Science Round-up Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

June 19, 2017 Dana Backer Science Permits

• 2017 new permits: 6 • 2017 updated permits: 3 • Current number of open permits: 47 (81% held by universities/colleges)

Types of Permit: Biology: 23 Geology/Paleo: 20 Social Science: 4

Photo by Jared Warren, Artist in Residence Backcountry Use Impacts Penn State

• Impacts of recreation-related activities by therapy programs (206 sites) & other backcountry camps (33 sites) • Document 14 different types of impacts • Therapy groups: Notable but avoidable impacts included stripped bark, presence of charcoal & litter (p-cord, tuna wrappers, etc.) • Other camps: Most common impacts-litter, fire evidence & social trails

• Phase 1 of 5 complete Food scraps Campsite Impact Frequency Percent Low 206 86.2 Moderate 27 11.3 Heavy 6 2.5 Ceremonial Ring Toilet Paper Recreation Experience – Baseline Data Colorado Mesa University

• Focus group methodology (in person & digitally) - gather info from local residents, business owners, outfitters/guides, & visitors • Four years of data collection (50+ focus groups & 300+ participants) • Multi-phased approach (2 of 4 phases completed) • GSENM is special because “wild and unspoiled” & “scenic quality” • Main interest – natural landscape & tranquil escapes • Primary activity – hiking & exploring • What diminishes experience – vandalism, litter, graffiti and/or human waste • Synthesis report due in FY2018 Special Places Identified by Participants - Hole in the Rock Area Reptile and Amphibian Inventory and Treatment Survey Southern Utah University

• Two year study (2017-18) • Comparison of: • treated P-J encroachment (KFO) • sagebrush (GSENM) • untreated P-J encroachment (GSENM) • Target surveys (chuckwalla, desert night lizard) & inventory • Range extension for some snakes– patch nose, ground, diamond back & glossy • No new species yet Hummingbird Banding • 9th year • 2 common (black chin & broad tail) • 2 uncommon (rufous and Anna) • Migratory (Idaho, Vancouver, Tucson) • Monitoring locations: Escalante VC, Calf Creek, & Wildcat Gauge Station • Categories: new, visitor, or return • Pollen sample • Numbers are down this year • Volunteer to assist • Contact Terry 435-691-6670 Paleontological Resources In 2016: • 2,800 acres surveyed & monitored 50 sensitive fossil sites Machairoceratops • Named 8 new species (turtles, armored & cronusi horned dinosaurs)

CURRENT RESEARCH (just a few examples): • Document oldest known mosasaur (marine reptile) from North America • Excavation of only known southern USA tyrannosaur mass death site • Document ammonite (extinct cousins to squid) diversity in marine rocks Paleontological Resources

New finds this year! • Articulated tyrannosaur • Mammoth tusk and teeth

Publication: Where Dinosaurs Roamed: Lost Worlds of Utah’s Grand Staircase

Featured in Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM)  Spatially balanced sample design  Samples weighted by ecological stratum  Robust statistical inference

Rangeland Health: AIM provides quantitative estimates of site stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity CORE METHODS INDICATORS Line-Point Intercept Bare ground, veg composition, non- natives, species of mngt concern

Vegetation Height Vegetation Height Gap Intercept Open canopy gaps Soil Stability Soil aggregate stability  Initiated 2013 Other Modeled indicators – susceptibility to  130 sites thru 2016 wind and water erosion, wildlife  2017 – 59 new sites habitat structure Baseline Acoustic Monitoring • NPS protocols • Definition: human perception of physical Aircraft Audibility sound resource • includes ambient natural & anthropogenic noise • Natural sound intrinsic to resource conditions & visitor experience • Initiated in 2015 with 14 sites • Variables: hour and season • One of quietest places in the country • Highest percentages of anthropogenic noise are high altitude jets & popular visitor locations Spectrograph is an instrument that separates light/sound into a frequency spectrum and records the signal using a camera Cultural Resources In 2016: • Inventoried 1,100 acres & documented 35 new historic properties • Publication: Formative Chronology of Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument: A Research Reference by Doug McFadden Current Work: Survey springs for ethnobotanically important plants • Identify plant presence & absence (grazing, invasive species, loss of spring function, erosion, etc.) • Identify plants that may have been transplanted & propagated • Current use and importance of the plants and springs to Paiute, Hopi & Navajo Photos by D. Sabata Cultural Resources Pollen Core Studies (Northern Arizona University) • Extracted from Kaiparowits Plateau (7400’) & Meadow Canyon (5400’), surrounded by Ancestral Puebloans & Fremont era sites • Direct correlation between the pollen cores & the surrounding cultural activity • Results include 8,000 years of information on the Kaiparowits Plateau & over 4,000 years in Meadow Canyon:

• fire histories showing anthropogenic influences during the prehistoric farming period • changes in local vegetation associated with prehistoric farming • sedimentation rate changes over time • evidence of Paiute bean farming in Late Prehistoric times • vegetative changes with the advent of historic livestock grazing • Ongoing analysis of pollen cores

Documenting Livestock Grazing History in Kane and Garfield Counties (Colorado Plateau Archeological Association)

New finds in this year! • Pueblo I (~900 AD) sites: agro-residential site; conducting an inventory • Prehistoric corn husks from a pit house site in Hackberry Canyon area

Visual Resource Inventory • Updating visual or scenic resource inventory; last done in 2012 • Data collection • scenic quality (what do areas look like) • sensitivity (how sensitive is the public to changes in the existing landscape character) • distance zones (how far away are areas when they are commonly viewed by the public)

• Results (2012) Individual scenic quality rating units - similar types of • Class I = 937,745 landscapes into polygons categorized together • Class 2 = 549,488 • Class 3 = 361,673 • Expected completion early 2018 Night Sky International Dark Sky Association & Weber State University

• Baseline night sky quality measurements initiated in 2016 • Sky Quality Meters calibrated with satellite images • Light pollution (glare, sky glow, light trespass and clutter) is threat to resources and visitor experience

Photo by Jared Warren, Artist in Residence Night Sky Results • Monument interior is as dark as can be measured • More than 90% of the Monument consists of ‘pristine sky,’ which is unprecedented in the continental U.S. for a park this size  Pristine sky is no indication of artificial sky glow anywhere in the night sky, from the zenith down to the horizon; only natural sources of light • Seeking International Dark Sky Sanctuary designation by IDA • Several Dark Sky Parks in the Colorado Plateau • “Astro-tourism” Escalante Watershed Aquatic Resource Condition & Management Completed to Date • Aquatic intactness identified • Driving stressors & context analysis (REA) • Sensitivity analysis of intactness scores to variables • Aquatic resource condition (AIM) • Vegetation condition & departure (RCAT)

Work in Progress • Integrate datasets to guide mngt activities (salinity issues & restoration of areas with low integrity) • Developing resources to aid application & use of datasets Science Needs to Inform Management Decisions • Restoration treatments (invasives, seeding, pinyon- juniper) • Visitor impacts – “loving it to death” • Ground water and spring monitoring • Status and trends of threatened and endangered species • Suggestion? Thanks to the BLM staff, researchers, volunteers, and folks like you who care

Questions?

Dana Backer [email protected]