WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:03.560 Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I, and today I 2 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:08.119 will be reading National Geographic magazine dated January twenty twenty six, 3 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:12.119 which is donated by the publisher as a reminder. RADIOI 4 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:14.759 is a reading service intended for people who are blind 5 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:17.800 or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read 6 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:22.120 printed material. Please join me now for the continuation of 7 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:30.320 the article I began last time rethinking regional disasters. On 8 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:34.840 March eleventh, twenty eleven, a section of the Pacific Plate 9 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.079 east of the Japanese mainland shifted at a spot eighteen 10 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:42.119 miles below the surface, releasing energy equivalent to two million 11 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:48.320 Hiroshima bombs. Seismic waves reached Japan's main island, Hanshu less 12 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:51.039 than a minute later. While around one hundred people were 13 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:53.920 killed by the quake, many more in estimated twenty thousand 14 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.960 lost their lives in the tsunami that followed. Further havoc 15 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:02.200 was wrecked by the nuclear reactor at Fukushima, which suffered 16 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:06.280 a core mailtdown after floodwaters snuffed out the plant's generators. 17 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:10.159 The total economic damage caused by the quake exceeded three 18 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.760 hundred billion dollars, which ultimately led to a raft of 19 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:20.439 new protections and ways to use the land. With seventy 20 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:24.359 with seven hundred sixty million dollars of funding in place, 21 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:28.719 Big began a period of discussion with stakeholders, not just 22 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:32.760 local residents, but also city agencies like the Parks Department. 23 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:36.719 This work is collaborative in nature, Seagull says. In the 24 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:39.400 design field, we're used to being the genius with a 25 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:43.079 pen that does the sketch, but this work really requires 26 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:46.640 collaboration and compromise and listening. You have to be open 27 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:51.560 to relinquishing control a little bit. It's famously hard to 28 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.480 get anything built in New York City. The Mayor's office 29 00:01:54.519 --> 00:02:00.799 demanded nature changes that nearly doubled the prime cost, and 30 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:05.439 neighborhood residents protested not being consulted about the revised plan, 31 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.000 but eventually the wrinkles were ironed out and construction began 32 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:13.240 in twenty twenty. The first section of the ESCR project 33 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.759 opened in twenty twenty three, followed in twenty twenty five 34 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:20.400 by the first sections of East River Park, whose remaining 35 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:23.800 sections are slated to open in twenty twenty seven. The 36 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:27.000 whole dry line is expected to be finished sometime in 37 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:31.159 the twenty thirties, few of the most creative elements from 38 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:36.599 the original big U prop proposal made the transition to 39 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:41.879 physical reality. Neither a reverse aquarium nor the wide overpasses 40 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:46.719 were ultimately deemed practicable, but other innovative features were included, 41 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:50.560 like seventy seven foot long floodgates that slide out sideways 42 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:54.800 when needed, and the overall spirit of playfulness endured. As 43 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:57.639 we approached the top of the berm Ziggi pauses to 44 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:01.520 relieve himself on a newly planted shrub. Overhead, a subway 45 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:05.800 rumbles across the Wingsburg Bridge. A couple of teenage bicyclists 46 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:10.319 come rolling over the new swooping pedestrian tide arched bridge, 47 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:14.000 fabricated in Italy and installed in a single night, that 48 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:17.159 connects the park to the city. Two men are arranging 49 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.360 charcoal in one of the grills, set amid an archipelago 50 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:26.080 of cheerful green umbrellas. Beyond, sunlight sparkles on the Blue River. 