1. Carving THE Canyon
2. Grand Canyon Originals
3. Incoming Invaders
4. Plants and Animals in the Canyon that is Grand
5. Nothing else to say, except …

The Grand Canyon – what more need be said, if you live in the United States? Fair, you’re here to learn. Onward …

In another of this blog’s pages, we mentioned Native Americans were more crafty than Europeans ever gave them credit for; this structure within the Grand Canyon’s steep walls is one reason why – courtesy of National Park Service

Carving THE Canyon

The Grand Canyon’s oldest rocks are 1.8 billion years old. Even its youngest rock layer, the Kaibab Formation, is 270 million years old. The canyon was formed by the Colorado river with downcutting, or river erosion of rock.

Downcutting phases – courtesy of ScienceDirect

Downcutting is a result of flooding; large amounts of water move through a river channel (large rocks and boulders are carried along with the sediment). The rocks chisel pieces of the riverbed as they flow farther.

The Colorado river is a testament of ancient formation alone. The “ancestral” part of the river, in Utah and Colorado, is the oldest segment at 7-10 million years old (based on river gravels found near Grand Junction, Colorado). The younger part of the river, in California, Nevada, and Arizona, is 5-6 million years old. The younger and older sections, once separate, clashed in a drainage integration to form the river as it is known today.

Diagram of drainage (including drainage integration) – courtesy of ScienceDirect

Grand Canyon Originals

Prehistoric humans have inhabited the lands of the Grand Canyon since about 12,000 years ago. In that era, the last Ice Age, inhabitants hunted now-extinct beasts such as mammoths and giant sloths. Artifacts near the canyon from around 1000 to 2000 B.C. are split-twig figurines shaped like deer and bighorn sheep. It’s believed these were part of rituals performed in anticipation of successful hunts.

Recreation of a giant sloth hunt – courtesy of The New Yorker

Split-twig figurine of the Grand Canyon, c. 1000 to 2000 B.C. – courtesy of National Park Service

Ancestral Puebloans eventually made their way to the canyon, as did Paiute, Navajo (Dine), Zuni, and Hopi peoples. Today, these tribes and others are associated with the Grand Canyon to varying degrees. The Havasupai, another of the tribes, have one of the most vocal claims to the Grand Canyon as their ancestral home. Per their oral traditions, their tribe has lived there for over 800 years.

Traditional Native American lands around the Grand Canyon – courtesy of National Park Service

Incoming Invaders

The first Europeans to reach the Grand Canyon were Spanish conquistadors surveying the Southwest. Led by Hopi guides initially, the Spanish and their descendants territorially integrated the Grand Canyon into what became Mexico at its greatest extent.

The Grand Canyon was in the northern reaches of Mexico before those lands were mostly seized, and partially sold to, the United States of America; the conquistadors and their descendants were less successful in their assimilation of indigenous peoples in what was north Mexico than they were in the center (and, to a lesser extent, the south); this was due to a variety of factors, one of them being the landscape making swift conquest difficult; in turn, what was Mexico’s north had fewer mestizos and Spanish descendants in comparison to wholly indigenous peoples; sadly, what the Spanish and Mexicans were unable to do to the tribes, the Anglo settlers of the U.S. largely finished; as with other Native Americans, today’s Southwestern tribes have smaller territorial ownership which tends to not overlap with their original lands – courtesy of National Geographic Society

In 1858, American solider and botanist Joseph Christmas Ives entered the Grand Canyon on a mapping expedition of the Colorado river. Geologist John Newberry served as the expedition’s naturalist, and was the first known white geologist to study the canyon. A decade later, solider John Wesley Powell returned to produce more detailed maps of the Colorado’s route through the canyon.

Dates along the route of John Wesley Powell’s Colorado expedition – courtesy of PBS

Anglo settlers, among other white Americans, flocked to the Grand Canyon in the 1800s for pragmatic reasons, notably prospecting of copper. Soon, settlers realized there was more money to be made in tourism at the canyon than there was in mineral exploration. President Benjamin Harrison granted the first federal protection of the Grand Canyon in the form of an 1893 forest reserve, which increased tourism but not substantially. It was, however, substantially increased post-1901. A spur of the Santa Fe Railroad took tourists from Flagstaff, Arizona to Grand Canyon Village, which served as an entrance to the South Rim.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon; perhaps because of its early history as a tourist destination, and its depiction as the “definitive” part of the canyon in the tourist industry, this is the part of the landmark most Americans think of when their mind turns to the canyon itself – courtesy of Apartment Therapy

President Theodore Roosevelt traveled to the canyon in 1903, and his experiences there led him to declare portions of the canyon a federal game reserve. Hunter though he was, Roosevelt also wanted the canyon (as so many other American natural landmarks) preserved for future generations to enjoy.

After a stint as a National Monument, the Grand Canyon was a National Park by 1919. Originally host to 44,000 visitors, the Grand Canyon today greets approximately five million people per year.

