Native plants have a tough lot — cattle trample them, deer devour them, and invasive species choke them out. Add in climate change and the natural balance of plant communities really gets thrown out of whack.
We work to restore degraded landscapes across the Colorado Plateau. Sometimes this means pulling thistles to make space for native plants. Other times it means building fences to keep certain animals out, giving delicate grasses the chance to reclaim ground after decades of overgrazing. We count tiny grass heads, identify plant species, and take photo points to track the recovery of our public lands.
800 acres of private land within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Learn more ›
The largest aspen clone in the world, located in Utah's Fishlake National Forest. Learn more ›
A fenced reference area in Utah's Manti-La Sal National Forest that is not grazed. Learn more ›
Native plants occur naturally and have evolved to the specific locales in which they grow. They attract colorful arrays of butterflies and bees, provide food and cover for voles, harrier chicks, fawns, and other animals, and help cool the water in streams. Native plants are important components of healthy and balanced ecosystems.
Across the Colorado Plateau, non-native plants, like thistles and houndstongue, push out native vegetation. We pull out certain invasives so that native plants have a chance to reclaim their ground. Over time, we expect the proportions of non-native and native plants to shift in favor of the diverse native flora.
Fences are just as good at keeping animals out as they are at keeping them in. We use reference areas, which were once heavily grazed, to track the recovery of native species when cattle, deer, elk, and sheep are fenced out. We study the variety of plants that replace non-natives, and count how many of each species we find.
Aspen stands are clones, with genetically identical trees — a "one-tree forest" that sends up new sprouts from its roots. So what looks like a stand of hundreds to thousands of individual trees is actually one organism, connected by a single root system. The Pando Clone (meaning “I spread”) is around 40,000 stems, covering 106 acres in Fishlake National Forest and weighing nearly 13 million pounds. But the clone of century-old trees is in serious decline, as animals are chomping down the new shoots faster than they can grow.
We work in plots within the clone where deer and cattle are fenced out, giving young aspen a chance to grow into mature trees. We return to these areas each year to pull invasive thistles and houndstongue and monitor the aspen’s new growth.
Transforming overgrazed pastures into wildlife paradise.
Rick and Susie Knezevich, the owners of 800 acres of cattle-free land in southern Utah, have an admirable goal: leave the land better than they found it. Several years ago, they teamed up with the Trust, put their land in a conservation easement, and have been working with our volunteers to restore their property and study its recovery.
Surrounded by Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Johnson Lakes Canyon is a laboratory for restoration experiments and projects. It also serves as a lesson in the recovery that is possible when cattle are kept off the land.
Native cottonwoods and willows are thriving, biological soil crusts cover entire hillsides, red-tailed hawks nest, and water birds drop by during their travels. Trust volunteers have been helping remove invasive species in Johnson Lakes Canyon since 2014. We also bring scientists out for bioblitzes to document the plant and animal life gradually coming back to the property. Take a look at what we've found ›
We teach you what to look for, then set you loose to document the health of our public lands.
We’re teaching volunteers to spot the differences between grazed and non-grazed public lands and sending them off to photograph and report on areas closed to livestock on the Colorado Plateau. "Where Cows Don’t Graze" is a multi-year project to map areas closed to livestock grazing, but we need your help to cover all that ground. The information you collect will help us advocate for grazing reform across the plateau.
