There are 90 officially designated wilderness areas in Arizona — from the biggest, the Cabeza Prieta Wilderness Area along the Southwestern border of our state, to the Salt River Canyon Wilderness in the East, to Sycamore Canyon near Flagstaff.
They were protected as part of the 1963 Wilderness Act. Jonathan Buford has visited them all.
Buford is probably best known as the founder of Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company, but he’s also a professional photographer whose work is often featured in Arizona Highways Magazine.
Now he’s out with a book in partnership with the state-run magazine titled, “Arizona Wilderness: A Celebration of the 90 Most Pristine Places in the State.” The Show spoke with him about it.
Full conversation
JONATHAN BUFORD: When I first came here in 2002, crossing the state line from Gallup, New Mexico, to the Painted Desert to Flagstaff, I did not know. I did not read the Arizona handbook, and I went, “What the? What’s going on here? What is this cloud dropping water? I was told it was gonna be hot.”
And so I got to just the intriguing nature of Arizona without watching the documentary, if you will, or the movie on it, and didn’t read the pamphlet. So I was in awe. And then obviously coming down to Phoenix from Flagstaff is a shock. And I love that I get to relate to the common human who doesn’t know Arizona as well.
GILGER: Right. I’ve had that conversation with so many people. I remember my father-in-law talks about this. One of my roommates from college who moved out here from Connecticut said the same.
It’s like so many people I think have had that experience of driving across Arizona for the first time, especially if you’re from the East Coast or the Midwest and just being like, "Where am I?"
That sounds like it hit you to your core.
BUFORD: Well, you learn later that a lot of Hollywood movies were made here, and so there was some preconceived notions about specific areas. And so yeah, you have this idea in your mind subconsciously. It’s been inserted as this is the Southwest, it’s cowboys, it’s ranches.
And they’re there. That’s all there. But the truth is the vast diversity of the state and the wild spaces is actually what makes it separate from any place on Earth. And the seven growing regions and the different climates that we experience that no one else has. Even the third-most biodiverse state in the country.
... It’s a place to cherish and admire. And it drew me in, like I said. I didn’t have a choice in this matter. A magnet pulled me towards it, and I showed up. And here I am 25 years later.
GILGER: Yeah. So OK, 90 officially designated wilderness areas in the state. I have lived here most of my life and reported here for a lot of it. And I did not know this. So you gotta tell us what this means.
BUFORD: It allows the states — one of the four agencies that manages wilderness — it allows an appeal to Congress to say: This is a special area. And we’ve had 90 of them. Some of those are off the beaten path, to say the least.
Some of them are not as grandeurous as others, but they’re all — every time you step in. And some of the signs are these beautiful national forest signs. And they’re wooden and they’re cool. I borrowed one for the brewery. And then some of them are these little plastic parking pylons. And each time, though, I walk in, I’m humbly aware that this could have been a mine, housing development. And so it’s pretty cool, yeah.
And there’s a few out there that I still probably will rarely ever go again, because they’re so far off the beaten path.
GILGER: Right. You documented all of them for this book with photographs. Talk about just like how long this took, where you went. What are some of the standouts in terms of the landscapes you saw?
BUFORD: As you go out and you start to learn the different wildernesses and you return to them, what I’ve learned is it’s moments that I favor more than the actual — I love all of them because in a country where we are at this point, we can’t even get out of the bed in the morning as a country.
There was a time when we were able to get 90 of these parcels of land and said, “Only for public land enjoyment.” That is a miracle. I don’t think it could happen anytime soon. We’re not having it happen the next couple years, I’ll tell you that.
So ... I love them all. I really have to cherish them all. But there’s moments, certain storms, near-death experiences that I’ll remember with lightning strikes.
GILGER: Wait, you got to tell us about that. Near-death experiences? Where?
BUFORD: In the book, if you go to the Chiricahua Wilderness, which is also, my memory is where I actually saw the first national forest sign, which became the logo of Wilderness Brewing Company. I was at the Chiricahua Wilderness in a lightning strike.
I was shooting a wonderful scene and said, “Man, that monsoon is getting close. That storm’s creeping up through Mexico towards me.” I see some bolts. And the bolts got within 300 yards and enough there the static electricity caused my hair to stand up.
I laid on my little 13-pound schnauzer and just hoped for the best on this ridge. And it ended up — I never did any handheld photography. It’s all tripod. I hand-held the only shot in the whole book, in the Chiricahua page, and that is the rainbow you see.
And it was just like the greatest lesson. I think wilderness has a billion lessons, an infinite number of lessons. But a great lesson of the storm will come and pass. And when it does, if you’re there to see it, it’ll leave this beautiful moment.
I shot that rainbow for the book, and I’m so glad they chose that, Arizona Highways team chose that for the book because it was a lasting memory for me.
GILGER: I mean, what a moment. Yeah. So, OK, let’s talk about how this intersects with the rest of your work, because most people recognize your name and Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company, right? Like you founded this here in 2013. It’s very successful, expanded a lot since. But these issues, it seems like, brewing and beer and the way that you make it all seems to kind of overlap when it comes to wilderness for you.
BUFORD: Yes. When I started the brewery in 2013, after seeing that sign, craft beer had kind of had its burgeoning rocket ship, I should say, blasting to the moon. I hadn’t homebrewed before, and I looked at my wife and I said, “I’m going to start a brewery.”
GILGER: Just like this came out of nowhere.
BUFORD: Yeah.
GILGER: What?
BUFORD: Yeah, it’s a thing with me. But I did Kickstarter, and I’m so proud in the Kickstarter video of this little boy. And I do expound upon what I believe is a good community-driven business. And I was interested in supporting the farmers of Arizona.
What’s unique is we also, just like our landscapes, we also have these incredible growing regions all over the state. So, I get to showcase that side of our state as well.
I realized all I’m doing is just giving Arizona a voice ... — not me, but I have a chance to be a part of showing this state’s beauty. And sometimes I feel like this Southwest calls people to do that. Like maybe we’re here to tell the universe how beautiful it is.
And so I feel like that’s my role in this and why Wilderness is so important to keep pure as a company.
GILGER: That’s really interesting. So, I mean, I want to ask you lastly about the timeliness of this. Exploring the wilderness and the state, the public lands, these preserved places that were preserved by an act of Congress. I mean, this is a moment when a lot of people involved in public lands would say they’re under attack.
I mean, do you think that this is a call to action? Is this about conservation for you? Is this about awareness? It sounds like this is almost spiritual to you.
BUFORD: It’s spiritual. It is a call to action to better understand the systems of nature. There’s plenty of places where you and I can go — anyone, doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from — and you can enjoy our outdoor spaces. That was an agreed upon thing between the states and the federal government. That’s democracy in action.
And you know, the countries that don’t have any wild spaces? They had kings and monarchs who said, “This is how I want it. This is for me and my family.” And we are the antithesis to that. And right now, I think we’re at the forefront of reminding people that you live in a place where we share our wealth together.
You can tell I’m a little passionate about this, but it’s a patriotic duty to protect it. I hear the word patriot. I think there’s some confusion on what that means. I can tell you to love your backyard in this country, and especially in the state of Arizona, I think is your true — it’s an honor, It’s a gift to have.
So, yeah, wilderness is more than just a word to me.
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