Pacer Lake

Description:

Plate 392X. Pacer Lake 1943 - 1948 - 1953 - 2003 The Pacer Lake Photo Plot Transect (a.k.a. Coyote Zone II) on the westside of Escalante Mountain was established in 1943 and reread in 1948, 1953, and 1979. The transect is situated on a low pass approximately 400 yards south of Pacer Lake. The transect consists of two segments. The first leg is 1000 feet in length and runs in a northwesterly direction from a common starting point, while the second leg is 1500 feet in length and runs in an easterly direction. The first leg samples a silver sage meadow, while the second leg samples silver sage and aspen communities. When the transect was established, the area was very heavily grazed by cattle. “All the aspen have been hedged as high as the animals can reach, and many trees have died…There is very little reproduction of aspen here, but 2-3 miles south where livestock have been fenced out,…aspen is reproducing in fine shape.” Conditions had improved by 1948, however, and there was “a great display of aspen regeneration…two to three years old.” Sheet erosion, though, was common in the sage meadow. In 1953, Range Conservationist I.H. Johnson found that there was no noticeable improvement in the vegetation trend but that the soil trend was still down. “Range condition is very poor to poor.” After remeasuring the transect in 1979, Dr. Jim Bowns, range ecologist at Southern Utah University, observed that “It is apparent now that this area has improved [since 1943]…this is most noticeable in the increase of herbaceous species and the abundance of aspen shoots. This range is probably no better than a high fair condition…,but the trend is up” (unpublished reports in the range files on the Escalante Ranger District, Dixie National Forest, Escalante, UT). Plate 392x is viewed east-southeast down the second leg of the Photo Plot Transect at its starting point near the rock carin in the foreground. This leg of the transect is centered on the high point of Escalante Mountain in the distance. Silver sage has increased. There was no aspen regeneration in the earlier images, but part of the nearest aspen clone recently produced an abundance of new suckers more than 6 feet tall. Most other aspen stands, however, have not successfully regenerated in many years due to repeated browsing of aspen suckers by cattle, elk, and mule deer. The area was heavily grazed by cattle in 2003. Despite the drought that has gripped southern Utah for several years, grasses appear to have increased. The most common grasses are needle and thread, squirreltail, and Stipa spp.

Photo Information:

U.S. Forest Service photographs (unnumbered) taken by Ray J. Davis on June 23, 1943; Walter P. Cottam on June 23, 1948; and I.H. Johnson on August 17, 1953; retake by Charles E. Kay on August 31, 2003 - - Photo No. 5279-1A. Original photographs, negatives, and narrative reports held in the range files on the Escalante Ranger District, Dixie National Forest, Escalante, UT.

Vegetative Community:

Sagebrush, Aspen

South West: Section 34, Range 1 West, Township 32 South; UTM of transect starting point 421500 E, 4204000 N; elevation 9,400 ft.