Characteristics of pinyon-juniper woodlands in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: Changes since Monument establishment and prospects for future monitoring

Recent data from the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program have documented spatial and temporal patterns of drought-related mortality across woodlands of the Southwest (Shaw et al. 2005). In the early 1990s, FIA collected data on forested land now included in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM or the Monument) as part of a comprehensive periodic inventory of Utah (O'Brien 1999). In 2000, FIA implemented an annual inventory system in Utah, measuring 10 percent of the full plot complement each year. These data provide a baseline of conditions just prior to establishment of the Monument and, following establishment, annual measurements spanning the years that vegetation was most affected by drought. Pinyon-juniper woodlands within the Monument have experienced comparable rates of mortality and changes in composition and structure to similar woodlands in the Southwest. The FIA program will continue to collect inventory data in GSENM and provide a framework for monitoring forest vegetation.