On the Map

Harlem of the West: Jazz, People, and Place in the Fillmore

December 3, 2025

By Mirembe Ddumba

Stand on Fillmore and Geary streets on a Saturday evening, and you can almost hear it. Neon humming against the dusk, a saxophone warming up behind a church door, the ghost of Billie Holiday’s voice floating between the streetlights. In these few streets, jazz wrote itself onto San Francisco’s grid.

The sound arrived by train.

The Sound of Migration

During World War II, African Americans from Louisiana, Texas, and across the South boarded trains bound for San Francisco’s shipyards. Between 1940 and 1950, the city’s Black population grew tenfold, from 4,800 to 43,000, filling apartments left empty when Japanese American families were forced into internment camps.

Musicians arrived with guitars slung over shoulders, horns wrapped in cloth. They transformed twenty blocks into the “Harlem of the West.” By the late 1940s, you could walk Fillmore Street on any night and hear Dizzy Gillespie bleeding through one door, smell barbecue from the next, watch Cadillacs pull up to drop off couples dressed for Jimbo’s Bop City.

Bop City at 1690 Post Street ran after-hours sessions until sunrise. Charlie Parker traded choruses with Dexter Gordon while Billie Holiday sat in a corner booth. Down the street, Ella Fitzgerald sang at the Champagne Supper Club and tried on hats between sets. The Blue Mirror. Club Flamingo. Jack’s Tavern. Two dozen venues within one square mile, each separated by a five-minute walk.

John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, and Thelonious Monk rented rooms above the clubs, ate at soul food diners, bought records at local shops, and shaped the neighborhood’s sonic identity night after night. This wasn’t accidental. The grid itself made it possible.

Black-and-white photo showing Fillmore Street, south of Post Street, late 1940s. The neighborhood’s dense grid and constant traffic fueled the energy of the "Harlem of the West." Credit: David Johnson — Fillmore Street, south of Post Street, late 1940s. The neighborhood’s dense grid and constant traffic fueled the energy of the “Harlem of the West.” Credit: David Johnson

Geography as Destiny

The Fillmore’s layout made this density possible. Narrow Victorian storefronts, twenty feet wide, meant multiple clubs per block. Short blocks with corner entries created constant foot traffic. The 22-Fillmore streetcar brought audiences from downtown, turning the neighborhood into one continuous jazz experience.

In 1948, city planners declared the Fillmore “blighted.” Under Redevelopment Agency director M. Justin Herman, bulldozers arrived. The Western Addition A-1 and A-2 projects demolished Victorian homes and shuttered clubs across 104 blocks. Geary Street, once lined with music venues, became Geary Boulevard, a four-lane expressway cutting the neighborhood in half.

By 1964, authorities had displaced 4,000 residents from A-1 alone. Jazz musicians scattered to Oakland, the East Bay, and Los Angeles. Residents gave urban renewal a different name: “Negro Removal”.

You could go out on Friday night and not come home until Sunday night because there is so much to do.”

—Elizabeth Pepin Silva, filmmaker and author of Harlem of the West

The clubs closed. The musicians left. But the music never completely died.

Map showing Western Addition redevelopment zones A-1 and A-2, which demolished 104 blocks and displaced thousands of residents. Credit: San Francisco Redevelopment Agency archives — Western Addition redevelopment zones A-1 and A-2, which demolished 104 blocks and displaced thousands of residents. Credit: San Francisco Redevelopment Agency archives

Still Playing

Walk Fillmore Street now, and commemorative plaques mark where Bop City stood, where the barbershop was, where musicians bought their reeds. Listen closely, though. The Fillmore Auditorium still books acts, its walls papered with decades of concert posters. Calvary Presbyterian Church hosts Sunday jazz services. Jones Memorial United Methodist Church opens its doors for Friday night sessions.

Every July since 1986, the Fillmore Jazz Festival closes twelve blocks to cars. Over 50,000 people flooded the streets for two days. Five stages. Artisan booths. The smell of Ethiopian food mixing with New Orleans-style barbecue. For one weekend, the neighborhood becomes what it was, pedestrians moving from stage to stage, music echoing off Victorian facades.

On other nights, the music lives in smaller rooms. 1300 on Fillmore books jazz acts in an intimate room with velvet couches. The Boom Boom Room sits on the corner where John Lee Hooker used to own a club. Rasselas Ethiopian Restaurant serves injera and hosts live music Thursday through Sunday. The building that housed Jimbo’s Bop City was literally picked up and moved two blocks west. It’s Marcus Books now, an Afrocentric bookstore that archives what redevelopment tried to erase.

Stand at Fillmore and Geary on Saturday evening. Close your eyes. Past the bus engines and car horns, you can still hear it. A saxophone warming up. The ghost of a neighborhood that jazz built, that policy tried to destroy, and that memory refuses to let die.

Photo showing an overhead view of musicians playing to a packed crowd at the Fillmore Jazz Festival. Credit: Fillmore Jazz Festival — Musicians play to a packed crowd at the Fillmore Jazz Festival, which brings over 50,000 people annually to celebrate the neighborhood’s musical legacy. Credit: Fillmore Jazz Festival

Learn More

Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era by Elizabeth Pepin Silva and Lewis Watts
Interactive Map: Historic Fillmore Jazz Venues (FoundSF)
San Francisco African American Historical & Cultural Society
KQED’s Fillmore History Timeline

On the Map

Where in the World: Renewed Care for Old Agricultural Land

October 27, 2025

Tractor in monocrop plots Credit: Marcio Silva, Getty Images

A tractor sits in monocrop plots. Credit: Marcio Silva, Getty Images

Geography in the News is an educational series offered by the American Association of Geographers for teachers and students in all subjects. We include vocabulary, discussion, and assignment ideas at the end of each article.

By Emily Frisan

The world will have to feed 10 billion people by 2050. For the past 60 years, agricultural production has been driven by management of labor, technological advancements, and the expansion of irrigated areas. In the United States, the rise of single-crop farming became more intense in the early 20^th century. It powered a larger scale of production so we could feed a rapidly increasing global population. Despite this, over 735 million people worldwide still go to bed hungry each night.

The world’s agricultural land can be divided into two basic categories: cropland and land for livestock (pastureland). As of 2020, both of these cover 32 of the world’s total land area. That’s nearly 8% growth since 1961. Farms and pastures cover 40 of all habitable land in the world, about 4.2 billion hectares.

The immense agricultural space and over 14,000 edible plant species should mean more diversified food choices. Yet 75% of the world’s food comes from just twelve plant species and five animal species. Wheat, corn, and rice together provide nearly half of the world’s plant-derived calories. These major crops are often grown at large scales as “monocultures:” a single crop grown alone in large fields.

Where the World’s Food Grows

Before European colonization, thousands of ecosystems, species of plants, and animals thrived in regions worldwide. Agriculture was more local. Communities were rooted in local traditions for caring for land and growing food. Today, these major food-producing regions include Africa, Asia, and parts of North and South America.

Aerial photo of green fields and trees under blue sky with white clouds. Credit: Tom Fisk, Pexels — Credit: Tom Fisk, Pexels

The Global North and Global South are terms used to group countries based on their wealth and development. These categories are sorted to understand differences in how countries are similar economically and politically. Typically, the Global South countries’ economies depend on shipping out agricultural products and raw materials. While crops are grown worldwide, in 2020, the Global South accounted for 73% of agricultural production across the world. This has increased 33% since 1961.

