Knowledge that Transforms

The states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona form a region defined more by a wide range of common problems than by any shared institutional apparatus for solving those problems. The Southwest, as we term this region, is an arid area with its major watershed having an average annual precipitation of only sixteen inches. It is an area of high aesthetic quality with spectacular mountains, fertile valleys, and sweeping plains. Many of these vistas have been preserved in the national parks, monuments, forests, wilderness, and other federal and state reservations that have been established in the region.' It is a region whose history was formed largely by the force of three distinct cultures-Indian, Spanish, and Anglo-whose modern society retains this tricultural division. Although some blending of the separate cultures has occurred, there still exist numerous towns, villages, and settlements which are exclusively within one cultural tradition. It is a region of low population densities with most of the population