51 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:28.840 For a moment, you can almost forget that it's really 52 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:33.400 all flood control. Infrastructure on Takia and the dry Line 53 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:37.039 represent some of the most ambitious reconstruction projects in the world, 54 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.039 and their proponents would like them to serve as models 55 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:42.719 for how planners can dream big even in the face 56 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:45.560 of urgent need. But there are a lot more places 57 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:47.800 in the world that are smaller and that will never 58 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:51.840 command large scale resources for redevelopment, and yet they are 59 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:55.680 still managing to implement impressive visions of the future. There 60 00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:57.800 are some little guys out there that are doing some 61 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:02.879 unbelievable stuff all around the world, says ConA Gray, president 62 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:06.039 of the American Society of Landscape Architects, which held a 63 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.919 series of conferences in twenty twenty five about disaster recovery 64 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:13.360 around the United States. Take the mountain town of Paradise, 65 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:17.160 home to twenty six thousand, five hundred people before it 66 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:20.959 bore the brunt of the Camp megafire that swept across 67 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:24.879 two hundred forty square miles of northern California in twenty eighteen. 68 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:28.480 Built along the top of a wooded ridge, Paradise was 69 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:31.439 essentially wiped off the map. Eighty five percent of its 70 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:35.560 structures were destroyed, and eighty five people died in the aftermath. 71 00:04:35.639 --> 00:04:40.240 The town enlisted Pittsburgh based architecture firm Urban Design Associates 72 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:43.920 to collaborate on a recovery plan that would both help 73 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:48.079 prevent catastrophe from recurring and result in a place that 74 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:52.120 was more economically resilient and enjoyable to live in very long. 75 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:55.800 The firm's principal first visited Paradise less than a month 76 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:58.519 after the fire, when the town was still sealed off. 77 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.800 We had to go through secure ready to get in 78 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:04.160 long recalls. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. The 79 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:07.079 majority of buildings had been burned to the ground. There 80 00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:10.519 were burned out vehicles lining the streets. Everything was black, 81 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.399 except it looked like there were pumpkins all over town. 82 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:17.480 These were large propane canisters that the paint had burned 83 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:20.399 off of, and then when the rains had come, they'd rusted, 84 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:24.160 so there were bright orange. The rebuilding process was run 85 00:05:24.439 --> 00:05:26.720 by the town's government, which didn't have a lot of 86 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:31.519 resources at its disposal. Unlike in on Takia, where the 87 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:35.680 national government funded a citywide reconstruction, the building of Paradise 88 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:38.920 was largely left to the individual lot owners, many of 89 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:42.079 whom had to wait for insurance payments to come through. 90 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.079 All the town could do was write codes and ordinances 91 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:50.839 to guide change and lobby for state and federal money 92 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:56.439 to fund improvement projects. We had a very large community 93 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:00.399 engagement process, Long says. The overriding message that we heard 94 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.480 was please don't redesign our town. We just want a 95 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:06.319 better version of what we had before. To make the 96 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:09.800 town more fire resilient. The plan called for expanding the 97 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:14.639 street grid to provide for better escape routes, varying electricity 98 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:19.560 infrastructure that can cause wildfires, requiring fire resistant materials in 99 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:24.000 rebuilt homes, and removing dangerously flammable trees and debris from 100 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:28.040 around all structures. It also envisioned an overall improvement in 101 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:31.800 equity and quality of life by creating a walkable downtown, 102 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:35.040 adding green space, and building a network of bike and 103 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:39.759 pedestrian trails. The plan has been only partially implemented. The 104 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:42.800 town is still struggling to find funding for a new 105 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.800 sewer system and is back to less than half its 106 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.319 pre fire population, which is holding back its ambitions for 107 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:53.839 the revitalized downtown. But the healing is underway. For several years, 108 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:57.240 it has been the fastest growing community in California. They're 109 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.360 building back and there's a lot of community pride, Long says. 110 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.079 Around the world, many other small communities are responding to 111 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:08.519 natural disasters or trying to prepare for them by thinking creatively. 