Ecological Studies of the Flora and Fauna in Glen Canyon

The Glen Canyon Reservoir, a part of the Colorado River Storage Project authorized by federal Public Law 485, 84th Congress, 2nd Session, represents a step in the development of the water resources of the Colorado River Basin which is planned to transform a flooding public menace into a national water conservation resources. The flora and fauna of the Glen Canyon region are only partly known. The canyon has been traversed by scientific explorers and adventuring boat men; its geological formations have been prospected for minerals and oil; parts of the drainage basins of its tributaries have been grazed by livestock; and its archeological sites are being investigated; but no thorough analysis of its biota has ever been made.

The transformation of a partly undisturbed wilderness into a reservoir will no doubt cause drastic changes in the flora and fauna, especially those that will be covered by water of the reservoir. What these change~ will be is not well known and cannot be predicted well from previous studies. In the history of use of our natural resources, few if any careful studies or analyses of the vegetation and wildlife before they have been disturbed or obliterated have ever been made. Most such biological studies have been made in retrospect, thus revealing an irrecoverable deficiency in ecological knowledge that leaves a defective and insecure foundation for the management of natural biological resources.

The region to be affected by the Glen Canyon Reservoir is one of the few remaining relatively less disturbed wilderness areas of the country where careful study may yield information about the relatively primitive biota. This may serve in assessing the impact of modern human civilization, especially of the great storage reservoirs, upon the native biota.

Presented herein is a preliminary statement outlining the problems to be encountered in such a pioneer study, describing approaches that may be used in studying the problems and suggesting specifications and methods of study. This is submitted at this time for assessment by the National Park Service before further work i s undertaken. It is contemplated that the work of the University will be coordinated and integrated with the objectives of the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service River Basin Studies , the Forest Service, the Utah Water and Power Board, the Utah State Engineering Office (including sanitation), the Utah Fish and Game Department, t he Utah State Parks Commission and the Navajo Indian Tribal Council, and other local agencies, all of which are expected to have interest in the ecology of this area.

Originally the information in this record was migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. In 2014, as part of its effort to improve tDAR content, the Center for Digital Antiquity uploaded a copy of the document and further improved the record metadata.