Crops and livestock vary in different geographic regions. This might be due to climate, native species, or economic and cultural significance. For instance, the United States is a major producer of corn and soybeans. Countries like India and China are producers of rice and wheat. Explore this interactive map to learn about where your food comes from — past and present.

Old Techniques for New Growth

Feeding the world’s people is not as easy as expanding farmland. That would come at the cost of forests and other ecosystems. This further contributes to biodiversity loss and climate change. Agriculture is a leading cause of habitat loss, using 70% of global water use and releasing over 25% of the earth’s greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing agricultural productivity without using more land is essential. It is being lost to urban sprawl, erosion, sea level rise, change in climate, and chemical pollution.

An answer to these growing problems includes looking to Indigenous agriculture management systems. These practices include a wide range of techniques. For example, intercropping is used with multiple species of plants, such as the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash). Crop rotation is used to preserve soil health. Also, farmers can burn certain sections of the forest to clear the land for agriculture and encourage “interspecies synergies” where animals benefit from working together.

Mission Garden (Tucson) demonstrates the acequia system that used to bring Santa Cruz River water to area crops. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Once set aside by Western water managers, traditional irrigation practices like the “acequia system” can improve water quality using physical geography. Gravity carries water downhill. This slowly distributes minerals and rich soil throughout the landscape. Acequia developed from Native people’s experiences farming in the Southwest United States. The Acequia Institute in San Luis, Colorado, is one organization that is working to bring back traditional farming practices. They hope to revive Indigenous methods that work with natural water systems to introduce a closer connection of food and nutrition to the community.

And that is Geography in the News, updated October 10, 2025

Material in this article comes from “World Agricultural Land” (1997), an original article for Geography in the News by Neal Lineback, Appalachian State University.

AAG’s Geography in the News is inspired by the series of the same name founded by Neal Lineback, professor and the chair of Appalachian State University’s Department of Geography and Planning. For nearly 30 years from 1986 to 2013, GITN delivered timely explainer articles to educators and students, relevant to topics in the news. Many of these were published on Maps.com’s educational platforms and in National Geographic’s blogs. AAG is pleased to carry on the series.

Sources Consulted for this Article

Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) 2016. Where Our Food Crops Come From.

Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan. 2024. U.S. Food System Factsheet. Pub. No. CSS01-06..

Gilbert, S. 2025. An Ancient Irrigation System May Help Farmers Face Climate Change. Civil Eats.

Michigan State University. 2017. MSU Food Literacy and Engagement Poll: Wave I.

Our World in Data. 2019. “Land Use.” https://ourworldindata.org/land-use

PBS Learning Media. 2024. Less Harm on the Farm: Regenerative Agriculture.

Population Matters. 2024. Feeding Billions, Failing Nature.

Sylvester, K and Cunfer, G. 2009. An Unremembered Diversity: Mixed Husbandry and the American Grasslands. Agricultural History.

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. 2024. Global Changes in Agricultural Production, Productivity, and Resource Use Over Six Decades.

World Resources Report. 2018. Creating a Sustainable Food Future: Synthesis Report.

Vocabulary and Terms

Agrobiodiversity: Variety of animals, plants, and microorganisms used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture.
Agroecology: An approach that applies ecological and social concepts and principles to food and agricultural systems.
Food Gap: Refers to the disparity between those who have access to healthy food and those who don’t.
Food Insecurity: The condition of not having access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet one’s basic needs.
Food Desert: An area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.
Food Swamp: Refers specifically to places where unhealthy foods like fast food are more readily available than nutritious options and grocery stores.
Global North: Refers to a group of countries that are generally more economically developed and wealthier, primarily located in Europe, North America, and developed parts of Asia.
Global South: Refers to a group of countries that are often characterized as developing or underdeveloped in regions such as Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia.
Habitable land: Land that is suitable for human settlement.
Irrigation: The supply of water to land or crops to help growth.
Monoculture: The agricultural practice of cultivation of a single crop in a given area.
Plant-Derived Calories: The calories eaten from foods mainly derived from plants (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, oils, grains, and beans).

Questions for Discussion and Further Study

What has characterized agriculture for the past 60 years, and what are some alternative agricultural methods to feed the world’s growing population?
Consider what you ate for one meal yesterday. How many types of plants or animals were part of your meal?
Look up one of the 12 plant species and 5 animal species our agriculture relies on: can you find out why that species became such a staple of our diets? What is its history? Can you find information about a once-common food crop that is no longer popular?
Does anyone in your family garden, and do they have tips or family secrets for managing water or plants?
If we can’t simply expand our farmland to feed more people, what are some other solutions that the article did not mention?

On the Map

North American Beavers in South American Forests?

October 24, 2025

Beaver's head above water as it swims in a body of water. Credit: Camerauthor Photos, Unsplash

Beaver in its natural habitat in Northern Ontario. Credit: Camerauthor Photos, Unsplash

By Cadence Bowen

Patagonia, a remote region at the tip of South America, has some long-distance intruders. In 1946 the North American beaver (Castor canadensis), was brought here. Its population has thrived—to the dismay of local humans.

The story of beavers in Patagonia shows how humans can introduce invasive species. These are non-native species which can overrun native species. This often causes an imbalance in the ecosystems in these environments. The problem of invasive species is driven by human interests, such as commercial or agricultural use of animals or plants.

North American beavers were almost wiped out in their native habitats by 1900. They were saved through intense conservation. Ironically, in Patagonia the focus is how to get rid of them. The Wildlife Society’s Pablo Jusim says, “Technically, it’s viable to eradicate beavers from South America—one of the biggest eradications in the world if we achieve it.” He estimates a cost of about $31 million and 20 to 30 years to eliminate Patagonian beavers and restore ecological balance.

Well, How Did They Get Here?

Imagine the southernmost part of South America: that’s Patagonia. Part of both Chile and Argentina, Patagonia is known for its diverse geography. Snowy mountains and lush forests in the west are answered by steppes and deserts in the east. The archipelago of Tierra del Fuego is at the tip of this area. It has its own diverse and rugged terrain, from lowlands and glaciated coasts in its north to high mountains in the east.

Map showing Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In 1946, the Argentine government introduced just 20 North American beavers to Tierra del Fuego. The intention was to kickstart a fur trade for pelts. Officials believed the climate would be similar enough to the beavers’ native climate to suit them. Little thought was given to native trees, plants, and ecosystems. The trees and forests of North America co-evolved with beavers and can take their energetic tree felling and dam building. The native forests of Tierra del Fuego had never experienced anything like this. Plus, beavers have no natural predators in Tierra del Fuego. Eighty years later, the species’ population is more than 150,000, almost outnumbering human inhabitants.

Impacts of these “Ecosystem Engineers”

Beavers are ingenious animals with the ability to alter the landscapes they inhabit. These furry creatures are admired for their important roles in North America, both their contributions to river ecologies, and their earlier pivotal role in the fur trade of early America. They shape the environment more than any other species besides humans. Kodi Jo Jaspers, manager of the Wenatchee Beaver Project in Washington State, calls them “ecosystem engineers.”