112 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:13.120 In twenty twenty two, after having heavy flooding in eastern 113 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:17.519 Kentucky and southwestern Virginia destroyed hundreds of homes and killed 114 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:22.040 forty five people, officials in Kentucky allocated hundreds of millions 115 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:25.959 of dollars to create eight communities totaling five hundred homes 116 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:29.600 on high ground. Half of those communities will take advantage 117 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:32.600 of a local feature that had long been considered an 118 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:36.360 iesore and a nuisance, the flattened hilltops left behind by 119 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:39.759 the strip mining of coal. Planners envisioned the sites to 120 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:43.160 consist of small clusters of houses, like those being built 121 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.720 in the Sky View Estates subdivision in the town of Hazzard, 122 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.800 where proximity will foster a sense of community, and many 123 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:53.879 of the homes will be energy efficient and solar powered, 124 00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:58.720 making them affordable and environmentally friendly. In some places where 125 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.040 rebuilding seams in, there's also the question of how to 126 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:06.199 honor what was lost. One remarkable memorial has arisen in Italy, 127 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:11.040 where a series of destructive earthquakes tour through Sicily's Belie 128 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:15.560 Valley in January nineteen sixty eight, killing hundreds and leveling 129 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:20.959 the relatively isolated village of Gibbelina. Officials decided to rebuild 130 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.279 on a site a few miles away that had better 131 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:27.079 access to the road network, But the original village wasn't 132 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:32.080 simply abandoned. Artist Alberto Buri began a decade's long project 133 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.000 to turn the site into a vast concrete artwork that 134 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:38.639 follows the former street grid to entomb the ruins. When 135 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:42.080 it was finally finished in twenty fifteen, the project ensured 136 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:45.399 no one would ever build there again. Today, however, more 137 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:49.720 places are fortifying themselves for the next seemingly imminent threat. 138 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:54.519 In Iceland. After an active volcanic area threatened the small 139 00:08:54.600 --> 00:09:00.320 fishing town of Grindavik in twenty twenty three, officials built 140 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:03.399 several miles of dikes to try to divert lava, but 141 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:07.320 magma flowed below the surface and dangerous cracks opened in 142 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:11.399 the earth. Although the town's residents had already evacuated, lava 143 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:15.120 destroyed three homes, and a heavy equipment operator fell into 144 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:20.399 a crack and died. Recently, afterducting the most intensive geological 145 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:24.679 study ever carried out in Iceland, officials have begun devising 146 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:28.559 plans to reinhabit the town. The reconstruction plan calls for 147 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.720 dozens of homes to be destroyed and for new building 148 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:36.399 to be banned in high risk areas. Still, Grindavic residents 149 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.320 will be on their toes for a long time. Geologists 150 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:44.480 say the eruptions could continue for centuries. Unlike in eastern Hansho, Japan. 151 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:51.080 The coastal Chilean city of Constitucion has also proved that 152 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:55.159 it's possible to rebuild in an inviting way against multiple 153 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:58.759 potential disasters after much of it was leveled by the 154 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.519 one two punch of an earthquake and tsunami in twenty ten. 155 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:08.159 To Land architect Alejandro Aravegna worked with the local communities 156 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:13.159 to incorporate nature and individualism into the rebuilding and resilience effort. 157 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:17.960 Instead of using concrete retaining walls to divert future floodwaters, 158 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.039 the city planted a forest in a newly created riverfront 159 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:25.039 park to reduce their speed and absorb their wave energy. 160 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:29.000 To make a new housing more affordable, displaced residents were 161 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:32.759 given half built houses that they could complete themselves using 162 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.960 their own material and ideas. Today, many of them stand 163 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:40.519 as completed homes. Andy Fox, a professor of landscape architecture 164 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:44.600 at North Carolina State University, thinks that smaller communities that 165 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:48.240 build back better after a natural disaster could be more 166 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:53.039 generally useful models for future recovery efforts than big, expensive 167 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:56.120 projects like the dry line. If these ideas work in 168 00:10:56.200 --> 00:10:59.840 really small communities that have limited resources, then you can 169 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:03.080 scale them up into places that have lots more resources. 