"The West, through Hollywood,
has an enormous influence on popular culture, but otherwise
it generally lacks an intellectual, cultural, or social presence
within either the country or the continent."
-Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North
American West Art, culture, and identity together play an important
role in building social cohesion, increasing community vibrancy,
and enhancing the quality of life in communities in the Rocky
Mountain West.
But beyond just mere added amenity values, art
and identity are often indicative of a community's social capital
– the bonds that enable collective action.
The Stanford perspective, albeit geographically
challenged in asserting Hollywood as the epicenter of Western
intellect, is in many ways sobering.
Because we have so far proven
ourselves to be inadequate stewards of the region's vast public
land holdings according to this argument, the rest of the country
does not trust us with sovereignty.
Despite the ongoing debunking of the rugged self-reliant
cowboy myth, our efforts here in the Interior West to both redefine
our identity and to seek collective solutions that proactively
govern our resources and communities are not yet mature.
Back here in the Rockies (in what must seem like
the "middle West" from the Stanford perspective) many astute
observers have noted our adolescent attitudes towards consensual
politics.
The harsh truth, according to Ed Marston, former
editor of High Country News, is that: "We live as Southerners
did during Reconstruction, occupied by an often federal force,
and for many of the same dismal reasons."
Because we have so far proven ourselves to be
inadequate stewards of the region's vast public land holdings
according to this argument, the rest of the country does not
trust us with sovereignty. "And," added Marston, "they are right."
While it is our federal government dependency
that best characterizes our lack of participatory management,
the waning collective response of citizens in the Rockies towards
other issues abounds as well.
Unparalleled industrial toxic pollution levels,
potentially disastrous nuclear waste disposal plans, and oil
and gas extraction policies that give no rights to private landowners
or communities to mitigate negative impacts, are just a few
examples of how national and multi-national interests trump
local concerns regularly here.
Accusations that we serve as an "inland colony"
and that we lack "sovereignty" are reflective of the delicacy
with which we must strike a balance between our local citizenship
towards our communities and the Rockies region, with our often-conflicting
duty to our nation, and our world.
The 2005 Colorado College State of the Rockies Report Card,
released at the annual Rockies conference held April 5-7, examines
these and other issues through insightful essays on regional
management and by grading communities in the Rockies on their
civic capacity and engagement, their creative culture, toxic
pollution levels, urban sprawl and energy issues.
Speakers at the 2005 Rockies Conference, from
Terry Anderson of the Property and Environment Research Center,
to author Terry Tempest Williams and her talk on the "Open Space
of Democracy," all tended to agree: the new productive arena
for citizens of the Rockies lies in charting a path towards
prosperity that values community identity and a more responsible
self-governance.
Community Identity for Economy and Culture
of Place
From the landscapes of Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel
Adams, to the characteristic black-on-black pottery of Maria
Martinez and the musings of Leslie Marmon Silko, the arts of
the Rocky Mountain West hardly lend credence to Stanford's assertion
that the West "lacks" a cultural presence.
Born from our history and even more so our landscape,
our art forms are uniquely diverse and authentic, but while
they tend to reflect as at our best, expressing our local connection
to place, they often, as the Stanford group asserts, depict
us at our worst, instead perpetuating stereotypes of the American
frontier.
An emerging rift between a romanticized western culture and
an eclectic mountain culture in the Rockies has blossomed in
the wake of the booming tourist industry. A homogenous, and
often frivolous, western folk art designed for large audiences
of transient-bobo-skiers blankets the Rocky Mountain West.
From the travels of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show
to the contemporary shops of imposter-katchina dolls and peculiarly
out of habitat paintings of saguaro cacti, the West has long
wrestled with its pervasive art forms.
But there may be a new call to reform the unique
identity of the arts and culture in the towns and mountain valleys
of the Rockies. There may be, in fact, distinct economic advantages
to places that harbor new forms of creativity and authenticity.
In his book, "The Rise of the Creative Class and How
It's Transforming Work, Leisure, and Everyday Life," Richard
Florida chronicles the emergence of a new socio-economic and
demographic group that he claims has become the principal driver
of economic productivity, affluence, and ingenuity in contemporary
society.
Since publication of the best-selling book in 2002, attracting
and retaining Florida's creative class, a diverse mix of everything
from architects and software designers to musicians, artists,
and management consultants, has taken center stage in economic
development circles.
Florida's assertion that "place is the key economic and social
organizing unit of our time" has fueled the now popular notion
that economic competitive advantage is a product of a region's
ability to attract and retain creative workers.
