About me
I love to be outdoors enjoying the beautiful nature we have here in Utah! I am a Senior Botany major at Utah Valley University.
Comparative floristics and ecology of a recreation heavy canyon along the Wasatch Front.
American Fork Canyon, Utah County Utah, is one of the most popular areas for recreation along the Wasatch Front. One of the large draws of people to this area is the plant communities, ranging from color changing aspens, to high alpine wildflowers, and spring blossoms. It also has close proximity to the major population centers in the greater Salt Lake City area. This large human population and draw of local plant communities make this a highly visited spot during the growing season.
In this study we had two goals: 1. To create a comprehensive flora of the plants of the area and 2. Compare the floristics and ecology of these plants to other Wasatch Front areas that have greater or less amounts of recreation. We used a combination of previous collection records as well as made numerous collecting trips to fill in any gaps. We also used published records and visitation estimates to compare the plants communities to two other canyons; Spanish Fork Canyon (a less visited canyon) and Ogden Canyon (an equivalently visited canyon).
We expect to find high diversity in both plant species and communities within American Fork Canyon. This diversity is likely to be driven by the diversity in geology and geography of the area. In addition we hope to understand how this vegetation may be impacted by the high human use of the area. We also expected to find distinct differences between the canyons that are driven by the amount of recreation. Our project represents an important tool for both exploring the area as well as understanding the care of this popular resource.
