Overbrowsed, dying aspen stand in Norton Hollow (Dixie NF)

One of the main stresses on these three plant groups is being repeatedly eaten. These are all water-loving plants, and their succulent young saplings (called "ramets" in the case of aspen) are lunch for cattle, sheep, elk, and deer. If the topmost branches (leaders) are repeatedly browsed, the aspen, cottonwood, and tall species of willow cannot get above browse height (6’-7’). Eventually, entire willow plants, cottonwood galleries and aspen stands can and do disappear from the landscape.

Overbrowsed willow, above Three Creeks Reservoir (Fishlake NF)

This is a major loss because willow, aspen, and cottonwood are notorious for providing support to an unusually high number of native animal species and, particularly in the case of aspen, for providing habitat for a high diversity of understory plants. Willows and cottonwood hold riparian banks together with their deep roots, and aspen provide far higher water yields than conifer stands. Aspen stands are second only to riparian areas in the West for supporting the greatest number of native species.

	Multi-age aspen stand, near Gold Knob, La Sal Mountains (Manti-La Sal NF)

Curiously, none of southern Utah’s three national forests ever measure the intensity of browsing done by the hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep which graze and browse on the forests for about five months each year. This lack of monitoring occurs despite the common sight of aspen stands with only one, old age class of trees; old, hedged willows with no young willows in sight; and grand old cottonwoods with no new generation reaching upward.

Throughout the growing season of 2008 we will be intensively measuring the level of browsing on these plants, on targeted sites, on all three national forests.

The results of this field work will be used to urge:

• The addition of browsing to Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources measurement of livestock and wild ungulate impacts on the forests’ plants.
  
  
• Improved management by both agencies, to lower the number of mouths consuming young aspen, willow, and cottonwood, thereby insuring the viability and recovery of all three of these extraordinarily valuable willow family members.

If you wish to join Grand Canyon Trust as we monitor aspen, willow, and cottonwood browse on one of these Forests, please contact Mary O’Brien, Southern Utah Forests Project Manager, Click Here

Dense willow in beaver valley, Lake Creek (Manti-La Sal NF)	Browsed resprouts on beaver-cut cottonwood, Butler Creek (Dixie NF)	Cottonwood gallery forest, Beaver Creek in Cottonwood Allotment, ungrazed for 30 years (Fishlake NF)