ABSTRACT
A long history marks this part of the country with distinction and character. Successive waves of immigrants invading from different directions, put down roots, reshaped, and melded with the cultures they found. Their stories were largely determined by the land’s seemingly endless wide-open spaces and parched environment. The resulting amalgam of people with its desert landscape has given the West its uniqueness unmatched elsewhere in the nation. This process of change continues not only unabated, but accelerated by waves of sun-seekers from the north and job-seekers from across the border, staking out their own parts of the territory. This newest pattern of growth has yet 158to meet a limit, but that is not to say there is not one. Many diverse challenges are now becoming more obvious as the region’s population increases and resources are stretched. These challenges will, no doubt, give us yet another chapter in the evolution of this very special place.
