So there's this thing called vertical mulching

I'm working on a large-ish project about land-use in an area of the desert known as the Ironwood Forest National Monument. It's northwest of Tucson in the middle of the Sonoran desert. Lots of intersecting issues: immigration/militarization, drug smuggling, ranching, mining, recreation, utility infrastructure, archeology. They all come together in a seemingly blank space. But if you look a little closer things start to get wierd. Case in point, Vertical Mulching. It's used to lessen the visual impact of illegal roads created by smugglers and careless atv'ers. Basically dead tree limbs and brush are planted into the soil to immitate the surrounding vegetation. The result is usually somewhat convincing but altogether strange. Here's an image.