Park Pasture Aspen Exclosure

1958

2003

Description:

Plate 355X. Park Pasture Aspen Exclosure 1958 - 2003 Viewed north along the western edge of the Park Pasture aspen exclosure on Boulder Mountain’s eastern flank - - see Plates 7x and 8x. When this exclosure was established by the Forest Service in 1957, it was on a joint-use allotment that was heavily grazed by domestic sheep, cattle, and mule deer, which limited aspen regeneration (Kay and Bartos 2000). With protection from livestock, however, aspen successfully regenerated inside the exclosure, without fire or any other disturbance. Aspen regenerated outside the exclosure, though, only when mule deer numbers declined during the early 1970s (Kay and Bartos 2000). Willows in the meadow appear largely unchanged except where overtopped by spruce. Conifers have increased on the distant hillside and a few ponderosa pine have become established inside and outside the exclosure. Aspen inside the exclosure has not regenerated in recent years due to repeated browsing of aspen suckers by elk and mule deer (Kay and Bartos 2000). The area had not been grazed by cattle in 2003 when the site was revisited, but elk and deer sign was abundant.

Photo Information:

U.S. Forest Service photographs (unnumbered) taken in June 1958; retake by Charles E. Kay on August 27, 2003 - - Photo No. 5259-36. Original photograph held on the Teasdale Ranger District (Slide 2200-11), Dixie National Forest, Teasdale, UT.

Vegetative Community:

Aspen, Wet Meadow, Conifer

Location:

South West: Section 22, Range 5 East, Township 31 South; UTM 469850 E, 4215800 N; elevation 8,720 ft.

January 2018