When beavers build dams in North America, they create habitat for a lot of different species. This can help address the impacts of climate change by retaining groundwater, absorbing rain, and stopping or slowing the spread of wildfires.

Beavers’ impacts in North American ecosystems don’t translate well to the South American islands of Tierra del Fuego. They have become destructive toward its pristine forests and rivers. They lack the natural predators that North American beavers face, such as bears, wolves, and coyotes. Their natural behavior—gnawing trees and building dams—causes the roots of the remaining trees to rot in the saturated soil. Eventually, these trees to die. The river systems and watersheds that support life on the islands are filled with dead flora and sediment.

“I admire the animal actually. … How it works with the rivers, how it is adapted, how they molded nature for their own benefit, builds his house, his dams. ”

—Pablo Kunzle, Interviewee in Beavers: Patagonia Invaders

Is there a future Patagonia without beavers?

The 2015 documentary, Patagonia Invaders, highlights the community response to Tierra del Fuego’s beavers. From trendy fur coats to beaver tenderloins, locals have taken unusual steps to reduce the numbers of these invasive critters and their continuing impacts.

A study in the 1990s showed they had colonized about 94% of the rivers in the archipelago. Peacefull population control measures had limited results. In 2015, the Argentine government began a three-year eradication project. They applied the toughest means: full-body traps and hunting. The approach was successful enough for The Wildlife Society to recommend a larger-scale approach.

Researcher Mara Dicenta coined the term “Beavercene” to describe the changed landscape of Tierra del Fuego since 1946. She views the introduction and attempted eradication of beavers there as two ends of the same spectrum, caused by “a history of colonial interventions that ignore local environments.”

The latest approach to managing beavers in Tierra del Fuego’s forests might result in harmony or further destruction. In a fragile place that is out of balance, that question still hangs in the balance.

And that is Geography in the News, updated October 10, 2025

Material in this article comes from “North American Beavers Destroy South American Habitat” (2008), an original article for Geography in the News by Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner.

Sources Consulted for this Article

Dicenta, M. (2020). The Beavercene: Eradication and settler-colonialism in Tierra del Fuego. Environment and Society Portal, Arcadia Collection, Spring, (1) https://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia/beavercene-eradication-and-settler-colonialism-tierra-del-fuego
Jusim, P., A.P. Goijman, A. Schiavini (2025). A leap in scale for invasive species management: a medium-scale beaver eradication pilot project. Wildlife Management 89 (3), April. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22706
National Wildlife Federation Invasive Species (Threats to Wildlife Guide). n.d, https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Threats-to-Wildlife/Invasive-Species
Ogden, L. (2018). The beaver diaspora: A thought experiment.” Environmental Humanities 10 (1): 63–85. https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-4385471
Rapp Learn, J. (2025). The Wildlife Society Wild Cam: How feasible is beaver eradication in Argentina? https://wildlife.org/wild-cam-how-feasible-is-beaver-eradication-in-argentina/
S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Invasive Species Program (n.d). https://www.fws.gov/program/invasive-species
S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (n.d.). Beavers work to improve habitat. https://www.fws.gov/story/beavers-work-improve-habitat
YouTube Movies & TV. Beavers: Patagonia Invaders (2015). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F_wWA7KiTg&t=3s

Vocabulary and Terms

Archipelago: A group of islands scattered across a body of water
Co-evolve: When two or more species have evolved together over millions of years, and have influenced or supported each other’s evolution
Ecosystem: A place that is defined and shaped by the relationships and interactions of many species within it.
Flora: Broad definition for plant life
Habitat: The place where life forms live; the habitat is made up of the conditions and features of the land, as well as the habits and relationships of species living there.
Nonnative Species: Living beings that are removed from their original natural environments and introduced to another by humans
Invasive Species: Nonnative species that have traits which enable them to outcompete and threaten native species, or cause damage to habitats..
Steppes: A large area of flat, unforested grassland
Terraform: To transform an area of land, often with removal of material, new structures, or addition of non-native species of plants and animals that can change the habitat.
Watershed: A geographical area that channels precipitation to rivers, streams, or creeks to eventually reach a larger body of water, such as bays or the ocean

Questions for Discussion and Further Study

What are invasive species? What is the most common way for invasive species to be introduced?
When we talk about species that have co-evolved, are we only talking about native species?
Why were North American beavers introduced to Tierra del Fuego? What was the result of this introduction?
Why do North American beavers thrive in Patagonia?
Can you think of any invasive species in your local environment? What efforts are being made to control or eradicate the species?

On the Map

The Geography of Bison: Returned from the Brink

October 1, 2025

Close up image of a couple of bison from a herd at Yellowstone National Park. Credit: Taylor Wright

By Neal Lineback
Edited by Jane Nicholson, with mapping by Rachael H. Carpenter

The American bison, commonly known as the buffalo, is an icon of the U.S. “Wild Wild West.” The wild American bison was a major food source for native Americans for thousands of years. Yet, by the 1900s, it had been hunted to near extinction by settlers, trappers, and hunters,

The bison is the largest animal native to North America. Males weigh up to a ton (2,000 lb or 1,000 kg). At the turn of the century, there were only reportedly 23 wild bison left inside the territory of Yellowstone National Park and perhaps only a few hundred or so more scattered elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada.

In attempts to salvage the species, governments, organizations, and individuals made efforts to save a few bison. Those few in Yellowstone were successfully protected and became a core of the revival of a herd whose numbers rebounded rapidly. Other captured bison were protected by enterprising farmers and agencies, some on small farms and others as the beginnings of small herds. All of these actions saved the bison’s genetic profile from extinction.

The bison is a hardy creature, able to withstand extreme temperatures, heavy snow, drought and onslaughts of most predators. The bison’s size, herding instincts and aggression help ward off wolf packs and bears, the animal’s main threats. Accord to the National Bison Association, there were 1,986 bison ranches and farms in the U.S. in 2022.

Map showing where bison are raised in the U.S. Credit: Rachael Huerta — Where bison are raised in the U.S: both on ranches and public lands. Credit: Rachael H. Carpenter

Several issues still plague the bison from reviving to historic numbers. First of all, the territories available for wide-ranging herds of wild bison are very limited. Fences must be very strong and/or electrified to usually contain them, but even the strongest fencing cannot always contain bison, particularly large males. Private herds must be constantly managed. Although a large bison bull can literally run through fences when frightened, more “escapes” are caused by mating instincts where several males will push through their containing fences en masse to reach a female in estrus (ready to breed).

When they escape their containment as on bison farms surrounded by fences, bison are very hard to retrieve. They often require tranquilizer shots to neutralize their natural aggressiveness. Unlike cattle that can be rounded up with help of dogs, bison are almost immune to that process, sometimes only responding to food (grain) to lead them back into confinement.

Whereas bison escapes are mostly associated with bison farms and smaller ranches, the unfenced 4,900 bison in Yellowstone’s free-ranging herd are unconfined, which brings a new and different problem. When these bison leave the Park, they range onto surroundings under private ownership and National Forest Services land. Thus, they may cause jurisdictional problems, whereby they enter private grazing land and cropland, tear down farmers’ fences, damage farm equipment, destroy delicate ecosystems, and harass farm animals. Once on private land, they are unprotected and exposed to hunters and highway vehicles.