170 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:07.879 They can be bigger and better, he says. In on Takia, 171 00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:12.080 Imren balances carefully as he walks back toward his shop 172 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:16.799 along a narrow ridge of dirt separating two newly dug foundations, 173 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:20.320 Passing a row of unfinished storefronts, he points to one 174 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:23.279 after another. The owner of this shop died, he says. 175 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:25.960 The owner of that shop died, and that one over 176 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.679 there too, And not just the owner, but their whole families, children, parents, grandparents, everyone. 177 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:35.600 This is a city where almost everyone has been profoundly traumatized. 178 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:40.080 Everyone has lost loved ones, and everyone knows people whose 179 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:43.000 loss has been so soul breaking that they wonder if 180 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.919 they can go on. I talked to one Turkish architect 181 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.039 who told me that after pouring himself into the rebuilding 182 00:11:49.080 --> 00:11:52.679 project for a year, he now avoids coming to Antakia 183 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:56.320 because the experience of hearing people's stories has become too 184 00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:00.440 painful for him. In his shop, Imren swipes through photos 185 00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:03.559 of his friends and relatives work gone. He pauses on one, 186 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.879 a fellow weightlifter who was coach, mentor and dear friend. 187 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:11.279 After the earthquake, Immrens spent weeks looking for him. He 188 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:14.240 finally located his body within the ruins of a gym 189 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:17.519 fifty two days after the quake. How is it possible 190 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:19.840 for a place to come back better after that kind 191 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:24.799 of loss? For his part, Yemez feels that the void 192 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:27.159 that has been created is all the more reason to 193 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:30.519 build a better version of Ontakia to make sure that 194 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:33.679 pain on such a scale is never felt here again. 195 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:36.159 And this isn't the only place in the world that 196 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:39.159 needs this kind of vision. There is so much damage 197 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.639 that needs to be repaired, not just from natural disasters, 198 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:46.039 but from human made ones as well. So many places 199 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:48.519 need to be made safe and good. So many things 200 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:52.320 are doable, he says, so many things are changeable. What 201 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:56.480 Yemez and his colleagues are doing in Antarchia is an experiment, 202 00:12:56.919 --> 00:12:59.480 and they hope that if it's a success, it can 203 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:02.840 be replica by others. The idea is to heal and 204 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:06.159 create a place where people can be secure and lead 205 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:09.440 their best lives together as a community. This can be 206 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:12.039 a model, he says, for any city in the world 207 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:15.639 that needs it. Yumez anticipates that the first shops in 208 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:19.919 the rebuilt region will begin opening in February, with residents 209 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.879 moving into their new homes soon after. Even with all 210 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.960 the pain, he feels optimistic when this is finished, I 211 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.240 think it will be a happy place for people, a 212 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:35.559 place that connects human to human. Grin Davik, Iceland volcanic eruptions. 213 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.360 When a volcanic area rumbled to life in twenty twenty three, 214 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.720 the Icelandic government began constructing a series of barriers designed 215 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.039 to hold back the flow of lava. Over the past 216 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:50.919 two years, nine eruptions have released lava flows that have 217 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:55.919 threatened Grindavic. By carefully studying the area's geology, scientists and 218 00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:59.559 engineers are determining where the town may be impacted next. 219 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:03.480 Officials are using maps of potential danger zones to decide 220 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:09.000 where residents can safely return. Paradise, California, creating a new 221 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.960 standard the camp fire of twenty eighteen was both the 222 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.879 deadliest and most destructive wild lands fire in California history, 223 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:18.639 with eighty five fatalities, most of them in the town 224 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:23.399 of Paradise, an unincorporated community until nineteen seventy nine. The 225 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:26.519 town had grown up without a master plan, and aspects 226 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:29.639 of its layout would prove dangerous when fires swept over it. 227 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:33.000 Many of its streets, for instance, ended in cul de sacs, 228 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:36.799 from which escape was practically impossible. A post fire long 229 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:40.360 term recovery plan has eliminated dead ends and calls for 230 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:44.320 other improvements yet to be implemented, such as buried electrical 231 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:48.399 transmission lines. To reduce future fire risk, new homes must 232 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:53.399 be surrounded by defensible space, free of flammable vegetation, and 233 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:57.039 built of fire resistant materials. Other measures like bike and 234 00:14:57.080 --> 00:15:02.799 pedestrian trails will increase the residence quality of life. Next article. 