Conservation Connections May-June Update

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Seasonal update:

What a wonderful year this has been for wildflowers, but alas, also for weeds. In May the rolling hills of eastern Utah and western Colorado were covered with invasive bright green cheat grass and yellow flowers of tumble mustard. As the cheat grass matured these fields adopted a beautiful mauve hue. To the uninitiated, it looks like the desert fields are healthy. It would be just a short time before the grass would brown and the seeds turn into sharp needles that penetrate your socks (and spread), or worse, get caught in the ears of your pet.

Grasslands in Canyonlands National Park and other less grazed areas are supporting beautiful thick stands of chest-high native Needle and Thread grass (Stipa comata). These relatively undisturbed areas have shown little invasion by cheat grass and other exotics. The lesson: native competition is essential for weed management.

Back in the office:

We are currently expanding the Advisory Board and recruiting new members to include a greater diversity of scientists and businesses. We also purchased additional equipment for the river program so that we are now fully equipped to run trips to support our mission.

We participated in a survey of previous grant recipients being conducted by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and BLM to consider ways of monitoring projects for success. We also participated in the National River Restoration Science Synthesis project.

Michael Smith and Tamsin McCormick submitted summaries of six programs for presentation at the 16th Annual Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge, TN next January. Plateau Restoration will also have an educational booth at the event.

Plateau Restoration is hoping to collaborate with Red Rock Forests and Great Old Broads for Wilderness in monitoring ATV use in the Abajo and La Sal Mountains. These organizations have partnered on a grant application to the National Forest Foundation. Members of these three organizations took some time to smell the flowers in the Abajos on a recent scouting trip.

We have also been exploring several other potential projects in the Abajo and La Sal Mountains, the San Rafael Swell and Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument.


Friends:

Generous donations to help underwrite volunteer conservation projects were recently received from the following:
Marian Ottinger, Cedaredge, CO, Sue Shrewsbury, Moab, UT, Paul Zilis, Boulder, CO, The Williams Group, Grand Rapids, MI, Andy Shukra, Arlington, VA, and Bob Lillie, Philomath, OR. Thanks to our new sponsors!

In May we hosted Jack Tolan, a recent graduate of Colorado Rocky Mountain School for a two-week project. Jack helped us with upgrading an existing xeric landscape that we installed in 1996. He also assisted with ongoing surveys of a new BLM campground near Moab and a survey of the Colorado River from Cisco to Big Sandy. Jack will be enrolling in Colorado College this fall and has an interest in majoring in geology.

We have also just selected two new interns who will work with Red Rock Forests and Plateau Restoration for the rest of the summer. They arrive early in July.

Activities:

Tamsin McCormick attended two great conferences in May: Ecology and Management of Pinyon-Juniper and Sagebrush Communities in Montrose, CO, organized by the Uncompahgre Plateau Project, and the Geological Society of America - Rocky Mountain Section Meeting held at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, CO. Topics that received significant attention at the first conference included invasion of cheat grass and decline of pinyon-juniper woodlands and sage. Large-scale restoration was the theme and lots of huge equipment was on display (chippers, seeders, etc.). The conference also provided an invaluable opportunity to connect with land managers and scientists of the region. Discussions of regional geology at the GSA meeting included problems of Selenium migration from the Mancos Shale.

Students and faculty from the University of Colorado Geology Department joined us for a three-day river trip on the Colorado River just as the water was rising. It was really good to see high water after so many drought years. Thanks to Joe Smyth and Alan Lester for helping to put this together.

Tamsin McCormick was one of three instructors for a two-day geology workshop for the National Park Service southeast Utah group in June. Dr. Bob Lillie, Oregon State University, author of "Parks and Plates", coordinated the workshop. The third instructor, Paul Weimer of University of Colorado, leads a group that has just completed a computer animation of the geology of Colorado National Monument and an interactive website on geology of Canyonlands National Park. These fascinating projects and other ongoing work of this group can be viewed at http://igp.colorado.edu.