There are an estimated 400,000 bison in the United States, including 31,000 in conservation-focused facilities (parks and Tribal Lands), and the rest on bison farms and ranches. The Native Lands Advocacy Project (NALP) estimates that bison numbers overall increased at a rate of 13.36% between 2012 and 2017, while Tribal bison increased by 1031%. Clearly, Native Americans’ reverence for bison has enhanced the reproductive and survival rates among the herds under their care.

So what is the geographic distribution of bison in the United States today? Every state except the smallest East Coast states contains some small bison farms and larger

ranches. Most of the bison are raised as food, with the market prices for ground bison being three to five times more costly than beef. Consequently, commercial bison meat is mainly marketed to high-end restaurants and advertised as a healthy specialty item.

The word is out: Bison are BACK!!

And that is Geography in the News, updated October 1, 2025.

AAG’s Geography in the News is inspired by the series of the same name founded by Neal Lineback, professor and the chair of Appalachian State University’s Department of Geography and Planning. For nearly 30 years from 1986 to 2013, GITN delivered timely explainer articles to educators and students, relevant to topics in the news. Many of these were published on Maps.com’s educational platforms and in National Geographic’s blogs. AAG is pleased to carry on the series.

Sources Consulted for this Article

Lunstrum, E. and Havice, E. 2025. Introducing Jurisdiction. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 115(5), 1005–1028. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2025.2467326
Moore, S. King’s Carolina Bison. Asheville NC https://carolinabison.com/
The Native Lands Advocacy Project. Village Earth. https://villageearth.org/affiliate-page/native-lands-advocacy-project/
National Wildlife Federation. American Bison. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/American-Bison

Vocabulary and Terms

Bison — Shaggy, humpbacked ox native to North America and Europe.
Buffalo — A term used interchangeably with “bison” in North America, but actually a different of four-footed grazing mammal native to Africa.
En Masse — French for “as a group.”
Estrus — The state of a female ready to mate.

Questions for Discussion and Further Study

What happened to buffalo populations in the 1800s?
Are buffalo dangerous to humans? Why or why not?
What are some of the challenges ranches and public land managers face in raising and caring for buffalo?
Buffalo populations are increasing swiftly, but are they anywhere close to the population that once lived in North America before European settlement? See if you can use the sources above and your own search to find that information.

On the Map

The Hills of San Francisco

August 22, 2025

Street hill gradient showing homes built on a slope with cars parked on the deeply slanted street.

Street hill gradient in San Francisco

Unlike the rest of California, San Francisco has a unique geography that shapes its weather and settlement patterns. The city is set on the tip of a peninsula halfway up the coast of northern California, surrounded by bodies of water on three of its sides: the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate strait, and the San Francisco Bay. The city is laid out over hills that stretch from coast to coast, reaching heights of nearly 1,000 feet, making the climate similar to coastal areas on the Mediterranean.

The hills of San Francisco define its topography and culture. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact number in the city, but many sources consider there to be more than 50 named hills. As Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen notes in his introduction to the Hills of San Francisco, no one can quite agree on which [hills]. Although it’s debated among locals, there are seven hills that are iconic to the city: Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Telegraph Hill, Twin Peaks, Mount Davidson, Mount Sutro, and Rincon Hill.

So, when is a hill a hill? Self-proclaimed San Francisco explorer Dave Schweisguth claims, “When it’s a lone mountain. That is, if you can walk all the way around it, always looking up to its summit. It’s not so clear cut when hills run together into a ridge, which most of San Francisco’s do. Height alone is not so important: a very small hill may be perfectly obvious, while a string of higher summits may be hard to tell one from the next. It’s easier to call a hill a hill if it’s separated from its neighbors — if, on a topographic map, a contour line or two traces all the way around its summit.”

The Range of Iconography

Originally named Blue Mountain for the wildflowers that cover the hillside, the city’s tallest hill was renamed Mt. Davidson at the urging of the Sierra Club in 1911, after George Davidson, the geographer who surveyed it. It is the focal point of San Francisco’s Mt. Davidson Park, with a forest that accounts for more than 30 of the park’s acres, quietly remaining an oasis in the most densely settled city in California. Defined by a 100-foot cross at its peak, Mount Davidson stands at an elevation of 928 feet. Urban hikers share that despite how small the overall area is, the trails aren’t consistently marked, which causes explorers to get lost in the woods.

Hikers also recommend Mount Sutro, located in central San Francisco, for its role in the city’s cultural and natural history. Its century-old trails are now preserved by the University of California, San Francisco, which guides the long-term restoration of the 61 acres and protects the ecological oasis in the heart of the urban environment, along with the citizen group Sutro Stewards. The city’s elevation and abundant summer fog contribute to the mountain’s microclimates and its plant and wildlife communities.

View of San Francisco from Twin Peaks showing the city skyline wrapping around several hills — Twin Peaks view in San Francisco. Credit: optionm, Getty Images

Originally called “Los Pechos de la Choca” (Breasts of the Maiden) by early Spanish settlers, Twin Peaks is a main landmark of San Francisco’s skyline, reaching elevations of 910 and 922 feet. Similar to Mt. Davidson and Mt. Sutro, Twin Peaks hosts a 64-acre park of coastal scrub and grassland communities that offer an idea of how San Francisco’s hills and peaks looked before development changed them forever.

Early in defining San Francisco’s history, Nob Hill, Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill continue to remain among the most popular neighborhoods to visit.

Aerial photo showing the curve of Lombard Street winding down the hill between homes — Lombard street in San Francisco Lockdown. Credit: Tiago Ignowski, Getty Images

Russian Hill’s name dates to 1847 when Russian sailors were buried on the hill during the gold rush in the 1800s. The burial sites are long since deeply covered, and it’s now only possible to admire a plaque at the site where the cemetery once stood. This is the same neighborhood home to the famous Lombard Street, that draws tourists from around the world due to its scenic switchbacks and postcard views. Because the slope in this area reaches 27° (51%), 8 hairpin bends were put in the 1300 feet between Hyde Street and Leavenworth Street to allow cars to drive down the street, ultimately creating one of the most winding streets in the world.

Russian Hill borders Nob Hill to the south, one of the city’s most upscale neighborhoods. Originally called California Hill (after California Avenue, which runs right over it), Nob Hill got its name from the word “nabob” that originated from the Hindu word meaning a wealthy or powerful person. This affluent neighborhood was home to the Central Pacific Railroad tycoons known as the “Big Four,” who were among the first to build their mansions here.

View of Telegraph Hill from below showing buildings and homes rising up to the tower atop the hill. — View up to Telegraph Hill’s Coit Tower. Credit: slobo, Getty Images Signature

Telegraph Hill hosts Coit Tower, an iconic piece of architecture that resembles a fire hose and affords incredible views of the city; its walls are also home to historic artwork. Originally, the Tower was a windmill-like structure created in 1849 to signal ships entering the Golden Gate. Once the trek is completed, the summit provides a breathtaking panoramic view of the city with landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the Transamerica Pyramid.

