BLM Utah Grant for GSENM Pollen Core and Ethnobotany Analysis

Objectives: BLM Utah is looking to enter into an assistance agreement with a partner in which the purpose is twofold; first to provide needed background data regarding environmental changes through time, and second, to provide advanced educational opportunities through academic study of archaeological resources on BLM managed public land (Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument). The climate of the Holocene has, at times, been considerably warmer than that of today. This study will shed light on past climatic warming trends and the information gained may well be applicable to the modern problem of global warming. Alongside the pollen core analysis will be ethnobotanical inventories designed to identify specific plant species of importance to Native Americans, the environments in which these plants are found, their presence or absence under present environmental conditions and the potential for the presence of these plants under past environmental conditions.

Public Benefit: Information returned from this study will show how past warming events have affected the area vegetation and fauna and how humans have adapted to past warming events. This may be particularly pertinent considering the modern problem of global warming. Anticipated information would be of use to hydrologists, paleontologists, botanists, geologists and geomorphologists, biologists, ecologists, and wildfire specialists. In addition to direct benefits to the university, faculty, and students, the public benefits of this study would come from publications, presentations at professional meetings and related outreach. Secondarily, the proposed assistance agreement will provide knowledge that will enhance the management, protection and interpretation of those resources on public lands. The GSENM Visitorâ¿¿s Center (VC) in Kanab emphasizes interpretation of archaeology, the VC in Cannonville offers interpretation of the differing land use strategies employed by the Paiute and the Euro American settlers at the time this area was settled in the late 1800s and the Escalante VC emphasizes desert ecology. This study will provide information important to a variety of disciplines noted above and these VCâ¿¿s offer a venue in which to promote greater awareness and understanding for the public regarding the past and how these sciences contribute to our understanding of human ecological interactions. This, in turn, is a factor in determining how the BLM manages public lands.