The Grand Canyon National Park
A Pamphlet By: Alison Gage
Location
Climate
Spring & Fall: These seasons can be unpredictable, so be prepared for sudden changes in the weather. May and October can be some of the driest months (but snowstorms have been known to happen) and late April and May can be windy. The temperatures tend to me mild, with warm days and cooler nights.
Summer: At 7,000 ft summer temperatures on the South Rim are usually from 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the North Rim (being 8,000 ft and therefore above sea level) usually ranges from 40-70 degrees Fahrenheit. Thunderstorms often occur during July, August and early September. The inner canyon temperatures are much more extreme, often exceeding 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
Winter: On the South Rim conditions can be extreme such as icy roads and trails, snow, and possible road closures. North Rim can get heavy snowfall, and Highway 67 is always closed from the first snowfall to usually mid-March.
Ecosystems
While the entire park is semi-arid desert (as mentioned above) there are distinct habitats that are located at different elevations. Near the Colorado River, riparian vegetation and sandy beaches are common. Just above the river, the desert scrub community consisting of cacti and warm desert scrub species is dominant. Up to 6,200 ft above the desert scrub is the juniper and pinyon pine forest. After that, between 6,200 and 8,200 ft ponderosa pine is abundant. Finally a spruce-fir forest tops out the park on the highest points of the Northern Rim.
Pinyon Pine
Utah Juniper
Elk
Elk can often be found roaming in forest ans forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves and bark. They are generally peaceful creatures, but if they are fed by people, they could become dependent on human handouts and develop more dangerous and violent tendencies in search of human food.
Big Sagebrush
This plant is a aromatic shrub which grows in arid to semi-arid conditions throughout a range of cold desert, steppe and mountain habitats in the Intermountain West of North America. During the time of Native American dominance, this plant was often used as herbal medicine to prevent infection, stop internal bleeding and treating colds and headaches.
Snakeweed
Cliffrose
California Condor
Utah Agave
Indian Ricegrass
Rattlesnake
Endangered Species
To help protect these endangered species, the park is currently working to allow native plant species in the riparian zone by controlling and removing the invasive Tamarisk plants from the river banks. They also protect the California Condore, one of the rarest and largest birds in North America, from hunting and provide it with many opportunities to nest in the trees on the Canyon rims and therefore chances to let it naturally increase their population.
Environmental Factors
Humans have also disrupted the plant communities by introducing non-native species to the park. Due to their lack of predators, these invasive plants flourish and rob the native plants of space, water and sunlight.
Along the same lines, non-native animal species have also been disrupting natural animal populations in the park because of human introduction.
The water in some streams has been contaminated with fecal coliform. This comes from both cow and human waste.
Finally, a dam built in Glen Canyon has altered the riparian and aquatic ecosystems throughout most of the park since its construction.
Park History
My Visit to the Grand Canyon
If I had a week to spend at the Grand Canyon I would arrive on a Sunday so that I could participate in a learning and lodging program which takes tourists on a 2 day, hands-on guided adventure through, around and inside the Canyon. Then I would take a guided bike tour on the third day to do my part to keep the park green. That night I would stay on the North Rim in my own private cabin and watch the sun rise and set. The next day I would take a mule ride down into the Canyon and spend the next 2 nights at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Canyon. After waking up the next morning I would horseback ride and whitewater raft in the river rapids. Finally, I would hike up to the south rim and watch the sun rise and set one last time before I left.
Grand Canyon National Park
Website: http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm
Location: Grand Canyon, AZ
Phone: (928) 638-7888
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GrandCanyonNationalPark
Twitter: @GrandCanyonNPS