Natural Resources at Petrified Forest National Park

Alkali sacaton grassland in Petrified Forest National Park.

NPS

Petrified Forest National Park encompasses 218,533 acres (88,437 ha) in east central Arizona. It was initially established as a national monument in 1906 to protect geologic resources from the Triassic Period. Plant and animal fossils and petrified wood from the park, dating from the Triassic Period, are considered some of the most valuable paleontological resources in the world. Subsequent proclamations expanded both the area of the park and its scope to include cultural as well as natural resources. It was declared a national park by an act of Congress in 1962.

Petrified Forest NP, located on the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, is comprised of high desert plateaus and grasslands. The Painted Desert in the northern third of the park is sparsely vegetated. A relatively narrow section of land runs across the middle section of the park through the Puerco River Valley. Mixed shrubs and grasses of a shortgrass prairie ecosystem dominate here, one of the few areas where native Arizona grasslands have made a recovery from past grazing practices. In the southern third of the park, shortgrass prairie and desert shrubland are interspersed with barren lands.

Petrified Forest NP supports 7 species of amphibians, 231 species of birds, 44 species of mammals, and 16 species of reptiles. Most of these species depend on the sparse intermittent washes, springs, seeps, tinajas, and tanks in the park. Ephemeral flow in the Puerco River supports a riparian community dominated by cottonwood and tamarisk.

Petrified Forest is a Class I park under the Clean Air Act. The dry climate contributes to the low air pollution levels so that mountain peaks over 160 kilometers away are often visible from the Park.

Monitored Here

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• Bird communities
• Climate
• Upland ecosystems

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Species Lists

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

Select a Park:

Petrified Forest National Park

Select a Species Category (optional):

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Species attribute definitions

Search results will be displayed here.

Visit NPSpecies for more comprehensive information and advanced search capability. Have a suggestion or comment on this list? Let us know.

Life Zones

Petrified Forest National Park ranges in elevation from 5,307 to 6,262 feet (1,618–1,891 m) and spans the Semi-Desert Grassland / Shrub Steppe and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland life zones. Most of the park is relatively flat and at lower elevation, so pinyon-juniper trees are only found on the slopes of Chinde Mesa on the north boundary of the park. Petrified Forest experiences an average annual precipitation of 9.6 inches (342 mm).

Climate Summary Chart

Charts are an effective way to summarize and graphically represent climate variables. The following chart is based on the diagrams developed for vegetation studies by Walter and Lieth in 1967. Visit our climate page for more information.

Reports & Publications

Inventory Reports

Inventories are point-in-time surveys that help us learn about the resources in our parks. Information obtained through the Southern Colorado Plateau Network’s inventories of park resources helped to establish a base level of data, which has served as a starting point for our natural resource monitoring.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3515 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Monitoring Reports

Our monitoring reports provide the most recent published findings from our field work.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3471 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Protocols

Protocols describe how we monitor. They include a descriptive narrative of what we monitor and why, our field methods, how we analyze and manage our data, and more. All of our protocols are peer reviewed.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3280 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Find additional documents on our Reports & Publications pages.

Links

Park Flora (SEINet)