Natural Resources staff collect data in a riparian zone, in this case, recording the pH of this intermittent stream.
NPS Photo/B Hyde
What do photographs and cottonwood trees have in common? You can find them both in galleries! A grouping of cottonwood trees is referred to as a gallery, and you can occasionally find them down in the canyon bottoms in Colorado National Monument. These trees thrive in riparian areas with more consistent access to water along with many other species that you won’t find anywhere else in the monument. Plants like mosses, willows, orchids, and horsetails call these places home.
Many of these wet areas are possible due to an aquifer that exists beneath Glade Park, which lies directly south of the Monument at higher elevation. Groundwater from the Uncompahgre Plateau accumulates in the more porous Wingate Sandstone and moves through the ground until it finds an exposed face - for example, our canyon walls. There, it seeps out at a steady rate, providing a much-needed resource for a wide variety of plants and animals throughout the dry summer.
Springtime creeks flow down from snowmelt at higher elevations south of the Monument. Most of the standing water in the canyons will dry up completely by late summer. Almost none of the surface water here reaches the Colorado River, though the canyons open up to the river near the northern border of the Monument.
Water is an incredibly precious resource for plants, animals, and humans alike in such a dry environment. Our Natural Resources team regularly monitors the flow of water in these locations. Data on flow rates, pH, and conductivity levels of the water can help determine the overall health of the riparian ecosystems.
The scarcity of water in this environment is also why collecting water in the backcountry is prohibited. Bring all the water that you're going to consume with you if you're camping in the canyons!