In a nutshell, Florida's theory of regional economic growth
postulates that growth is driven by the location choices of
creative people who prefer places that are diverse, tolerant,
and open to new ideas. In turn, these places seem to be generating
higher rates of innovation, business formation, and economic
growth.
Here in the Rockies, Florida's creative class
makes up about 27% of the workforce, yet these folks disproportionately
generate more than half the region's earned income.
While creative occupations constitute more than
15 times the amount of employment in the Rockies region in traditional
mainstays like agriculture, forestry, and resource extraction,
today an overwhelming 49% of the Rocky Mountain region works
in the service class, which by Florida's definition consists
of low-skill, low-pay occupations like cleaning, maintenance,
and food preparation.
Florida's hypothesis holds great potential for
a region looking to generate new forms of economic activity.
In fact, the "new" competitive advantage of communities in the
Rockies may depend upon whether they are able to complement
the tourist economy with the higher paying and higher skilled,
creative economy.
The Rockies Project went through great pains to
replicate Richard Florida's metrics for measuring creativity
for each county and major towns/cities in the Rockies in this
year's Report Card.
Findings show that communities that seem to be
attracting Florida's creative class do in fact have higher rates
of innovation, job formation, and earned income than other areas
in the Rockies.
Moreover, creative people not only seem to be
attracted to areas that have high arts and cultural amenities,
but there seems to be strong associations between creativity
and areas that have high natural amenities in the forms of protected
public lands, topographic variation, and intact natural habitats.
The results reveal the top communities in the
Rockies that seem to be capitalizing on the benefits of the
so-called "New West" economy.
Responsible Self-Governance for Politics
of Place
More so than simple geographic overlays and shared
landscapes, our interactions in civic life mark our most challenging
and defining connections as citizens of the Rockies. But are
these interactions dissipating? Or more generally, do cowboys
increasingly bowl alone?
Ever since Robert Putnam published his account
of the decline in American social capital in "Bowling Alone"
in 2000, there has been no image more powerful in American civic
life than that of silent citizens, standing in lanes once jammed
with bowling leagues, bowling alone.
Putnam moves beyond his seeming inconsequential
statistic of declining participation in bowling leagues, to
analyze declines in social networks, public and private institutions,
and political participation that are critical to community vibrancy.
Set amidst the backdrop of a region that largely
accepts Frederick Jackson Turner's belief in the resilient individualism
of the rugged frontier, the application of Robert Putnam's social
capital theory from his book "Bowling Alone" to the Rocky Mountain
West seems preposterous.
Results show that areas
that place a premium on education attainment, that emphasize
good communication between civic leaders and local citizens,
and areas that facilitate public participation through fostering
an invested interest in place, seem to be have the highest levels
of social capital and the most civically engaged populations.
However, the work of revisionist historians like
Terry Anderson who authors an essay in this year's Report Card,
shows that cooperation - not individualism - "tamed" the West.
As Matthew Lee-Ashley notes in this year's Report
Card, "Where social capital, and thus cooperation was abundant,
settlers had a better chance of planting and raising a healthy
crop, immigrants had a better chance of locating work, Native
Americans had a better chance of adjusting to the waves of newcomers,
and cowboys and cowgirls had a better chance of finding a market
for their cattle."
Indeed, engagement in society has been, and will
continue to be, essential to the Western experience and health
of our communities.
The 2005 Report Card set out to measure and grade
all 280 counties in the Rockies on both their social capital
– the bonds that enable collective action, and their civic
engagement – the participation of citizens in public life.
Results show that areas that place a premium
on education attainment, that emphasize good communication between
civic leaders and local citizens, and areas that facilitate
public participation through fostering an invested interest
in place, seem to be have the highest levels of social capital
and the most civically engaged populations.
Top communities in the Rockies are revealed that
seem to be on track towards achieving more responsible governance.
The challenges of creating community in the Rockies,
of fostering an economy, culture, and politics of place, are
uniquely heightened given the rapidly transforming economic
and demographic characteristics of the region.
Redefining the boundaries of adversarial politics
and charting a collective future as a region will be essential
to not only grappling with these changes, but also preserving
our quality of life for generations to come.
The 2005 State of the Rockies Report Card builds
upon Colorado College's tradition of identifying, assessing,
and communicating the Rocky Mountain region's key demographic,
economic, and land-use challenges.
Topics such as toxic pollution, energy development,
urban sprawl, and national parks under stress (in addition to
sections on creative occupations and civic engagement that are
briefly explored here) highlight this year's discussion of pertinent
trends in the eight-state Rocky Mountain West.
Visit www.coloradocollege.edu/stateoftherockies
to find out how your community fared.
Patrick Holmes is Program Coordinator for
the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project, Colorado
Springs, Colo.
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