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Restoration in Arches & Canyonlands National Parks

By Southwest Biological Science Center December 16, 2024

A CBS News segment spotlights restoration research at Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Utah, featuring interviews with National Park Service staff — with SBSC scientists Rebecca Mann and Mike Duniway leading the restoration research at the heart of the story.

Arches and Canyonlands National Parks face ecological pressures such as the spread of nonnative annual grasses, soil disturbance from historical cattle grazing, and the stubborn challenge of reestablishing native perennial grasses on degraded land.

The video highlights SBSC's collaborative research with the National Park Service on connectivity modifiers, or "ConMods," which are small mesh screens that act as mini windbreaks, reducing wind and water erosion on bare soil patches, and creating sheltered microsites where native grass seeds can take hold and germinate.

The CBS piece, "Restoring Arches and Canyonlands National Parks," can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyCCl6cJxp4 

Video
Media
Three researchers walk through shrubs with rock formations and blue in the distance in Canyonlands National Park
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
USGS researchers walk to a long-term vegetation and drought study site in a Canyonlands National Park grassland, Utah, where long-term monitoring has occurred since 1998.

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