Deserts make up a great majority of the western United States.  Found among these arid lands is evidence of human occupation going back at least 10,000 years.  In tertiary time, before the land was populated by humankind, there existed a fauna and flora much like now lives on the Gulf Coast of the southern US.  Jurassic dinosaurs made their homes on what is now the Colorado Plateau.  The beauty of mountain peaks and prairies of the high plains is unsurpassed. Living in Western Colorado has given me the ability to be anywhere in the West in just a few hours.  The opportunity to visit this expansive region with it’s vast cultural resources is a benefit I’ve had working as a field technician and inspector on large construction projects throught the region.