Reading the Landscape
Reading the Landscape
Unfortanilty I was not able to do a field observation in person and was having a hard time doing one online. I was a Conservation Intern for the Utah's Hogle Zoo last summer so I decided to do a field observation of a place I was familiar with and had pictures of.
Introduction
I decided to do my observation in Boulder Moutain specifically at Donkey Creek. My last visit was on June 22, 2021. It's a pretty remote area but it is close to a dirt road shown in figure 1.1 and it’s a popular camping area. Donkey Creek is not very long shown in figure 1.2 but we only surveyed mostly in the lower reservoir area.
Observations
The creek is surrounded by wetlands and is heavily vegetated with grass. Passing the wetlands are primarily willows trees and pines. The current was very gentle and was very clear and not turbid. The bottom of the creek consisted of soft silt and clay with rarely any pebbles or boulders in it. This is not a creek that has high erosion rates because the banks are relatively the same height. In figure 1.1 it shows evidence of meandering starting to happen mostly near the Lower Reservoir.
This creek had an elevation of 3033 meters and I believe most all the water from this stream comes from snowmelt because of its high elevation. A lot of lakes and rivers in the area were affected by the drought and in the future, this creek and its floodplain might shrink.