235 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:07.159 Elephants talk with their trunks. A new study shows that 236 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:13.039 they exhibit communication traits once thought unique to primates for years. 237 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.919 Scientists believe that when elephants swung their trunks or flapped 238 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:20.320 their ears at humans in certain scenarios, they might be 239 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:23.480 gesturing to communicate their wants, but no one had proved 240 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:26.759 this in experiments. Then two years ago, a research team 241 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:32.159 began studying semi captive African savannah elephants near Victoria Falls 242 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:35.679 in Zimbabwe. The animals were offered either a tray with 243 00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:38.480 apples or an empty one. If given the empty tray, 244 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:41.360 they would use up to thirty eight different gestures to 245 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.600 ask for the apples, but only when the experimenter was there. 246 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.799 The most surprising thing was that they were so creative, 247 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:53.399 says University of Vienna biologist Vesta Julietti, a lead researcher. 248 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:56.600 It's as if they're really thinking about what to do next. 249 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:01.879 Until now, such flexible intentional signa using many gestures had 250 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.799 only been documented in apes and a few other primates. 251 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:09.559 As Eluteri noted, the discovery that this kind of communication 252 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:13.240 isn't unique to primates opens the door to exploring how 253 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:18.080 this behavior exists outside of the elephant human dynamic. Next, 254 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.799 the team will study wild elephants to see if, as expected, 255 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.799 they gesture to one another during activities like foraging, greeting, 256 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:32.480 and playing. This by Kelsey Nowakowski. Next how to build 257 00:16:32.519 --> 00:16:36.440 the perfect hike Around the world. Trail designers are quietly 258 00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:40.840 employing surprising techniques to engineer awe. You've probably felt it 259 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:45.080 without even knowing why. Inside the creative science that's transforming 260 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:50.919 your time. Outside this article by Gloria Lieu. In southern Patagodia, 261 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:54.080 a trail ascends a mountain to a renowned and beautiful lake. 262 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:58.559 The trail was formed over several decades by climber's intent 263 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:04.200 on scaling the ground spires of Argentina's Fitzroy Chain. Climbers, 264 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:06.839 being who they are, walked straight up the mountain from 265 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:10.799 their camp at the chalky and rushing Rio Blanco below. 266 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:14.559 In the nineteen nineties, hikers began to outnumber the climbers, 267 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:17.279 drawn by the site of the Emerald Lake, surrounded by 268 00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:20.680 an amphitheater of rock and ice. The trail eventually took 269 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:24.920 the name of the lake Laguna de ros Trace, colloquially 270 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:28.160 translated as Lake of the Three Peaks, and over the 271 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:31.279 next thirty years, the number of visitors who flocked to 272 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:35.039 the nearby town of el Chatten to hike the fourteen 273 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:38.599 mile out and back trail swelled from roughly thirty a 274 00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:42.200 day to three thousand. As these crowds trampled through the 275 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:46.599 vegetation exposed soil that was carried away by wind and water. 276 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.319 Parts of the trail gradually expanded into a rock strewn 277 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:53.839 abrasion as wide as the two lane highway that leads 278 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:58.720 into town. On a cloudy March morning, Ted Jed Talbot, 279 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:02.559 forty nine, peered through a device called a clinometer that 280 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:05.039 he wore on a necklace as he scouted the woods 281 00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:09.720 around Laguna Denus traces most problematic pinch point, the rutted 282 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:13.400 and extremely steep final one point two miles to the lake. 283 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:16.200 He and his partner on the project, forty five year 284 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:21.759 old Willie Bittner, were using clinometers to shoot grades or 285 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.799 find a sustainably grated track across the slope. The pair 286 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:29.519 