Science Moab

Given the increasing temperatures and aridity, the fate of pinyon-juniper woodlands on the Colorado Plateau is uncertain. We talk with Rebecca Finger-Higgens, Ecologist with the US Geological Survey, about the recovery of the pinyon-juniper woodlands in the La Sal Mountains following the Pack Creek Fire of 2021. Rebecca tackles the question of whether pre-fire forest thinning programs and post-fire seeding and erosion control expedite pinyon-juniper forest recovery.

Here in SE Utah, we are living in a geologically young, rapidly eroding landscape and we have the Colorado River to thank for sculpting such a beautiful and dynamic area. We talk with Joel Pederson, professor and Department Head of Geomorphology at Utah State University about his continuing research on incision rates of the Colorado River across the Colorado Plateau. We talk about some new advancements in age dating and why the area around Moab is currently the fastest eroding reach of the River.

High alpine talus slopes are home to a myriad of creatures, namely mountain goats and American pikas, both specialists in alpine habitats. We talk with Mallory Sandoval Lambert, whose curiosity about the interactions between these two mammalian herbivores led her to study their behaviors in the LaSal Mountains. Understanding these interactions will have important implications for the conservation of each species. This data will be particularly useful for both pika conservation and agencies tasked with managing the land that introduced mountain goat herds inhabit.

Around the world, civilizations have literally been built on rock and the specific rock type of an area has definite influences on that society. Science Moab talks with wildlife and science documentary writer, Gautier Dubois, whose recent work, Top of the Rocks, will be featured at this year’s Moab Festival of Science. Each episode of this 5-part series looks at a different rock (basalt, granite, sandstone, limestone, and clay) and how that rock influences our landscapes and environments. The Sandstone episode was filmed partially on the Colorado Plateau and features Moab scientist, Tim Graham.

On October 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central, and South America. Parts of SE Utah will be in the direct path of the eclipse. We talk with Cris White, Eclipse Coordinator for the Earth to Sky Interagency Partnership, about the uniqueness of eclipses and the many scientific activities that will be happening in conjunction with this year’s eclipse.

Sedimentologists are geologists that study rocks on the earth’s surface today in order to interpret ancient depositional environments. By studying deposits of river gravels, Andre Potochnik has been able to determine major changes in the drainages on the southern part of the Colorado Plateau. We talk with Andre about his work in Arizona on the Apache Reservation and how he has come up with the timing of significant drainage reversals for rivers in that area and how this impacts the interpretations of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.

Drylands encompass over 40% of terrestrial ecosystems and face significant degradation from a warming/drying climate and overuse. To combat this degradation, some restoration efforts have focused on the use of biological soil crusts (biocrusts): complex communities of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes, and other organisms living in association with the top millimeters of soil. We talk with Anita Antoninka, Dept. of Forestry at Northern Arizona University, about the current knowledge in biocrust restoration. These efforts effectively restore biocrusts in different ecosystems using a variety of lab and field methods, providing a useful resource for the scientific community as well as land managers.

Rivers have a magic way of healing, transforming and inspiring. From the calmest riffle to barnstorming haystacks, rivers always have rapids. This is how the river transfers energy. Monte Tillinghast grew up on rivers and has spent most of his adult years rowing the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. He knows a thing or two about rapids and has a gracious way of describing them. We talk with Monte about how and why rapids form in rivers.

Aside from the inherent beauty of a pinon-juniper ecosystem, the health of such woodlands are tied to broader climate swings. This is the awareness that the project Sentinels hopes to bring to light. The brainchild of Todd Anderson, Bruce Crownover, and Gary Machlis, the Sentinels project uses art+science to showcase the pinon-juniper adaptation to increased aridification in the deserts of the American Southwest. From fieldwork in Grand Staircase Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, these fine art books contain unique art prints and prose and can be found on display at fine museums and universities.

