McDonald. I didn't read much of it.) The company booklist fell across a variety of genres: self-help, parenting, a series of romance guides (written, ironically, by the most self-absorbed, egotistical man I have ever met), a cookbook, corporate inspiration. This last category contained a book calledThe Wisdom o f Wolves, written by an author who may have watched a nature program once upon a time. He was signed to do a whole series, which never materialized, including a book called The Wisdom o fEagles. I always wondered if he realized bald eagles are mostly scavengers that pirate food whenever they can. An appropriate metaphor for the business world, but hardly inspirational. And they published quotation books. Witty quotes from women, quotes about how to have a happy office life, quotes about cats, and my personal favorite, quotes from Dan Quayle. After working about a year, I began volunteering at a prairie restoration site. Once a month we ventured out onto several acres of forest preserve district land to pull invasive weeds or collect native seeds. I looked forward to those Sunday mornings, donning gardening gloves and pulling garlic mustard out by the roots, or hacksawing down European buckthorns. The buckthorns were remnants of an old farm, planted as hedges but now gone feral, reaching girths of six or seven inches and heights of fifteen feet. They grew in thick coppices, blocking out native hawthorns and oaks. Late that summer and 1 into fall, while autumn brown rustled the grasses, I learned the names of prairie plants as we collected seeds. Compass plant, which turns its one broad leaf to face north-south to minimize water loss. Big bluestem, also called turkey foot, the state grass of Illinois, that grew higher than my head. Little bluestem, boneset, rattlesnake master, mountain mint, and blazing star with its shoulder-high sprays of violet flowers. Some of my clearest memories of working at the publisher were of leaving the office. When it was warm enough, I would walk a few blocks to the small Des Plains River (it was the Midwest, so you pronounce all the S's) that flowed through the center of the suburb and read on the banks. My favorite route to the river led past a rose garden. I made a point of passing it nearly every day, especially in the spring when the buds first appeared. Trite but true, domestic roses are one of my favorite flowers—I like the complex nesting of the petals, the way the buds unspiral as they open. The plants grew lush and tall, blooming all summer, cloud white, blood red, scarlet-tinted peach, pale yellow. Sometimes the gardener would be out snipping twigs or pulling weeds. She told me she had planted the two isolated bushes at one end of the garden the day each of her granddaughters was bom. The oldest girl was talking now, and would demand to see her rose whenever she visited.