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Zion Flora Because the elevation rises from 3,666 feet to 8,740 feet in the course of a few miles, Zion's landscape changes from desert to boreal forest. A variety of flowers dot the canyon floor, their appearance stimulated by Zion's alternating wet and dry seasons. The sand buttercup, chorispora, and Indian paintbrush flourish in March and April. May heralds the violet, orchid, sego lily, and columbine. During the drier July and August, day blooming plants are replaced by night species, such as white evening primrose and the spectacular sacred datura. Reaching a height of 2 or more feet, the datura's trumpetshaped blossom opens in the evening and then closes in the morning sun. Where water tables lie near the surface of the canyon floor, groves of box elder, willow, cottonwood, and ash flourish. Beavertail cactus blooms in the late spring in the dry Parunuweap Canyon, Coalpits Wash, and Huber Wash. At the higher elevations, nature is not so parsimonious as in the desert and desert plant, in some areas plant life is exceedingly luxuriant. Ponderosa pine, pinon pine, quaking aspen, gnarled juniper, white fir, Douglas fir, and, occasionally, sage flats predominate. Dazzling leaves of the radiant aspen transform murky waters of the Virgin River to a golden luster in the autumn. Pines and firs also grow in the side canyons, providing food and protection for wildlife. Zion Fauna One delightful animal that can be seen throughout much of Zion Park is the mule deer. It is particularly abundant in the canyons and occasionally can be spotted sloshing through the Virgin River or leaping a fallen log. So abundant is this desert animal that it is difficult to believe that its numbers were greatly reduced in Zion at two different times: soon after the establishment of the park, when the National Park Service attempted to reestablish native vegetation; and during the 1930s, when the National Park Service tried to preserve "good" animals, such as the deer and elk, by eliminating "bad" animals, such as the cougar. Predator control was so effective that deer and elk soon overgrazed their ranges, eating themselves out of house and home. Mass starvation became a critical problem. Today, with improved understanding of Zion's ecological system, the deer and the cougar have returned. Bighorn sheep always have been as much a part of the natural scene as deer, quail, hawks, golden eagles, roadrunners, and kangaroo rats; archeologists know from petroglyphs that bighorn sheep were hunted by Indians. But as the years passed, they became extinct at Zion. Poaching, construction of the Zion Mount Carmel Highway, and the inability of sheep to cope with the excessive deer population may have contributed to their demise. Whatever the reasons, the last big horn sighting in the area, until recently, was in 1953. For the next twenty years, there were no sheep in the park, although biologists believed that Zion could well support them; studies showed that the critical winter range could support a band of 100 animals. In July 1973, twelve sheep from the River Mountain area of Lake Mead, Nevada, were released into a huge paddock adjacent to the Visitor Center. Five years later, acclimated to the environment, the new flock was set free. Some have been seen in Zion Canyon, others in the Poverty Flat country, and still others in the Coalpits Wash area. Whether the transplant will prove successful is still subject to speculation. Extract from "The Sierra Club Guides To The National Parks Desert Southwest". Published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang. Distributed by Random House. 1984. |
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