An Ecological History of Tintic Valley, Juab County, Utah

This work was a case study of historical ecological change in Tintic Valley, Juab County, Utah, an area historically impacted by mining and ranching activities common to much of the American West. The temporal framework for the study was approximately 120 years, the period of direct Euroamerican influence. In recognition of the ecological implications of cultural change, however, the impacts of prehistoric and protohistoric human activity on study area landscape patterns and processes were also explicitly addressed. The study included a narrative description of historic land uses and ecological change in Tintic Valley, and examined the changes in landscape patterns and processes so revealed within the context of the state and transition model of rangeland dynamics. The case of Tintic Valley thus served as a test of the heuristic utility of the theory of self-organization in ecological systems, within which the state and transition model is embedded. This theoretical framework in turn was used to gain insight into the present state of the Tintic landscape, how that state has changed over time, and the nature of those forces leading to transitions between system states in the historic period. The study employed archival research, personal interviews, repeat photography, field surveys, aerial photographs, and a geographic information system (GIS) to identify, describe, and quantify historic-era change in Tintic Valley landscape level patterns and processes. The analysis revealed dramatic change in both the landscape vegetation mosaic and the channel network of the study area over time. Evidence was found for direct anthropogenic influence in precipitating those changes, primarily through tree harvesting associated with mining and ranching activities and through the effects of historic roads and railroads on the Tintic Valley gully network. Results supported the working hypothesis of a change in system state in the Tintic Valley landscape in the historic period. Taken together, historical narrative and theoretical context permitted a degree of prediction with respect to potential future conditions for the study area under different management scenarios. Future research directions and implications of the research results for ecosystem management are also discussed

Methods in Historical Ecology: A Case Study of Tintic Valley, Utah

Through use of repeat photography, archival research, and field observation to reconstruct landscape vegetation patterns and changes across a 120 year period in the upper Tintic Valley of central Utah, researchers found significant changes in landscape vegetation pattern over time, including change in pinyon-juniper woodland area. Previously reported massive woodland harvest associated with early mining, domestic and agricultural activities elsewhere in the Intermountain West also took place in Utah. The impact on woodland area of the agricultural bull fence alone was significant. More recent study area woodland expansion also occurred. Because intensive industrial activity associated with development of the Tintic Mining District occurred prior to the taking of the study\u27s 1911 photographs, those photos failed to reflect presettlement, or even early settlement, vegetation conditions. Overall, results suggest that historical ecological studies must employ a range of overlapping methodologies to accurately interpret the nature and direction of landscape vegetation change. Such information is useful for managing regional ecosystems now and into the future

Yellow Perch population assessment in Southwestern Lake Michigan, including evaluation of sampling techniques and identification of the factors that determine Yellow Perch year-class strength April 1, 2004 - March 31, 2005

ID: 8528; Annual Report to Division of Fisheries, Illinois Department of Natural Resources; F-123-R-11INHS Technical Report prepared for Division of Fisheries, Illinois Department of Natural Resource

Viewpoint: Delineating ecological sites

Both the Society for Range Management's (1995) Task Group on Unity in Concepts and Terminology (UCT) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (1997) have recommended use of the ecological site as the fundamental land unit for evaluation of rangeland condition and trend. While the ecological site concept may be relatively straightforward. in practice the spatial definition of ecological sites within a management unit can prove problematic. This paper presents the use of readily available digital information in a GIS frame-work to delineate ecological sites within a pinyon-juniper/sagebrush semi-desert dominated landscape in Central Utah. An existing model of pre-Euroamerican pinyon-juniper woodland dynamics was combined with the site classification to evaluate landscape dynamics. We also created a map of landscape pattern of potential utility to land managers. The mapping capabilities of GIS offer a simple and remarkably adaptable technique for visual modeling of landscape pattern to assist in meeting a wide array of land management objectives. However. the "objective" delineation of ecological sites must be recognized as being necessarily based on a priori user-selected criteria.The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform August 202