Rocky Mountain National Park’S the Area
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National Park Rocky Mountain Colorado A Student’s This brochure offers a brief office at 970/586-3777, or on the overview of Rocky Mountain Web at http://www.heartofthe Guide to Park National Park. More detail can be rockies.net Selected references obtained by contacting the are included at the end of each Resources park's environmental education section. HISTORY Paleo-Indians (paleo means The park was formally established ancient or prehistoric) reached the on January 26, 1915. By 1910, the vicinity of Rocky Mountain National automobile was bringing many Park between 10,000 and 20,000 people to this beautiful place. years ago. Utes and Arapahoes were the most recent Indians to use Rocky Mountain National Park’s the area. Early humans left few beginnings are primarily linked with artifacts, but objects of stone, bone, the name of one man -- Enos A. and burnt clay uncovered by the Mills -- famous naturalist and spade of the archeologist tell us “father” of the park. His enthusiasm, about these first inhabitants. A few writings, and lectures laid the objects found in the park have been groundwork for legislation that estimated to be about 8,000 years preserved this area for the old. enjoyment of the American people and their guests from foreign countries. Buchholtz, Curt Rocky Mountain National Park: A History. Colorado Assn. Univ. Press, Boulder, CO. 1983 GEOLOGY What carved the magnificent This ancestral range was formed mountains of the Front Range? when great forces within the earth What caused the smooth, gentle caused a gigantic lifting of land slopes on Trail Ridge Road, the U- under the sea. The old sea floor shaped valleys, the up-tilted rock buckled and bowed into a long formations along the Old Fall River ridge, like a wrinkle in a carpet. Road? Nature’s powerful forces are Rock layers fractured. The fractures still at work in the park region. became faults as the rock layers The Front Range, 200 miles (322 slipped or were thrust along the km) long and 40 miles (64 km) fracture zones. Molten lava oozed wide, is a rugged, spectacular from the earth’s interior through section of the Rocky Mountains some of the fractures to harden on rising from the Great Plains. the surface of a granite base. Harris, Ann & Tuttle, Esther Geology of the National Parks. Kendall/Hall Publishing Co., Dubuque, IA. 1983. Chronic, Halka Roadside Geology of Colorado. Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula, MT. 1982. Pages of Stone. The Mountaineers, Seattle, WA. 1984. WILDLIFE The wildlife is protected in Rocky Elk are frequently seen in the early Mountain National Park. This morning and early evening. They sanctuary affords visitors the rest in the cover of trees during the opportunity to observe wildlife in day. Winter is the season of largest their natural life processes. No concentrations. They are often hunting, feeding, harassing, observed grazing in grassy touching, or other activities are meadows. Herds of 200 or more allowed that disrupt natural may be active in Moraine and processes. Horseshoe Parks on the east side, and in the Kawuneeche Valley west Wildlife movements depend on of the Continental Divide. season of the year, time of day, weather, and food sources. Mule deer are common. In winter, Black bear are infrequently seen Fish, reptiles, and amphibians their grey coats may be seen along along a road or in a campground. are also protected in the park. the moraines of Mill Creek, Moraine Black bear populations are small in Some species near extinction like Park, or Beaver Meadows. They the park. This elusive animal keeps the greenback cutthroat trout feed mainly on shrubs in morning or a low profile as do other large have been reintroduced through evening, but are active all day. In predators found in the park like controlled research programs. All summer, with a new coat of reddish bobcat and mountain lion. research projects need approval brown, most deer move to higher from the Superintendent. Tiger meadows near treeline. Some still Smaller mammals and birds like salamanders, chorus frogs, and frequent the lower ranges all year. chipmunks, ground squirrels, western garter snakes make the pikas, marmots, jays (camp woodlands and ponds of the Rocky Bighorn sheep are seldom seen in robbers), and magpies can be Mountains their home. the winter and generally remain high seen at scenic parking areas and in the Mummy or the Never Summer on hiking trails. Checklists for most Rocky Range of mountains. They come to Mountain animals are available on Sheep Lakes in Horseshoe Park to Both the wolf and grizzly bear request. use the natural mineral licks; they once occupied the park, but have are frequently seen in “the Crater” been extirpated (exterminated). area of Specimen Mountain. Coyotes are common in the Armstrong, David M. Rocky Mountain Mammals. Colorado montane region in winter. Day or Associated Univ. Press, Boulder, CO. 1987. night, they hunt for mice in the Peterson, Roger T. Western Birds. Houghton Mifflin Co., meadows. In the evening, their Boston, MA 1990. serenade echoes across the land. LIFE SYSTEMS Unique plants and animals thrive at The dark-eyed junco and the ruby- certain elevations. These crowned kinglet dominate the air in ecosystems are the result of life this verdant forest. The red squirrel processes and interactions or chickaree is a boreal creature, within the environment. Three major taking to the tall treetops to forage ecosystems, specific in elevation, and avoid predators. soil, climate, and land form types, are found in the park. The alpine tundra is an ecosystem of extremes. Wind, cold, and snow The montane ecosystem combines sculpt plants and land at elevations open stands of ponderosa pine and above 11,000 feet (3,353 m). As juniper on sunny, south slopes with trees thin, changes are distinct. Douglas fir growing on the cooler, The “krummholz” is a forest of north slopes. This life system at crooked trees, some of them 7,600 to 9,000 feet (2,316 to 2,743 hundreds of years old and only five m) above sea level, contains feet in height. meadows, riparian areas, and aspen groves. Abert’s squirrels live here A short growing season on the and remain active all year. Mule tundra of 8-10 weeks means plants deer, mountain bluebird, and grow low to the ground and western tanager frequent this sunny, wildflowers sport dime-sized dry environment in summer. blooms. White-tailed ptarmigan (pronounced tar-mi-gan) are hard The subalpine ecosystem, with to see, since their plummage blends stands of Douglas fir, subalpine fir, to background hues -- white in and Englemann spruce trees, winter, brown and gray in summer. encompasses elevations between Marmots, pika, and bighorn sheep 9,000 to 11,000 feet (2,743 to are well adapted to this arctic-like 3,353 m). world. Mutel, Cornelia F. & Emerick, John From Grassland to Glacier. Johnson Books, Boulder, CO 1992. Willard, Beatrice E. & Ann E. Zwinger Land Above the Trees: A Guide to the American Alpine. Harper and Row Publishers, New York, NY. 1972. 3/00.