Desert Ecology Commons^™

Mesa Verde Vegetal Survey, Stanley L. Welsh

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

Abstract

This write-up is mainly concerned with plant specimens recovered and examined from major prehistoric cliff dwellings being excavated during the Wetherill Mesa Project. It also includes anecdotes from the author’s experiences in Mesa Verde. An overall summary of the species identified is presented at the end of this work, including suggestions as to how plants may have been used based on modern Native American surveys.

Table of Contents

Preface

Prologue

Introduction

Wetherill Mesa

Climate

Collections

Identification

Modern Plant Assemblage

Contemporary Species Compliment

Archeological Plant Assemblage

Plant Species Recovering from the Major Ruins

Kinds of Plant Materials Recovered

Wood-worked Items …

Botanists In The Canyonlands Of The Colorado Plateau – 1950–1983 & Prior, Stanley L. Welsh, Glen Moore

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of botanical investigations in southeastern Utah, but is not so-restricted geographically. It grew out of the discovery of decades-old manuscripts on the flora of what became Canyonlands National Park in 1964, but from those typescript copies the coverage grew outward geographically and backward in time to the earliest inhabitants of what is today known as the Four Corners Region of the American Southwest. Reviewed is the account of utilization of the region and its natural resources by aboriginal inhabitants who were familiar with all of it. That early, and to an extent, continuous occupation …

Hanging Gardens Of The Colorado: Jewels In The Crown—Canyonlands Versus Zion Canyon, Stanley L. Welsh

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

Abstract

Descriptions and types of Utah’s hanging gardens. This work includes a comparison of hanging gardens in Canyonlands versus Zion Canyon, as well as the plant and animal assemblages found there. Five types of gardens and alcoves are defined and the different types found in both national parks are described. Maps of hanging garden locations and extensive photographs of the flora and fauna are provided.

Table of Contents (abridged)

Prolog

Canyonlands Gardens

Geomorphology

Types of Gardens and Alcoves

Zion Canyon Gardens

Terrace-type Gardens

Plant Communities

Stream Courses

Geographic Affinities of Hanging Gardens

Restricted or Unusual Plants

Plant Succession

Appendix I: …

Mohave Desert—An Overview And Byu's Lytle Preserve, Stanley L. Welsh, Larry St. Clair

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Mohahve or Mohave (Mojave) gets its Explorer and its Name (sort of?)

The Frémont Odyssey through the Mohahve

What of the Crossing of the Mohahve?

References

BYU's Lytle Preserve

Acknowledgments

Botanist In Death Valley, Stanley L. Welsh

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

Abstract

This book details the author’s trips to Death Valley, along with general ecological information about the region. Explorations by other natural historians are also recounted. Death Valley and its surrounding mountain ranges are stark and appear to lack vegetative cover, but that appearance is deceiving. The ranges and valley support a great diversity of living things, both plants and animals. Pages 10–17 contain photographs of various landscapes. Pages 18–20 list the plant species collected in Death Valley, 1970–1983. Voucher specimens are available for study at Stanley L. Welsh Herbarium, Brigham Young University.

Water In Beaver Dam Wash And Lytle Preserve, Stanley L. Welsh

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

This short work is derived from a manuscript prepared for presentation in a water adjudication hearing, following a proposal to pipe water from wells in Beaver Dam Wash for transfer across state lines to be used for culinary and other purposes in Mesquite, Nevada. The Wash is estimated to yield 2000 acre feet of water annually, mostly as subsurface flow, at the Arizona line. About a third of that amount is already appropriated by users along the Wash in Utah, but there are applications pending for more than 100,000 acre feet in Utah. Thus, the Wash is already oversubscribed by …

Perennial Atriplex Of Utah And The Northern Deserts, Craig A. Hanson

Theses and Dissertations

Atriplex is a genus in the Chenopodiaceae, the perennial members of which are ecologically important in western North America. Seventeen species and one subspecies of perennial Atriplex occur in Utah and the northern deserts. Three of these species and the subspecies were described by the writer in a recent publication as a result of extensive field work leading to this study. These are A. welshii, A. navajoensis, A. bonnevillensis, and A. cuneata ssp. introgressa. This study is an investigation of the systematics and phytogeography of the perennial Atriplex in Utah and the northern deserts, with emphasis on the A. gardneri …

The Succession Of Vegetation On A Southern Utah Sand Dune, Elias S. Castle

Theses and Dissertations

The sand dunes lying ten miles northwest of Kanab in Kane County, Utah, support a sparse plant cover with four species dominating the vegetation: Psoralea stenostachys, Sophora stenophylla, Oryzopsis hymenoides, and Wyethia scabra var. attenuata. Of these Psoralea and Wyethia are endemic to the dunes or to a limited area which includes the dunes. The pineer species gain a start in the valleys between dunes and occupy the area only until sand covers them or until sand is blown away from their roots. Stabilization of the soils is not permanently in the interdune valleys and the dunes continue to wander. …

The Influence Of Overgrazing On The Density And Number Of Palatable And Unpalatable Desert Forage Plants, John H. Mcguire

Theses and Dissertations

The data for this problem were collected at the Desert Range Experiment Station and on adjoining public domain lands during the summer of 1934, for the purpose of studying the influence of overgrazing on the increase of palatable and unpalatable desert forage plants. A vegetative description of the two areas studied has been prepared and presented.

Effects Of Overgrazing On The Mortality Of Desert Browse Of The Utah West Desert, Charles W. Menzies

Theses and Dissertations

During the summer of 1934 this investigation was conducted to determine the effect of overgrazing on the mortality of desert browse in the vicinity of the Desert Range Branch experiment station. Range lands of western United States have, as a whole been subjected to overgrazing. Utah has about 24 million acres of public acres of public domain that can only be utilized from grazing. An effort has been made to put this area under control. The "Taylor Grazing Act" passed by Congress June 28, 1934 is a big step in the direction of the control of this vast area of …