When it comes to restoration, we scale up our work to match the size of the Colorado Plateau’s vast landscapes. From huge swaths of canyon country to the world’s largest ponderosa pine forest, we approach big landscapes with gusto.
Explore the expansive skies, grand vistas, and vast landscapes we work to protect.
Restoring 830,000 acres of public land on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
In 2005, the Trust bought grazing permits for lands north of the Grand Canyon. We work with a ranching family to manage the day-to-day operations. Read on ›
Alongside universities, the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, and others, we pilot restoration approaches on the North Rim Ranches. Learn more ›
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 ›
Studying the recovery of land when it gets a rest from livestock grazing.
Thanks to an agreement with the Forest Service and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, 28,000 acres of land in in the Abajo Mountains are closed to livestock grazing through at least 2022. The Trust studies native grass diversity, builds and repairs fences, and is tracking the recovery of the ponderosa and aspen forest as it rests. More on our work in the White Mesa Cultural and Conservation Area ›
Even a short journey of a few hundred steps offers a deeper perspective on the Grand Canyon.
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Last year, 13 Native American tribes asked President Biden to designate a new national monument. Today, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument...
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A sacred site designation would discourage developers from targeting the confluence for trams, dams, or hotels. "Leave it as it is and respect it," says Delores Wilson-Aguirre.
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