The Continental Divide - Spine of the Americas

The Continental Divide of the Americas begins at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, the western most point on the mainland of the Americas. The Divide crosses northern Alaska into the Yukon, then zigzags south into British Columbia. The Divide follows the crest of the Rocky Mountains south through British Columbia, eventually forming the boundary between southern British Columbia and southern Alberta. The Divide crosses into Montana, eventually forming the boundary between Montana and Idaho. The Divide crosses Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, in the United States; then along the crest of the Sierra Madre Occidental through the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, México, the Federal District, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Chiapas; thence through southern Guatemala, southwestern Honduras, western Nicaragua, and western/southwestern Costa Rica, and southern Panama.

The Divide continues into South America, where it follows the peaks of the Andes Mountains, traversing western Colombia, central Ecuador, western and southwestern Peru, and eastern Chile (essentially conforming to the Chile-Bolivia and Chile-Argentina boundaries), southward to the southern end of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Wikepedia.org

A tiny section of this monumental chain of mountains is visible from the Icefield Parkway which travels north from the Trans Canada Highway west of Lake Louise to Jasper and is admired as one of the most scenic driving routes in Canada. For this exhibition I have chosen familiar views along the section of this highway south of The Columbia Icefield counterpointed with views of more remote locations which are not visible from the road but which can be reached by adventurous hikers.

This remote wilderness is protected by the Canadian National Parks System and is also part of The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site which was established by UNESCO in 1984 and it’s boundaries extended in 1990.

And yet this remains an imperiled landscape. Climate change is relentlessly eroding the glaciers which are the water reservoirs of both continents. Civilization has insinuated it’s way into the pristine wilderness in all but two of the lower passes (Howse Pass and Athabasca Pass) in the form of highways, railroads, pipelines. Logging and mining butt hard against park boundaries.

click for larger map image

Even the presently remote Howse Pass, which is surrounded by some of the most spectacular wilderness in North America, has been targeted in recurring proposals to extend the David Thompson Highway into British Columbia. In his article, Howse Pass Highway Dream Lives On, written in 2004 for The Alberta Wilderness Association, Dr. Herb Kariel, AWA Director, investigates the pros and cons of this argument and concludes with a quote by Aldo Leopold from A Sand County Almanac, “We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see the land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

This quotation expresses the heart and purpose of this exhibition.

Carole Harmon, 2009