Whether you’re taking a leisurely stroll or hiking the steepest routes, you can recall the words of the iconic San Francisco journalist Herb Caen, who once said, “Take anything from us — our cable cars, our bridges, even our Bay — but leave us our hills.”

You can hit the trails with a guided tour or explore the city on your own. The SF Gate compiled a list of 11 hikes within the city limits that allow visitors and residents to get to know the landscape. An interactive map created by a UC Berkeley graduate student studying urban planning maps SF’s slopes and uses simple color coding to show where the flattest pockets of land are. If you’ll be attending AAG’s 2026 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, you’ll want to bring your walking shoes!

On the Map

Sowing the Seeds for Food Sovereignty in Detroit

February 26, 2025

An urban farm plot of beds with crops and flowers sits in front of a building painted with an artistic mural, courtesy Michigan Urban Farming Initiative - MUFI

Photo courtesy Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (MUFI)

Urban agriculture is blossoming in Detroit, gaining recognition for its “green revolution,” through the rise of urban gardens and farms. With a total of 139 square miles or over 100,000 empty lots being vacant, this provides an opportunity to incorporate green spaces into communities throughout the city.

Urban gardening isn’t new to Detroiters. During the economic crisis of 1893, “Potato patches” helped feed hungry families and taught people how to grow their own food during times of social and economic crises. Later, in the 1970s, Mayor Coleman Young’s “Farm a Lot” program set an ambitious goal of transforming 3,000 empty lots into urban gardens. In the late 1960s the Black Panther party served breakfast to children in Black communities — highlighting the racialized gaps in funding from the United States government. The connections among community, mutual aid, and growing and providing food go far back in Detroit. Rather than working against each other, cooperatives and mutual aid programs ensure that groups can pull resources together to beat the system at its own game.

Detroit’s history of gardening, farming, and giving to neighbors shows how communities can move beyond food justice and into food sovereignty. Food justice addresses hunger at a basic level; food sovereignty takes it up a level to define, own, and dictate a food system. This in turn provides the earth with increased resilience to crises and climate impacts, in addition to promoting autonomy for communities. According to shakara tyler, co-executive director of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, part of creating a just society and systems means, “shifting from extractive economy and reinvesting into the regenerative economy.”

The growth of urban agriculture in Detroit is a testament to the resilience and innovation of its people. Initiatives such as the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm and Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network are prime examples of how community-based organizations can catalyze change, serving as educational platforms for sustainable living. Explore gardens and organizations below to see how modern food sovereignty is inspiring Detroiters to create a deep praxis within other justice movements across local and state-wide levels.

View of plants growing in beds in an urban garden plot in Detroit, Michigan — Urban garden plot in Detroit, MI

Michigan Urban Farming Initiative

7432 Brush St, Detroit, MI 48202

Based in Detroit’s North End community, Michigan Urban Farming Initiative’s (MUFI) redevelopment of a three-acre area in Detroit’s North End, is being positioned as an “epicenter of urban agriculture.” With the goal of creating a sustainable “agrihood” with multiple projects, the campus is divided into thirds: production farming, interactive agriculture, and hardscaped spaces, such as their Community Resource Center. Since operating out of their new headquarters, MUFI has been able to grow and distribute over 50,000 pounds of produce (grown using organic methods) to over 2,000 households within 2-square miles at no cost to the recipients.

Oakland Avenue Urban Farm

9227 Goodwin St, Detroit, MI 48211

Operating out of Detroit’s North End neighborhood since 2010, the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm (OAUF) is “cultivating healthy foods, jobs, and active cultural spaces.” The “Farm” grows over 33 varieties of vegetables and fruits and operates a “Harvest on Demand” option with local farmers markets, allowing neighbors to have consistent access to produce. In addition to partnering with local chefs and nonprofits to distribute tens of thousands of hot meals across the city, OAUF provides training opportunities, manages a community land trust, and brings together youth to improve learning and leadership skills.

Keep Growing Detroit

1445 Adelaide St, Detroit, MI 48207

Keep Growing Detroit (KGD) is working to cultivate a food sovereign city where the majority of fruits and vegetables consumed by Detroiters are grown by residents within the city’s limits. Their Garden Resource Program (GRP) supports urban gardening in the city by providing high-quality resources to family, community, school, and market gardens located in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck. Participants receive seeds, transplants, personalized garden assistance from staff, and a connection to an incredible network of gardeners, farmers, and advocates for a thriving food system across the city.

Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network

11000 W Mcnichols Rd Ste 103, Detroit, MI 48221

Another non-profit that aims to amplify and create sustainable and equitable food systems is the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCFSN). The 7-acre urban “D-Town Farm” grows more than 36 different fruits, vegetables, and herbs with cultural and social significance, with the intention of farming what people want to eat and in high demand. Their work to shift the understanding of food, is a way to have sovereignty and learn about the importance of these systems. In addition to providing security, DBCFSN co-founded the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund with KGD and OAUF to support rebuilding black land wealth. Since 2020, over 239 awards have been made to residents, businesses, and organizations.

North End Agri-Arts Alley

Currently under-going construction

In March 2023, the city announced four new Arts Alley locations in North End, Detroit. Specifically, the North End Alley will be the first Agri-Arts alley as part of a federal grant to transform dilapidated alleys into artistic oases. Anchored by the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm in partnership with artists from the Oakland Avenue Artists Coalition, this green alley will complement the Oakland Avenue Farmer’s Market, North End Resource Center, Oakland Avenue Cooperative Greenhouse, and Black Bottom Garden Center. Major construction is currently underway and is expected to be completed in late Spring 2025.

Urban farms and gardens are not just places to grow food; they are hubs of community activity, education, and empowerment. While the challenge remains to make these green spaces accessible to all, efforts are being made by the city to provide urban agriculture government guidance and infrastructure. In September 2023, the city of Detroit named Tepfirah Rushdan, former co-director of Keep Growing Detroit, its first director of Urban Agriculture. Over the past decade, the movement has seen substantial growth, transitioning from a few community gardens to a network of over 2,00 gardens and farms engaging nearly 20,000 Detroiters as of 2023.

Watch the webinar recording “Building Black Food Sovereignty in Detroit,” featuring shakara tyler, as part of our Preparing for the Detroit 2025 Annual Meeting webinar series.

You can register for the 2025 Annual Meeting field visit “Feeding a City: The Geography of Urban Food Systems” hosted by the Food and Agriculture Specialty Group to further explore Detroit’s urban food system landscapes.

On the Map

The Hidden Costs of Commercial Fishing: Sustaining Economies and Ecosystems

February 20, 2025

Image of a trawler boat sailing near Malta. Source: Peter Grima

By Adeti Afe

Fishing has been a part of human life for thousands of years, helping to feed societies while maintaining a balance in marine ecosystems. Traditional fishing usually keeps fish populations in check. But now, methods for industrial-level commercial fishing can cause serious harm to marine ecosystems. Scientists warn that some of the world’s most important fishing areas and habitats could be permanently damaged due to issues like overfishing, habitat destruction, and the problems caused by aquaculture.