of work together to build new trails and rethink deteriorating 287 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:32.559 old ones for decades, and they resemble one another in 288 00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:36.359 both appearance and spirit, Bearded and woodsy, with a wholesome 289 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:41.359 field savviness of Boy Scout troop leaders. Bittner walked ahead 290 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.920 of Talbot, stopping several yards away. Talbot squinted through the 291 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.559 clinometer and called adjustments. We can go higher, he said, 292 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.119 until Bittner reached a ten percent rise about the limit 293 00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:56.240 of a standard treadmill. Then Talbot walked to him while 294 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:00.279 running the GPS tracking amph Gaia on his phone, so 295 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.079 that as he moved, the app mapped his route up 296 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:05.839 the hillside. By the end of the day, ideally it 297 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:08.640 would be a track that would become a trail. A 298 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:10.880 lot of trail builders rough out a line on a 299 00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:14.200 map before they venture into the field, but Talbot rarely 300 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:19.440 sketches before he scouts, purposely avoiding preconceiving notions of a 301 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:22.160 route before he can walk the area. He wants to 302 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:24.599 see where the terrain leads him. I feel like the 303 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:27.640 guidance from the landscape versus a line I draw in 304 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:31.319 the office, leads to a different result, he says. Talbot 305 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:35.480 is among the top designers in the booming professional trail 306 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:39.480 building industry from the United States to Saudi Arabia to Romania. 307 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:43.240 Community planners have realized that finding affordable ways to bring 308 00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:46.920 people back in touch with nature not only boosts their happiness, 309 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:50.960 but also represents a solid investment for tourism. In the 310 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:53.759 past decade alone, Talbot has led the design on two 311 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:58.680 of the field's stand out projects, both in remote Patagonian locations. 312 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.720 More than sixty miles of new trails in Perito Moreno 313 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.799 National Park, created from twenty seventeen to twenty nineteen, and 314 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.920 over thirty miles of trails around Cave of the Hands, 315 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:15.640 a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Pinturas River Canyon, 316 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:18.960 designed and built from twenty twenty to twenty twenty four. 317 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:23.119 The Perito Moreno project, in particular, was a tour de 318 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:27.079 force of trail building in a notoriously rugged and remote 319 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:31.359 environment in just two seasons. Talbot and Bittner designed the 320 00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:34.920 trails and also trained an Argentinian crew of over one hundred, 321 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:38.480 many of them mountain guides, to hand build them. The 322 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:43.279 nonprofit American Trails recognized it as the most extensive trails 323 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:47.640 development and training effort in Patagonian history when granting it 324 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:52.319 an International Design Award in twenty nineteen. Now, Talbot has 325 00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:56.039 been hired by a coalition of El Chatin locals to 326 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:59.880 propose a redesign of the famed Laguna Delos Trace trail 327 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:05.279 for Argentina's and Ministracion de Park Nazionales a p N. 328 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:08.400 The main problem with the current path is at its 329 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:12.240 route straight up the mountain channels water and forcess hikers 330 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:15.119 to displace rocks and dirt as they scrabble up the 331 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:19.000 steep slope. The section Talbot is assessing rises about fifteen 332 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:22.319 hundred feet and at some points attains the steepness of 333 00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:25.720 a black diamond ski run. It culminates in a near 334 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:30.480 vertical rock staircase that becomes a treacherous creek when it rains, 335 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.920 and a two way traffic jam during peak hours, often 336 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:37.039 at the same time. The eroded trail is dangerous and 337 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:39.720 also not much fun to hike. The energy on this 338 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.160 final section is anxious. Talbot tells me hikers are stuck 339 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:48.000 in a bottle neck and its physically gruelling too. As 340 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.640 we walked through the thick forest of Linga beech trees, 341 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:54.160 Talbot says, you have one chance to make a scar 342 00:21:54.319 --> 00:22:00.160 on this landscape. I don't take that responsibility lightly. He 343 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:03.559 aims to make that scar. Surgical trail builders want to 344 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:06.519 design and build roots that transport and delight us and 345 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:09.759 stand up to the accumulated impacts of our footfall. The 346 00:22:09.799 --> 00:22:12.599 final project is more than a path through the woods, 347 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.759 as a reflection of our relationship with the natural world. 