The Role of the Field Camp in Geographic Training

THE ROLE OF THE FIELD CAMP IN GEOGRAPHIC TRAINING Richard F. Logan University of California, Los Angeles A geographer should take to field work as naturally as a duck takes to water. Observation of phenomena in the field is part and parcel of geography : it always has been, and it must always be so, for geography is primarily concerned with place, and place is best described through field observation. In some branches of geography, the field work can be carried on by proxy— as where the census taker does the field work, assembling the facts in tabulated form for the geographer. But in most such cases something is usually found wanting, for the census taker is not a geographer, does not fully know the geographer's interest, and hence does not observe all that a trained geographer would. Thus, reference to census data often saves much valuable time and provides information not readily available to the geographer but is not a total substitute for field work in most branches of geography. In other instances, the study of aerial photographs can serve as partial substitution for direct field observation, but a certain amount of personal familiarity with the area under study is necessary as a prerequisite for efficient use of aerial photographs , and full familiarity is gained only by personal observation on the ground. Some geographers who will deny this are overlooking the facts that they have already an inherent understanding of the area under study based on long familiarity with similar regions, and that they would have a much more difficult time in a region with which they are totally unfamiliar on the surface. Field work can be extremely confusing and time-consuming if not properly organized. The observer in an area is faced with a welter of impressions . From them he must be able to select those relevant to his work and to disregard the remainder. To know what is relevant is somediing that only the individual worker can decide. He alone knows the aims and scope of his intended research. At the same time, it must be decided by what method the observations are to be recorded. A number of procedures are available to the observer; based upon his needs, he must select die most effective. Depending upon the amount of time available to the researcher and the degree of refinement required of his study, various approaches may be used in the field. If only a sweeping generalization is desired, reconnaissance techniques will suffice. If a more thorough appraisal of the area is the aim, a combination of reconnaissance techniques with representative transects or other forms of sampling may be in order. If the end result is to be a complete areal inventory, it may be necessary to make a detailed survey of the 23 entire area, field by field and block by block. Again, only the fieldworker is capable of deciding the technique to be employed. Intimate knowledge of all techniques and the scope, advantages, and shortcomings of each should be part of the inherent knowledge possessed by every geographer. Such familiarity is not easily obtainable by reading. It is only by having used them in the field himself that the geographer can become fully appreciative of their utility. Exposure to such experience can best come in the early part of the graduate program. At that stage of development the student has acquired most of his background in fundamentals and is only beginning to specialize. Widi the necessity of doing field work for his own thesis or dissertation in the immediate future, he is particularly receptive to such training. To provide such training should be the primary purpose of a field camp. Since the writer has had over a decade of experience in the operation of such a field camp in conjunction with the geography graduate program at the University of California, Los Angeles, it is perhaps appropriate here to describe in detail the functions of that camp in fulfilling the aims set out above. The camp does not attempt to teach the geography of southern California. Field trips can be an important adjunct in the teaching of regional courses, but a graduate field camp should be...