Image of a static map showing fish habitats off the East and Gulf Coasts, as well as in the Caribbean Sea. Credit: NOAA — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintains Fishmapper, an interactive mapping tool for examining important habitats for managed fish populations worldwide. Credit: NOAA

Overfishing disrupts the balance of marine life. When certain fish populations decline, predators lose their prey, and smaller fish can overpopulate. This creates even more problems in the ecosystem. Coral reefs, for instance, rely on fish to control the growth of algae. Without enough fish, algae can grow uncontrollably, killing the reef’s ecosystem.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that more than one-third of global fisheries are overfished. Over the past 50 years, the number of overfished areas has tripled. A major factor contributing to this is bycatch, which is the unintentional capture of animals like sea turtles, dolphins, and sharks in fishing nets. Millions of animals are killed this way each year, adding to the damage in already struggling ecosystems. Sea turtles are often caught unintentionally by getting tangled in nets and are harmed before they can be freed. Similarly, endangered species such as certain whales and dolphins suffer high mortality rates due to poor fishing practices. Bycatch damages the biodiversity necessary for healthy ecosystems.

The methods used in industrial fishing often cause harm to underwater habitats. Bottom trawling, for example, involves dragging heavy nets along the seafloor. While effective at capturing fish, this practice devastates coral reefs and seagrass beds, which are essential habitats for many marine species.

The Complex World of Fish Farming

To meet the growing global demand for seafood, many businesses have turned to aquaculture, also known as fish farming. On the surface, aquaculture appears to be a solution to overfishing, but it introduces its own set of environmental and ethical concerns. Farmed fish are often raised in overcrowded enclosures, which can lead to water pollution from waste.

Aquaculture relies heavily on fishmeal and fish oil derived from wild-caught fish, which means it continues to put pressure on already overfished stocks. Escaped farmed fish can further disrupt ecosystems by competing with native species for resources or introducing genetic and behavioral differences that harm wild populations.

Finding a Better Way

The negative effects of commercial fishing extend beyond the environment, impacting human communities. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing increases the problem. Operating outside the bounds of international and local laws, IUU fishing often targets the waters of vulnerable nations. This practice robs local fishers of their resources and disrupts efforts to maintain sustainable fishing practices.

Several actionable steps can mitigate the damage caused by commercial fishing. Stricter regulations on fish catch limits and the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) can help ecosystems recover and maintain biodiversity. MPAs provide safe zones where marine life can thrive without the pressure of fishing.

Technological advancements can also play a role by including selective fishing gear that can reduce bycatch. Consumers can make a difference by choosing sustainably sourced seafood, certified by organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Commercial fishing is essential for feeding millions of people around the world, but it comes at a cost. Our oceans, and the communities that depend on them, are under serious pressure from overfishing, habitat destruction, bycatch, and unsustainable fish farming. These practices are pushing marine ecosystems to their breaking point. The good news is that we still have a chance to make a difference. By enforcing smarter regulations, using better technology, and making informed choices as consumers, we can create a fishing industry that works well with the environment. If we act now, we can protect the health of our oceans and ensure they continue to provide for generations to come.

To get a glimpse of fish habitats and fishing areas mapped worldwide, use the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Essential Fish Habitat tool.

And that is Geography in the News, updated January 31, 2024.

Material in this article comes from “Gone Fishing, or, Who Will Catch the Last One?” (1999), an original article for Geography in the News by Neal Lineback, Appalachian State University.

Sources Consulted for this Article

World Wildlife Fund. 2024. “Overfishing.” World Wildlife Fund. 2024. https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2020). The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020: Sustainability in action. FAO.
https://www.fao.org/3/ca9229en/ca9229en.pdf
Marine Stewardship Council. (n.d.). Sustainable seafood. Marine Stewardship Council. https://www.msc.org/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (2019). Overfishing and the future of global fish populations. NOAA Fisheries. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/resources-fishing/commercial-fishing
Martinez-Porchas, Marcel, and Luis R. Martinez-Cordova. 2012. “World Aquaculture: Environmental Impacts and Troubleshooting Alternatives.” The Scientific World Journal 2012, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1100/2012/389623.
2014. “Biodiversity Loss.” Parley. 2014. https://parley.tv/threats/biodiversity-loss.

Vocabulary and Terms

Overfishing: Catching fish faster than they can reproduce.
Bycatch: Sea creatures caught accidentally in fishing nets.
Bottom trawling: A harmful fishing method where nets are dragged along the ocean floor.
Aquaculture: Raising fish in farms for food, also known as fish farming.
Fishmeal: A food made from ground-up fish, often used to feed farmed fish.
IUU fishing: Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing that breaks fishing laws.
Marine protected area (MPA): Parts of the ocean where fishing is restricted or banned to protect ecosystems.
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC): An organization that certifies seafood as sustainable.

Questions for Discussion and Further Study

What are some of the main environmental issues caused by commercial fishing, and how do they affect marine life?
The article mentions how overfishing impacts local fishing communities and their ability to make a living. How do you think these communities might respond?
Do you believe fish farming could be a solution to overfishing? Why or why not?
What actions can governments, companies, and individuals take to make commercial fishing more sustainable for future generations?

On the Map

History Painted in Place: Detroit Murals Map and Guide

November 26, 2024

"Power to the People" mural captured in an image from above on Woodward Avenue in Detroit; Source: Joe Gall, courtesy Hubert Massey and Detroit Heals Detroit

Just weeks after Detroit was named #4 in the United States for the creation of beautiful murals, the city’s Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (ACE) took on the task of putting the city at number one. To accomplish this, in 2022 the city launched a mural map and app to identify every mural and artist in the city, based on hundreds of curated murals and biographies of artists.

This initiative builds on a rich legacy of mural art in Detroit. Mural art has left its mark as far back to the early 1930s, capturing almost 100 years of history in Detroit. As the city struggled through the transition of the Great Depression, the prominent Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera was commissioned by the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) to capture the energy of Detroit’s distinctive automotive, steel, and other industries. Often considered to be the most complex artworks devoted to American Industry, Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” murals depict the city’s manufacturing base and labor force on 27 panels, spanning all four walls of the DIA’s Diego Court.

Grand in scope and scale, the paintings celebrate Detroit’s auto factories and depict men of all races side by side on an assembly line. Rivera’s technique for painting frescoes, his portrayal of American life on public buildings, and the 1920s Mexican Mural Movement led to and influenced the New Deal mural programs of the 1930s and 1940s, in addition to the future generation of artists in the city.

The main two panels of his series draw inspiration from Ford’s River Rouge Plant, where Rivera toured and sketched for months before creating large-scale tributes to their workers along with a blend of critique and celebration of the forces of industry. He also blended ancient Aztec symbolism into his modernist treatment, creating allegorical figures to portray the complex relationship of human and machine.

A view of the south wall of the Diego Rivera Detroit Industry mural at the Detroit Institute of Arts

A view of the north wall of the Diego Rivera Detroit Industry mural at the Detroit Institute of Arts

The Detroit Institute of Arts’ Research Library, Archives, and Collection Information department holds the digitization of a collection of existing 8 x 10-inch (large format) nitrate photo negatives, which were taken in 1932–33 to document the making of Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” murals. Their digitization preserves the history of the murals and makes the images accessible to the public. In addition, the film that Ford Motor Company’s team made of the artist at work is now accessible on the National Archives website.

