Notes from the Field

Dispatches from the front lines of conservation across the Colorado Plateau.

NORTH RIM LANDS

On the 850,000-acre North Rim lands, we’re working with volunteers to restore rare ecosystems around springs, monitor wildlife habitat, and research native plants. In 2015, volunteer citizen scientists contributed over 2,200 hours restoring springs, planting and measuring native grass and pine seedlings, and surveying the initial results of the “greenstrips” project, which studies how islands of native grasses interrupt the spread of invasive cheatgrass and the severe wildfires it feeds. Through these projects, we are identifying native grasses that can beat out cheatgrass and improving natural water access for wildlife such as desert bighorn sheep, bobcats, and sharp-shinned hawks.

ARIZONA FORESTS 

The Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) has successfully secured necessary environmental clearances for a restoration plan covering nearly 1 million acres spanning the western Mogollon Rim. As restoration activities ramp up in this area, planning will also continue to expand across another nearly 800,000 acres covering the central and eastern portions of Rim Country. Volunteers will be busy this summer helping to restore critical habitat, including springs, and collecting monitoring data to help us understand the effects of restoration across this vast area. Recognizing the critical importance of 4FRI, in January 2016, the Forest Service committed an additional $10 million per year to the effort, an unmistakable sign of the agency’s commitment to this flagship effort.

ENERGY

Solutions to the climate crisis come in all shapes and sizes: small and large, creative and more conventional. Here at the Trust, we’re focusing on an exciting new campaign to pass innovative legislation called PACE. What is this new legislation with a funny name and how does it relate to the Colorado Plateau’s climate crisis? PACE legislation allows commercial and industrial property owners to obtain low-cost, long-term financing for energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy projects—projects that reduce carbon and water footprints. PACE has passed in 32 states across the country, including Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. Now, we’re working to get PACE passed in Arizona, and then use it to move the plateau’s future toward clean energy solutions.

GRAND CANYON

Storm clouds are still swirling around Grand Canyon Escalade, the scheme to build a 10,000-person-per-day tramway into the heart of the canyon. Promoters continue to lobby Navajo Nation lawmakers for approval to develop the 420-acre tourist resort on the Grand Canyon’s east rim, where a gondola would drape more than a mile down to the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. At the local level, Chapter President Perry Slim recently wrote a letter to the Navajo Times calling for immediate approval, noting that “Escalade will create 3,500 jobs for Western Navajo families and build a new paved road along with water and power infrastructure for our community.” Navajo President Russell Begaye remains opposed to the project. His administration is creating a landuse plan with local communities and Navajo Parks and Recreation to guide conservation and use within the two western Navajo parks where Escalade is proposed.

VOLUNTEER

Our 2016 field season is in full swing, with volunteers hard at work to prevent the spread of invasive cheatgrass, restore springs, support climate change research on the North Rim Ranches, and collect data to make the case for grazing reform in southern Utah. We are especially excited about new projects with the Four Forest Restoration Initiative. Our citizen science volunteers will assess springs and inventory streams to support the nation’s largest forest restoration project as it makes Arizona forests healthier, safer, and more resilient to wildfire. We look forward to seeing the new and familiar faces of volunteers, young and old, from across the country, getting their hands dirty and advocating for the places we cherish. See you in the field!

UTAH FORESTS

In southern Utah, we’re busy completing reports on 2015 field work, including beaver dam assessments, biocrust surveys, and painstaking plant biodiversity counts, to inform a host of big grazing actions on the docket this year. In 2016, 20-yearold Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will continue its methodical crawl toward a first-ever grazing plan; Canyons of the Ancients National Monument—loaded with archaeological artifacts—will consider reintroducing cattle on two allotments that have not been grazed by livestock in 10 years; and the 1.3 million acre Manti-La Sal National Forest will begin a multi-year process to revise its 31-year-old forest plan. So much to do before we head out to spend time with our Colorado Plateau plants and wildlife in another season of field work with interns, volunteers, and staff.

UTAH WILDLANDS

A discussion draft of the Public Lands Initiative (PLI) introduced in January fell far short of the goal set forth by Congressman Rob Bishop (R, UT) to “build consensus among stakeholders” around land protection in eastern Utah. In fact, the PLI would actually weaken protections for eastern Utah’s best wilderness-quality lands. Unacceptable provisions found in the draft include: locking in or increasing livestock grazing, giving away 12,000 miles of “road” claims to the state of Utah, enabling a “hydrocarbon highway” through Utah’s wild Book Cliffs;and making fossil fuel development the number one priority on 2.6 million acres of public lands. Despite our best efforts toward durable compromise over the last three years, the Trust cannot support the PLI. It does, however, reaffirm our unreserved support for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition in their push for a new presidentially-proclaimed national monument. We’re excited about Bears Ears, and we hope you are too!

NATIVE AMERICA

Diné Hózhó L3C, the Navajo Nation’s first limited-profit company, which pairs investors directly with entrepreneurs to support ventures that benefit local Navajo communities, is gaining steam. The company is driving an important partnership between the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department, local chapters of the Navajo Nation, and Arizona State University to help create a world-class Navajo Nation Grand Canyon tribal park that wouldencompass Navajo land on the canyon’s east rim. Diné Hózhó is also opening the door to new types of funding and investment on tribal lands.

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