Dixie.Mammoth.Beaver_Photo_Description.Oct

Mammoth Creek, Dixie NF

Beaver Photo Descriptions

October 2005

Note: Blue = where photos start on a given creek examined for beavers

PLT = a plant put in the plant press for later identification

October 3 - 6, 2005 Dixie NF	Location	GPS UTM NAD27	Photo #	Photo description	Additional Comments
Mammoth Creek is on the Markagunt Plateau, in the central portion of the Cedar City Ranger District, Dixie NF. This segment is in a private inholding; no longer being grazed (though sheep graze nearby). The stream, cut down, is now narrowing in the absence of grazing. The creek might once have been a swale, not downcut. This set of pictures also includes a meadow (with silver sage) and aspen stand browsed heavily by sheep.
October 3, 2005	MAMMOTH CREEK (Brian Head Quadrangle)	0644355 4168958	2027	Band of sheep near Mammoth Creek
		0644355 4168958	2028	Band of sheep near Mammoth Creek
		0340419 4169189	2029	Smooth brome seeded in old logged area	PLT: willow 0340558 4169705
		0340616 4169855	2030	Was cut down and widening; now narrowing.	Private inholding. This might have been a swale with no stream prior to livestock grazing. Further narrowing will be dependent on sediment being held within the system. With houses here, the community would have to decide they would like ponds. Beavers would cause water to slowdown and spread out. Was the gravel cobble a meander? Dumps of gravel? Grazing probably was halted when houses came in. . Young willows along the edge.
			2031	Walking up stream	Silver sage as walk up
October 3, 2005	MAMMOTH CREEK	0340516 4169921	2032	Possible old beaver dam that failed	Lots of fish. This is post-dam and post-livestock grazing. But there will be less sediment. Beavers leave an area for one of three major reasons: They are trapped out They have no food left Disease ???Would be interesting to know when beaver were last here. Spruce bark beetle infestation started 10-15 years ago here, then went east, north, and south. See some aspen regeneration in spruce die-offs.
October 4, 2005	Next to Sydney Valley Road.	0346102 4169413	2035	Sheep use of meadow next to Sydney Valley Road.
			2036	Single-age aspen stand
			2037	Silver sage stripped by sheep
			2038	Aspen trying to reach into meadow; stripped
			2039	Aspen browsed at edge, lack of understory
			2040	Silver sage browsed	PLT; A Stipa that had cured; wasn’t eaten
			2041	Potentilla, yarrow, a silver-leaved plant; non-cured grasses chewed
			2042	Young silver sage, grass bitten to nub.
October 4, 2005	MAMMOTH CREEK	0346251 4169391	2043	In aspen grove being invaded by spruce: Many ramets being browsed year after year
			2044	Ramet being browsed year after year
			2045	Rhizomatous grass – preventing new ramets?	??? Can rhizomatous grasses such as Kentucky blue grass suppress young aspen ramets?
			2046	Pretty aspen
			2047	Polygonum in sheep area	PLT: Polygonum

	White Bridge Road, near Panguitch Lake.	0359953 4179684	2048	Green late brood-rearing habitat at the border with the Dixie NF (after a tiny private inholding)	See five sage grouse in what is still green (i.e., late brood rearing)