348 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:21.400 Erosion in is the nemesis of any trail unmitigated, it 349 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:24.160 can turn the most beautiful track into a gaping wound. 350 00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:27.839 Water Winded people are the culprits, but water is the 351 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:32.119 most problematic, relentlessly flowing down the path of least resistance 352 00:22:32.440 --> 00:22:35.880 and carving deep ruts. Focused water can do more damage 353 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.279 to a trail than any user, states the International Mountain 354 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:45.480 Bike Association's Trail Solutions Manual. Most trail building techniques thus 355 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:50.720 focus on managing hydrology through grade A sleeps a slope's steepness. 356 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:54.279 A sustainable trail follows guidelines that can read like a 357 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:58.480 civil engineering manual. The half rule, for example, states that 358 00:22:58.519 --> 00:23:00.920 the grade of a trail shouldn't exceed half the grade 359 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:04.039 of the slope it's built on, lest its channel water 360 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:10.519 instead of shedding it. Trails also incorporate rolling grade reversals 361 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:14.200 undulations that drain water at low points and are out sloped, 362 00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:17.480 meaning the outer edge is slightly downhill, in order to 363 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:21.279 facilitate water shedding. They're generally no steeper than ten percent 364 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:26.680 on average, which prevents user caused erosion. Sustained grades greater 365 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:29.640 than that will cause hikers to loosen more dirt as 366 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:33.680 they work harder to travel uphill or down. Many trails 367 00:23:33.720 --> 00:23:36.400 in the United States weren't built with these principles in mind, 368 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.880 in part because they weren't built at all. Early hiking 369 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.799 trails often subsumed what are called legacy trails or old 370 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:48.400 game trails, Native American paths, and other human and animal thoroughfares. 371 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:52.599 Trails that were constructed beginning in the nineteenth century, especially 372 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:57.079 in the Northeast, often went straight up mountains. While many 373 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:00.359 of the practices of sustainable trail building were established from 374 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:04.559 the nineteen twenties onward by trail builders in agencies raging 375 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:08.480 from the Civil Civilian Conservation Corps to the U. S. 376 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:12.279 Forest Service, Arguably no group did more to popularize the 377 00:24:12.359 --> 00:24:16.000 idea of sustainable trail building in the modern era than 378 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:21.839 mountain bikers. The International Mountain Bicycling Association organized in nineteen 379 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:25.680 eighty eight in response to hiker's fears that cyclists would 380 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:29.880 destroy trails, and it helped promote guidelines through its nationwide 381 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:34.240 trail building program and its Trail Solutions Handbook. In the 382 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:37.960 nineties and early two thousands, when sustainable design was taking 383 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:40.960 hold of trail building, a lot of us had the 384 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:45.200 zell of the newly converted recalls Alaska Bay's trail builder 385 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:50.119 Gabe Travis, who helped Talbot design trails in Perito Moreno. 386 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.920 But it soon became apparent that trails adhering blindly to 387 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:57.519 the rules of sustainable design were getting cut by users. 388 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.559 We started to realize that meeting the needs of the 389 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:05.240 intended users just as important a rule of sustainability, Travis says. 390 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.200 Over time, trail designers became savvier in the art of 391 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:13.359 managing hiker behavior and designing toward the goals of a 392 00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:17.279 trail's target user group. Because if a trail doesn't go 393 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:20.200 where users want to go, or how up or down 394 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:24.759 a hill efficiently, for instance, for a fourteen er summit trail, 395 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:28.240 they will create their own roots, called social trails or 396 00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:32.960 desire lines. Desire lines or lack thereof, are the evidence 397 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:37.160 of a trail. Trail builders grasp of not only the 398 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:41.160 hard sciences of the trade hydrology, geology, and geography, but 399 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:45.559 also psychology. Trail builders know you can't just stop people 400 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.200 from doing what they want to do, says Robert Moore, 401 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:54.200