Climate Change Interpretive Program Outline

The Anza Expedition: A Glimpse into the Land 250 Years Ago

How 1775 Diary Entries Highlight the Effects of Climate Change

• Mission: Utilizing primary sources from the Anza expedition to showcase the changes in the southwest United States’ natural landscape due to climate change.
• Theme: Climate change has significantly altered the natural landscape in the southwest United States.
• Tangibles: Natural water resources, landscape features, plant species or lack thereof
• Intangibles: Loss of natural resources, Ethical decision-making, Human survival, Care for the environment and animals, Leaving home
• Universal Concepts: Preservation, Loss, Responsibility to future generations, Safety, Fear, Uncertainty, Hope

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Program Outline

There are many ways to interpret the Anza Trail and its relation to climate change. How you interpret this program will depend on your site. We recommend visiting https://webdeanza.org to read through Father Font and Juan Bautista de Anza’s journals on the days leading up to and a few days after the expedition passed through your site to gather ideas.

The Anza Expedition & Climate Change

Have you ever overcome a difficult challenge, even though it felt overwhelming!?

The Anza Trail follows the route of a Spanish colonial expedition from October 1775 to March 1776. Approximately 240 family members, 1,000 pack animals, three Spanish priests, Indigenous guides and translators, and Spanish military colonel Juan Bautista de Anza made the trek on foot from Sonora, Mexico to San Francisco in less than a year.

They encountered extreme hardships, including a wide river crossing, a winter storm and earthquake, many illnesses, and periods of dehydration. The Catholic priest Father Font and expedition guide Juan Bautista de Anza kept detailed journals of their travel, often referencing hardships, and the state of the land, and its resources. They also received help from the Indigenous communities along the way with river crossings, finding water sources, land guidance, and language translation.

The diaries offer an insider perspective on how climate change has impacted the natural environment and its resources. We can learn from history and use the lessons from the expedition as we overcome the challenges that climate change poses for future generations, one step at a time by working together.

Climate Change on the Anza Trail:

Below are some examples of how we can see how climate change has impacted the landscape and natural resources in the southwestern United States.

Drought Along the Santa Cruz River

On their way north towards Tubac, the expedition stopped in an area they called Las Lagunas, in modern-day Nogales, Arizona on October 14th, 1775.

“All these lands are abundant in pasturage, and in them, the San Ygnacio [Santa Cruz] River rises.” (Diary of Father Font, October 14th, 1775)

The expedition relied upon the Santa Cruz River as a natural water source to survive. Today, the Santa Cruz River water levels are decreasing due to increased temperatures and ten years of drought. Reduced river levels have threatened the aquatic life and riparian plants that are reliant on the river for their survival.

Urbanization Along the Colorado River

In November of 1775, The Anza expedition reached present-day Yuma, Arizona, where the Colorado and Gila Rivers converge. The colonists needed to cross the river to make it to San Francisco, but in 1775, the water level was too high to cross safely. The only way they could cross the river was on horseback with the help of the Quechan tribe who knew the best and widest crossings.

“The width of the river where we crossed it I judged to be some three or four hundred varas [0.15 to 0.2 miles], and this is at the time when it is lowest, for when it is in flood it is leagues in width and extent through that land that is so level.” (Diary of Father Font on November 30th, 1775)

Increased agricultural activity and the canaling of water to southern California and metropolitan Phoenix have dropped the water levels of the Colorado River so much that the river no longer reaches its destination at the Gulf of California. It is a concern for future water needs in the American Southwest. It’s much easier to cross the Colorado River today, even on foot.

Sea Levels in San Francisco

When Font and Anza arrived in San Francisco Bay, Anza erected a cross where the Golden Gate Bridge sits today.

“The commander decided to erect the holy cross, which I blessed after Mass, on the extreme point of the white cliff at the inner terminus of the mouth of the port.” (Diary of Pedro Font, March 28th, 1775)

As global temperatures rise and ice caps melt, sea levels are rising all around the world. By 2100, it is projected that the sea could rise by an additional 4.76 feet, increasing the risks of flooding and erosion. This threatens natural, cultural, and recreational resources in the coastal area.

Climate Change & Resiliency:

Diaries from the Anza expedition have made it possible to observe changes in the natural landscape due to climate change. However, the expedition’s history is a great example of overcoming extreme difficulty by resiliency. It can feel overwhelming, but remember that to accomplish this goal, we can lean on others to support and help us on this journey.

When is a time you’ve accomplished a challenging goal? Did you do it on your own, or with the help of others? What did that feel like!?

Human beings have impressive determination to provide a better future for their loved ones. The expedition members were willing to go through extreme hardship to make that possible. We, too, can use the same determination, resiliency, and teamwork to combat the impacts of climate change for future generations.

Conclusion:

Here, you can highlight local organizations that are doing good work in your community and ways in which the audience might be able to support them. It’s also a great place to highlight some of the important work you’re doing to tackle these issues.

Climate change poses challenges to our environment, but if we can take one small action at a time, we can mitigate some of these risks together. Who are some people in your community that you can reach out to, support, or work with to mitigate some of these challenges? Here are some ideas that you can take to do your part in reducing climate impacts:

• Partake in a local litter clean-up, or form a group yourself

• Opt to walk, bike, take the bus, or rideshare when you have the opportunity

• Practice sustainable recycling and/or composting

• Bring a reusable bag with you to the grocery store to reduce single-use plastics

By working with our community and taking small yet significant actions, we can overcome this challenge, no matter how difficult it may seem.

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Climate Change Resources:

• The Vanishing Santa Cruz River, U.S. National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/articles/vanishingsantacruzr.htm)
• Understanding Climate Science - Climate Change, U.S. National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/climatescience.htm)
• Mitigate the Cause - Climate Change, U.S. National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/climatefriendlypractices.htm)
• Charting a Future for the Colorado River - The Nature Conservancy (https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/colorado/stories-in-colorado/colorado-charting-a-future-for-colorado-river/)
• Sea Level Rise in California and San Francisco Bay - San Francisco Baykeeper (https://baykeeper.org/shoreview/california-slr.html)