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Short abstract:

Transhumance sheepherding in the Western United States is a story about global migration. As the sheep traveled, the sheepherders left their marks on the trails, tree carvings called arborglyphs, creating a historical record literally carved onto the landscape.

Long abstract:

Arborglyphs, or tree carvings, document the demographics, interests, and culture of underrepresented groups of immigrants, many of whom were Basque, Peruvians, Chileans, Scottish, and Irish. The thousands of trees with carvings cannot be cut down and preserved in archives or museums; therefore, the landscape itself is a museum. Aspens have a relatively short life span and are succumbing to the natural elements of large wildfires and other environmental dangers, as well as human elements of housing development and loss of wilderness designations. The sheep and sheepherders carved paths that changed the environmental landscape, and so today, those paths are being erased because of nature and man.

Along these paths is a traceable history of sheep’s grazing patterns and the herders who guided them. What can also be traced is the global aspect of immigration. From these paths, one can see a landscape where there were records of farming, home, politics, and love. Without having to tend sheep, arborglyphs wouldn’t exist, and this landscape museum would not continue to be created.

By visiting the aspen groves spread out across the Western U.S., the landscape can be approached to look at sheep and ranching, sheepherders' experiences, and inner dialogs.

From cattle-sheep disputes to herder’s aspen art, dramatic changes to the landscape take center stage via challenges between land practices, economic vitality, and Western identity. Transhumance sheepherding transformed landscapes in the American West; sheepherders, through their tree carvings, did as well.