Hubert Massey is a contemporary muralist whose work is inspired by 1960s- and ’70s-era activism and the art of Diego Rivera, having studied with former Rivera apprentices Stephen Dimitroff and Lucienne Bloch. In 2020, Massey worked with twenty Detroit teens to create a street mural in the Lower Woodward neighborhood, celebrating the phrase “Power to the People” and the Black Lives Matter movement spreading worldwide.

Massey works in the fresco technique and is the only known African American commissioned fresco artist in America. He has also produced work in the mediums of mosaic, terrazzo, sculpture, stained glass, and other material. You can find his work across Detroit’s Mexicantown, Greektown, the Cultural Center, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Detroit Athletic Club, among other places.

Girl with the D Earring mural; Source: Zoyes Creative — “Girl with the D Earring” mural; Source: Zoyes Creative

Sydney G. James is another Detroit artist who has contributed large-scale work to the city. A Black figurative painter and public art muralist, she pays homage to the city and emphasizes the deep connection between her art and Detroit, highlighting how murals serve as vibrant expressions of identity and community. Her work not only beautifies the urban landscape but also tells the stories of the people and the place that inspire her.

One of her most notable works is “Girl with the D Earring,” an 8,000 square-foot painting of a Black woman, on Grand Boulevard from Woodward Avenue into Milwaukee Junction. This work re-envisions Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” “It’s one woman,” James told Hour Detroit. “But she represents Detroit in general. ‘Girl with the D Earring’ is a celebration of the city and a celebration of its people.”

“Detroit Never Left” mural; Courtesy Sheefy McFly’s website

Musician and visual artist, Sheefy McFly’s “Detroit Never Left” mural, located at Gratiot and Chene near Detroit’s Historic Eastern Market, is a nod to the idea of Detroit having a “resurgence.” The painting depicts a party full of Detroiters: a man jitting—a dance style that was born in Detroit–with a woman twerking (a dance move perfected in New Orleans in the 1990s, with origins in West African dance), a radio, and a Black man wearing a Cartier watch and a blue “D” hat, exuding an authentic Detroit. McFly told The Michigan Chronicle that “anyone from Detroit that walks by can identify with the mural.” His style blends Neo-Expressionism and Pop Art with a Detroit twist that reflects the cultural and social dynamics of Detroit, capturing the city’s spirit and history.

Public art is a form of creative place making, which further deepens connection with places where we live, work, and play.

The vibrant murals of Detroit are more than just artistic expressions; they are a testament to the city’s rich history, diverse culture, and dynamic geography. By intertwining art with public spaces, the city’s murals not only beautify the landscape but also celebrate the unique cultural tapestry that defines this iconic American city.

Explore Detroit’s murals in the city’s interactive map. Filter by year, artist, name, or location.

On the Map

Cranberries: A Fine, Finicky Fruit

November 4, 2024

Credit: Philippe Murray Pietsch, Unsplash

Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) are a big part of the winter holidays. Native to North America, they grow in bogs and wet areas from New England to the upper Midwest and Canada. Some also grow in the Appalachian Mountains. A cousin species, V. oxycoccos, grows in Europe.

Cranberry vines grow best in sandy, organic, acidic soils. They prefer cold winters and cool summers. Massachusetts was once the leading producer, but is now outpaced by Wisconsin. Other states where the berry is grown are New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington. In Canada, too, cranberry farms are found in British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

The vines take at least three years to spread and form a mat before bearing fruit. In September, as berries ripen, the farmers flood their fields and use a thrashing machine to scoop berries from the vines. Once they float to the water’s surface, the berries are collected for market.

Cranberry harvest in New Jersey. Source: Agricultural Research Service

Only 5 percent of the berries go to the market fresh. Most are frozen whole, canned, or bottled as juice. Most people buy more cranberry sauce, juice, and even cranberry health supplements than fresh cranberries.

It was not always this way. For centuries, wild-growing cranberries were harvested by the many nations of the Algonquian people who continue to inhabit all of New England and much of the Midwest and Eastern Canada. They call the berry sassamenesh, and harness its power as a superfood. (Cranberries are full of Vitamin C and other nutrients.) One recipe is pemmican, which mixes the berries with dried fish or meat and tallow. Pemmican was the original power bar: it is formed into cakes and baked in the sun. This provides fat, carbs, and nutrients in a form that is easy to carry and store for months.

Demand for Cranberry Grows Fast

For a plant that takes years to bear fruit, the cranberry is otherwise growing fast. Its market expands every year. Cranberries are an important import to other countries, and it is now seen as a food for all year long, particularly for its health benefits. Shoppers have come to expect dried and fresh cranberries in many products, from baked goods to cereal to energy bars. This expansion was driven by a shrewd international marketing strategy from a nearly century-old grower-owned cooperative, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.

Cranberries: The National Cranberry Magazine, 1960, one of Ocean Spray’s many marketing efforts to get more cranberries into kitchens and on tables. Source: Wikimedia

Ocean Spray began as a small farmers’ cooperative in 1930. By 1988, the company controlled 85 percent of the world’s cranberry market. The key to their success was smart decisions in both marketing and production. Ever eat a “craisin”? This dried version of the fruit was a snacking breakthrough in 1981. By then, Ocean Spray was already famous for its juices. Soon, it was putting cranberries in cereals, energy bars, and desserts.

As demand for cranberries shot upward, competitors got into the game. Private companies made high offers to farmers, hoping to lure them from Ocean Spray. Still, Ocean Spray remains the dominant player, and certainly the most recognizable in the grocery store. It represents about 700 family-owned cranberry farms.

America’s cranberry farmers produce about 8 billion barrels a year. Most come from Wisconsin, which had one of its strongest harvests yet in 2024. It’s almost the perfect place for these unique berries, with plenty of water, sandy soil, and ideal weather. That doesn’t mean they are always a sure thing, however. There is a margin of risk every year. “I like the challenge,” said John Stauner, owner of James Lake Farms in Wisconsin. “It’s a profession where you have a lot of variability throughout the year.”

The weather has always created uncertainty for farmers. Climate change is adding to their worries. In the past decade, Massachusetts bogs experienced flooding from both ocean saltwater and torrential rain, killing some bogs. On the other extreme, a 2022 drought also took a heavy toll on production.

Cranberry bogs are part of the climate solution in New England, too, at least after they have run their course producing the fruit. Although one in four bogs that have gone out of business in Massachusetts, some farmers are using their land for large-scale restoration to protect wildlife and wetlands in the state.

Some cranberry production has headed overseas since the 1990s. A California company invested $20 million in building cranberry bogs in Chile. The investment has made Chile the third biggest cranberry producer worldwide. The United States remains the world’s top producer.

Some years ago, the geospatial firm Descartes Labs used radar data and algorithmic machine learning to map America’s cranberry bogs. It wasn’t easy: find out how they did it.

The next time someone passes the cranberry sauce or offers you a glass of cranberry juice, tell them a thing or two about this bright berry’s history, geography, growth habits, and economic value.

And that is Geography in the News, updated November 1, 2024.

Material in this article comes from “Cranberries” (1996), an original article for Geography in the News by Neal Lineback, Appalachian State University.

