Download (PDF 1.66 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/57557.pdf
Abstract
The Sonoran Desert landscape surrounding Tucson, Arizona, consists of sweeping skies punctuated by mountain ranges and saguaro silhouettes. As development occurred decades ago, land use codes and design practices were developed to protect this scenery. More recently, these codes have been ineffectual at integrating utilities into the urban landscape. Using overhead power lines in Tucson as an example, this paper discusses the decline of visual stewardship and impediments to halting this trend. As utility poles have increased substantially in size due to new regulatory requirements and efficiency standards, mitigation practices that visually integrated utility poles into the landscape have been discontinued. Additionally, old poles remain after replacement, cluttering urban streets. Visual decline related to overhead power lines is not inevitable, however. This paper discusses examples of communities that are successfully improving power line design and presents evidence that visual stewardship as a value has begun to emerge in the energy industry.
Parent Publication
Citation
Alster, Ellen Barth. 2018. Reclaiming Visual Stewardship in Tucson, Arizona: Is it Possible? In: Gobster, Paul H.; Smardon, Richard C., eds. Visual resource stewardship conference proceedings: landscape and seascape management in a time of change. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-183. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 213-229.
