Secret, pristine grassland provides scientists precious insight into how undisturbed ecosystems function
Southwest Biological Science Center and National Park Service personnel were featured in a KSL TV story about a protected, ungrazed, and semi-pristine grassland in Canyonlands National Park that is used for long-term scientific studies.
U.S. Geological Survey researchers from the Southwest Biological Science Center and the National Park Service were featured in a KSL TV story about a hidden grassland in Canyonlands National Park that has never been grazed by domestic livestock. The site is free from human disturbances and semi-pristine — it has just one nonnative species, an annual grass (Bromus tectorum; commonly known as ‘cheat grass’) that invaded the grassland in the mid-1990s. Thus, this rare, protected 62-acre grassland is a great site to study how undisturbed ecosystems respond to climate and invasion by non-native grasses.
Studying relatively intact grasslands like the one in Canyonlands National Park could yield information useful to ranchers and others who manage lands in the arid West. To learn more about the research and to see some beautiful footage, check out the story titled “A secret trail to Utah’s protected paradise”: https://ksltv.com/424381/a-secret-trail-to-utahs-protected-paradise/.
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