Ecology Of Wetlands In Big Meadows Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado

This report describes in detail the result of 1987-88 studies of hydrology, water chemistry, soils, and vegetation in the Big Meadows-Green Mountain Trail Pond wetland complex, which is at an elevation of 2,865 m in the Rocky Mountain National Park in north-central Colorado. Five water sources affect the complex and each water source somewhat differently structures the hydrological character, vegetation, and water chemistry of various portions of the wetland complex. Twelve plant communities that make up the wetland complex are described and characterized relative to hydrology, soils, and water chemistry measurements taken throughout the complex. The water table is highest in May and lowest in fall and early winter. The growing season usually lasts only 3 months (late May to late August), and water tables fluctuate drastically among years depending on the depth of the snowpack. Thus, plants and soils have developed under a hydrological regime involving large annual variability. Soil saturation during July seemingly is the critical variable for peat formation in the study area. Sites with a water table within 20-30 cm of the surface in July usually support peat soils. Oxidation-reduction potential measurements indicate that for any soil depth, the soils stay reduced for up to 3 weeks after a water table drop below that depth.

Excerpt from Ecology of Wetlands in Big Meadows, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Fig. 1. Rocky Mountain National Park and the Big Meadows study area in the southwest comer of the park. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Wetlands and riparian areas between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada are incredibly diverse and valuable habitats. More than 80 percent of the wildlife species in this intermountain region depend on these wetlands—which account for less than 2 percent of the land area—for their survival. At the same time, the wetlands also serve the water needs of ranchers and farmers, recreationists, vacation communities, and cities. It is no exaggeration to call water the "liquid gold" of the West, and the burgeoning human demands on this scarce resource make it imperative to understand and properly manage the wetlands and riverine areas of the Intermountain West. This book offers land managers, biologists, and research scientists a state-of-the-art survey of the ecology and management practices of wetland and riparian areas in the Intermountain West. Twelve articles examine such diverse issues as laws and regulations affecting these habitats, the unique physiographic features of the region, the importance of wetlands and riparian areas to fish, wildlife, and livestock, the ecological function of these areas, their value to humans, and the methods to evaluate these habitats. The authors also address the human impacts on the land from urban and suburban development, mining, grazing, energy extraction, recreation, water diversions, and timber harvesting and suggest ways to mitigate such impacts.