Springs vegetation monitoring for Yucca House National Monument: 2019 data report

Swan, Megan

In 2019, the Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network sampled vegetation at Aztec Spring in Yucca House National Monument in southwestern Colorado. The spring site consists of 3 distinct low-gradient regions where water can spread out and potentially pool. The spring head is the area including and directly below the spring orifice; a second distinct area, the upper runout, is located between the spring orifice and a groundwater well; and the furthest from the spring orifice, the lower runout, is where a groundwater well is located. Due to a lack of saturated soils and sensitive vegetation, and disjoint spring-influenced regions, SCPN staff determined that point intercept methods could be used to sample springs vegetation at this site. We established eight transects approximately perpendicular to the prevailing slope in the three regions of the spring. Within each region, transects were oriented parallel to one another and approximately centered over the area delineated by the riparian vegetation and topography. We installed 2 or 3 transects in each region depending on the length of the region. Due to the culturally sensitive nature of the site, the endpoints of the transects were not permanently monumented, but their locations were recorded with GPS and described so they could be approximately relocated during future visits. In addition, we conducted a vascular plant inventory during which we identified and recorded all plant species that occurred within the spring area. Vegetation consisted mostly of upland species, with few wetland specialists. Over half the species identified were nonnative, including several that are considered noxious weeds in Montezuma County. We identified 42 plant species during the inventory. Overall vegetation cover was highest in the upper runout region. Juncus balticus was dominant in this region of the spring and is one of only two native, facultative wetland species encountered during point intercept sampling. Future plans include resampling springs vegetation at Yucca House NM at 3 to 5-year intervals.

Springs vegetation monitoring for Yucca House National Monument: 2019 data report

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