Restoration Initiatives

Baseline Ecological Assessment

The same year that the Grand Canyon Trust and the Conservation Fund purchased the ranches, we conducted the first ever, comprehensive baseline ecological assessment of the ranches to assess historic and current conditions, and to help identify restoration and management needs and opportunities. This assessment focused on characterizing current rangeland, forest, and water resource conditions across the entire ranch area. A number of different techniques were used, including extensive on-the-ground field work to quantify current vegetation and soil conditions, cutting edge interpretation of satellite imagery, and detailed assessments of water resources. This assessment was conducted under the direction of our Science Advisory Council, and with assistance from researchers at the Natural Resource and Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University and the ForestERA project at Northern Arizona University.

First, 42 distinct biophysical land cover types were identified using vegetation and soil data.  Next, 660 assessment plot locations were randomly identified within these 42 land cover types (strata) in proportion to the areal extent of each type. During the summer of 2005, vegetation, ground cover, invasive plant, fire effects, and soil stability characteristics were measured and aggregate soil samples were collected within each 8-m radius circular assessment plot. Forest structure data were collected at 150 forested assessment plots using a sampling protocol designed to meet the requirements of precise remote-sensing analyses. Analysis of these landscape-scale vegetation and soil characteristics has allowed us to prioritize appropriate initial locations for site-specific restoration efforts and identify proper conservation goals and actions.