Repeat photo interpretation of vegetation change from 1910 to 2016 on the Colorado Plateau, USA and contextual data on land use, climate, topography, and geomorphology

These data document over a century of plant community change on the Colorado Plateau (CP) using repeat photography (1910-2016). Photos were taken across a 3100 square kilometer area on the CP largely in areas administered by the NPS and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), including (but not limited to) areas now within Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park; Glen Canyon National Recreation Area; and Hovenweep National Monument, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Natural Bridges National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Bears Ears National Monument. We examined 338 repeat photo pairs across three dominant vegetation communities: CP Blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima Torr.)-Mormon tea (Ephedra spp.) Shrubland, Inter-Mountain Basins Semi-Desert Grassland and Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) Shrubland, and CP Pinyon (Pinus edulis Engelm.)-Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma (Torr.) Little) Woodland/Shrubland. Changes in vegetation were evaluated through plant counts, plant size, patch shifts, changes in patch size, and live plant cover. We also extracted relevant contextual information from available spatial data in GIS, including grazing history, climate, topography, soil characteristics, and land-use history. These data can be used to examine changes in plant communities on the Colorado Plateau and how contextual information may relate to changes from 1910 to 2016.