While modern day river systems are highly engineered to efficiently move water, this is not necessarily a “healthy” condition. Joe Wheaton, a fluvial geomorphologist and Professor of Riverscapes at Utah State University, works to better understand the dynamics of fluvial environments and their subsequent management and restoration. We talk with Joe about his research on how the dam building activity of beaver can alter physical habitat for their own benefit as well as many other fauna and flora. This activity can also help create resiliency in a river corridor facing a warming climate.

There has been a long history of climate transitions in the southwest and the people who have lived in this region for tens of thousands of years have dealt with this climate change through time, especially with adaptations of their food systems. We talk with Kyle Bocinsky whose specialty is paleoclimate reconstruction, and specifically, looking at how past farmers responded to climate change and negotiated the social implications of climate change in their societies. We explore the adaptation techniques that humans have used in the past, and how we can use them to learn about our future.

A series of linear roads were built around 1000 years ago all over the four corners area, but focusing on the Chaco Canyon region. We talk with Rob Weiner – archaeologist, anthropologist, and student of religion – whose research at the University of Colorado in Boulder focuses on monumental roads that the ancestors of the Pueblo and Diné people built about 1000 years ago here on the Colorado Plateau. We talk about the significance of these architectural monuments, how they are mapped out, and why it is important to preserve them.

The sagebrush ecosystem in Utah and the greater Western U.S. is actually its own biome, or biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which it is found. There is more sagebrush in the West than forest. We talk with Adam Mahood of the USDA Agricultural Research Center about his work with sagebrush ecosystems in terms of their distribution, challenges, and what they may look like into the future.

Brendan Moore was one of the first round of Grand County High School students to participate in Science Moab's School to Science program, which pairs GCHS students with scientists for mentorship opportunities in the field and the lab. In this high-level internship, Brendan received guidance on how to develop his own research question and experimental method that he would use to investigate it. Brendan ultimately chose to study patterns of rock lichen development. We talked with Brendan about his experience.

Moab is known as a Colorado River town, but the key to its existence is the LaSal Mountains. With peaks over 12,000’, the LaSal Mountains contain the snowpack that recharges several aquifers that produce potable water for Moab. Hydrogeologist Tom Lachmar talks about the path water takes from the high peaks of the LaSals to the Colorado River. We also talk with Tom about the several water studies that have been conducted on Moab’s aquifers and what the results mean for the future.

With a warmer and drier climate dominating the Colorado Plateau, traditional cattle ranching has its challenges. We talk with Utah State University PhD students Will Munger and Maria Stahl about their work at the Dugout Ranch in San Juan County, UT. The Criollo cattle, first brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus, are more adapted to arid climates, forage on more native vegetation, and travel farther from water sources. The introduction of these cattle at Dugout Ranch is part of an effort to move towards more sustainable ranching in the desert southwest.

We talk with author, photographer, and conservationist Jonathan Bailey about his latest work, “When I Was Red Clay”. Jonathan writes about his struggles growing up and how the natural world, namely the deserts of southern Utah, provided solace. Amongst the many essays in the book, we talk about the colors of the desert, dragonflies, and preserving badlands from energy development.

Consider making a map of land use issues across the Bears Ears National Monument. This is what Gustavo Ovando-Montejo, Assistant Professor at USU Blanding, is working on. Gustavo uses geography and social science to understand landscapes and how people interact with them.

Over 65 million years ago, a seaway existed across North America from the present-day Gulf of Mexico to present-day Alaska. Peter Flaig, Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology in Austin, TX, has studied the geology of this seaway by looking at deposits from the southwest US into Canada and Alaska. We talk with Peter about the margin of this seaway that includes parts of the present-day Colorado Plateau.

The historic distribution of wolves includes most if not all of Utah. As wolves migrate out of the Yellowstone reintroduction area, their numbers expand both to the north and south. We talk with Kirk Robinson, founder and executive director of Western Wildlife Conservancy, about what wolves are doing, the ecosystems they live in, and what it might mean to have wolves back on the western slope and into the historic ranges within Utah.