Sources Consulted for this Article

Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, Cranberries. April 2024.
Blakely, J., Native fruit: Cranberry for all seasons. The Smithsonian Institution, Unbound, November 14, 2017.
Borzo, Sherrie, The sucking sound of history: Cranberries. No date.
Chronicle 5 WCVB, Restoring a cranberry bog to a wetlands habitat. YouTube, 2021.
Living Observatory, Learning from the restoration of wetlands on cranberry farmlands. December 2020.
Teirstein, Z. Northeast drought endangers Massachusetts cranberry harvest. September 14, 2022.
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Cranberries: No longer just an American tradition, 2016.
WXPR-Wiconsin, Half-way through harvest, this year’s cranberry crop is looking good for growers. 2024.

Vocabulary and Terms

Algorithm
Appalachia, Appalachian mountains
Bog
Cooperative
Machine learning
Pemmican
Radar
Sassmenesh/sasminash
Tallow

Questions for Discussion and Further Study

What kinds of conditions do cranberries need to grow?
For further study outside of this article: Find out more about the regions and places mentioned in this article. For example, what states make up New England? Do all of them have cranberry bogs? Where are British Columbia and Nova Scotia on a map of Canada? How do we define the Appalachians? How do the climates of these places differ, and how are they similar?
What impact has climate change had on cranberry farming? What impacts can old cranberry farms have on climate change and wetlands?
For further study outside of this article: What approaches are scientists and farmers taking to protect the cranberry farms, or to convert old farms back to wetland habitat? What scientific tools are they using to measure, track, and address changes they observe?
The Algonquian peoples were the first to use cranberries for health and energy on long journeys. What were the special, portable cakes they made for this purpose, and what ingredients did they use?
For further study outside of this article: Find out more about the Algonquian peoples and language groups. What are some of the tribes that speak Algonquian languages (which have different names)? See if you can find out where some of these tribes lived before European colonization, and where they are now. Can you find other food or plant names in Algonquian?

On the Map

Winds of Change

October 26, 2024

NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite, launched in 1999, shows the Santa Ana winds blowing over the Pacific. Source: NASA

Powerful Santa Ana winds often make the headlines in Southern California. They have brought traffic to a standstill on freeways, with wind gusts up to 80 mph (129 kph). They create dust storms and deplete the soil. Sometimes the winds are strong enough to topple trucks and blow down trees. Worst of all, they can power wildfires.

Also called “devil winds,” the Santa Ana winds blow down from the Santa Ana mountains, the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. The winds blow across westward across the coast and into the Pacific Ocean. They happen in the deadly dry season of autumn wildfires in Southern California. In October 2023, Santa Ana winds whipped up a small grassland blaze into the devastating Highland Fire. The fire grew from 14 acres to more than 2,400 acres before it was contained a week later.

Santa Anas are katabatic winds. Also called “gravity winds,” they blow out of high-pressure cells in the mountains. They can be any temperature. The bora winds of Italy and Slovenia are cold, while the Santa Ana winds and their cousins in France, mistrals, are usually hot. In Japan, the katabatic wind is called the oroshi. In Switzerland, it is the foehn.

The high-pressure air mass at the heart of a katabatic wind begins over mountains or high plateaus. As dense air rushes outward from the center of the high-pressure area, its weight causes it to hug the ground. Wind velocity increases as gravity draws it toward the lowlands. When the Santa Ana wind descends in elevation, it also heats up through adiabatic warming, as it compresses, with no exchange of heat from the surrounding air. The typical rate of warming is 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit per 1,000 feet (1 C./100 m.) of descent. The Santa Ana winds can be as hot as 100 F by the time they reach sea level.

Katabatic winds are very, very dry, with humidity of less than 10 percent. In California, this adds to their dangers. Their gusts dry out vegetation and disturb loose soil. While many native California plants are adapted to these conditions, non-native grasses and undergrowth are not. This has contributed to fire hazard, along with some forest management practices that were, ironically, meant to stop fires.

An Ill Wind

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.”

—Raymond Chandler

The Santa Ana winds are a dramatic player in literature and lore. Their dry, usually hot temperament contributes to an image of Los Angeles as mysterious and sultry, with a hint of menace. Culture critic Mary McNamara compares the winds to living on the surface of Mars. She says, “The Santa Anas are exhausting, and no one does well when they are exhausted.” Writer Joan Didion said, “It is hard for people who have not lived in Los Angeles to realize how radically the Santa Ana figures in the local imagination.” These howling dry winds do seem to define autumn in southern California, buffeting houses and cars and carrying dust and debris. To be fair, they also usher in some of the area’s best surfing waves, and can extend summertime weather at the beach.

Will Climate Change Affect the Winds?

A 2019 study observed that the frequency of Santa Ana winds has decreased in the last twenty years, due to climate shifts. In the early and late parts of the Santa Ana’s season, there are fewer winds than in the 20^th century. During the peak from November to January, there hasn’t been much change.

Southern California Santa Anas photographed from space. Source: NASA

Since that first study, the authors have discovered a cold version of the Santa Ana winds that forms differently and has less threat for wildfires. Either type, hot or cold, is associated with temperature extremes in the region. Southern California’s hottest and coldest days have been when these winds happen. Yet the cold type has become much less frequent since the 1940s. “In that case,” says the study’s lead author Alexander Gershunov. “We’re not seeing any positive news in terms of future wildfire seasons.” Gershunov and his co-researchers hope that their work can contribute to early-warning systems for the hot winds to come.

And that is Geography in the News, updated November 1, 2024.

Material in this article comes from “How an Ill Wind Blows” (1996), an original article for Geography in the News by Neal Lineback, Appalachian State University.

Sources Consulted for this Article

American Museum of Natural History, Katabatic Winds.
Chandler, R. Red Wind, out of print, 1938.
Didion, J., The Santa Anas, also known as Los Angeles Notebook, 1969.
Gershunov, A. et al, Hot and cold flavors of California’s Santa Ana Winds: Their causes, trends, and links with wildfires (open access), Springer 2021.
Guzman-Morales, J. and A. Gershunov, Climate change suppresses Santa Ana winds of Southern California and sharpens their seasonality (free), Geophysical Research Letters, 2019.
MacNamara, M. Forget traffic and earthquakes: The Santa Anas are the worst part of life in L.A., Los Angeles Times, 2012.
Masters, N. The devil wind: A brief history of the Santa Anas, PBS SoCal, 2012.
NASA Earth Observatory, QuickSCAT.
National Geographic Education, Wind.
National Weather Service, Mountain and Valley Winds.
Voosen, P. California’s fire-fanning Santa Ana winds may not get any better with climate change, Science 2021.

Vocabulary and Terms

Adiabatic warming
Bora
Elevation
Froehn
Humidity
Intensify
Katabatic winds
Lowlands
Mistral
Plateau
Velocity

Questions for Discussion and Further Study

What geographic feature are the Santa Ana winds znamed for? What type of wind are they?
For further study outside of this article: How much can you discover about katabatic winds?
How does NASA’s QuickSCAT radar scatterometer get information about wind and ocean currents?
For further study outside of this article: What kind of tools and techniques do geographers, meteorologists, oceanographers, and other earth and space scientists use to measure and track winds?
Apart from the Santa Ana winds, what are some of the other conditions and environmental elements that can aggravate wildfires?
For further study outside of this article: What techniques, new and old, are used to control wildfires?