Tourism provides revenue for the U.S., but not without consequences for the canyon’s historic peoples (and the canyon itself). Developments in recent years have stressed the water sources and threatened Native American sacred sites. River and helicopter expeditions to the landmark have been stamped with new restrictions, and tribes have actively fought against commercial exploitation of the land. In 2017, the Navajo Nation rejected the Grand Canyon Escalade, a development project which would have transported visitors from Navajo territories to the South Rim (environmental concerns were cited for the disapproval).

Plants and Animals in the Canyon that is Grand

There are five ecosystem types within the Grand Canyon: mixed conifer/boreal forest, Ponderosa Pine Forest, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Desert Scrub, and Riparian ecosystems.

Mixed conifer/boreal forest is at the highest point of the Grand Canyon (8,200-9,200 feet), the North Rim. Douglas fir, Englemann spruce, and other tree types shelter animals such as voles from dangerous weather. This ecosystem is wetter than any other at the canyon, and gets 11 feet of snow per year. Melting snow goes into meadows, and eventually trickles into lower elevations.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon – courtesy of Travel + Leisure

Snow at the North Rim – courtesy of USA Today

Douglas fir at California’s Klamath Bioregion – courtesy of USGS

Englemann/Engelmann (it’s spelled both ways) spruce – courtesy of The Gymnosperm Database

Voles are confused with mice and rats many times due to resembling those animals – courtesy of Southwest News Media

Ponderosa Pine Forest is on both North and South Rims and is the second highest ecosystem there. It has about five feet of snow per year, and in summer is subject to flash flood-inducing thunderstorms. Natural forest fires are brought on by lightning striking this ecosystem’s trees. The Kaibab squirrel calls this ecosystem home, living among the titular pines to feast on their cones and use their branches for shelter. Sapsuckers create holes in the trees’ bark, luring insects to the exposed sap and into the birds’ beaks. Lupine, a small flowering plant, can be found on this ecosystem’s forest floor.

Ponderosa Pine – courtesy of Colorado Native Plant Society

Kaibab squirrel – courtesy of AZCentral

Sapsucker – courtesy of Chicago Ornithological Society

Lupine – courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens

The Pinyon Juniper Woodland is in sunny areas beneath the canyon’s rims. It has half of the Ponderosa Pine Forest’s rainfall, and shelters drought-resistant (water capture and retainment due to the dry environment) plants such as Utah juniper and pinyon pine. The prickly pear cactus is here, and is a source of water for many animals. This ecosystem is sweltering in summer, and the trees are shade sources for mammals such as Bobcats and skunks.

Utah juniper; credit where due, this is found in (though not exclusive to) Utah itself, more than can be said for other plants (i.e. Spanish moss, which isn’t found in Spain) – courtesy of The Spruce

Pinyon pine – courtesy of National Park Service

Prickly pear cactus with budding fruit (animals generally consume this) – courtesy of Garden Design

Bobcat in Arizona – courtesy of AZ Animals

Skunk in the American Southwest – courtesy of Sky Island Alliance

The Desert Scrub is the most “desert” of the ecosystems at the Grand Canyon. Owing to its low elevation, water generally evaporates before it can get there. Sage, blackbrush, Bighorn sheep, collared lizards, and more have adapted to the irregular water supply.

Desert Scrub – courtesy of National Park Service

Sage (sagebrush) – courtesy of Science Friday

Blackbrush – courtesy of Southwest Colorado Wildflowers

Bighorn sheep, seemingly unimpressed – courtesy of Defenders of Wildlife

Collared lizard, named for the stripes on its neck … though if you ask us, it looks like a beach towel instead – courtesy of Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists

Riparian is the lowest of the canyon’s ecosystems, along the Colorado river at the bottom as well as in small creeks and springs along/leading into it. Cottonwood trees are a part of its lush environment. Despite being the smallest of the ecosystem types at the canyon, this has the greatest biodiversity in terms of aquatic and terrestrial organisms, such as the canyon tree frog.

Riparian zone of the Grand Canyon – courtesy of Desert USA

Cottonwood trees along a creek leading to the Colorado river – courtesy of National Park Service

They say it isn’t easy being green; when you’ve predators adept at spotting prey amid the desert climate, being green isn’t an option; luckily, the canyon tree frog (pictured) has adapted to look just like the desert (or the pebbles and rocks on the floor of the Colorado and its tributaries), making it a more difficult-to-detect food item – courtesy of Arizona Highways

As all environments, the Grand Canyon is the living quarters of endangered species. Two of them stand out: the Humpback Chub and the Sentry milk-vetch. Humpback Chubs are large freshwater fish endemic to the Colorado river basin. It’s thought this species’ decline was due to the Glen Canyon Dam’s alteration of the environment, and the introduction of nonnative fish species (who, with few to no predators, have outclassed the survival rate of native species). Fortunately, Humpback Chubs have experienced a mild resurgence in recent years. The Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) has monitored the population and possible threats to it, and has taken steps to grow the population of Chubs even more. Removal of rainbow trout and other nonnative species, Chub breeding and reintroduction, and other methods have meant Humpback Chubs are reclaiming the river basin they once reigned.

Humpback Chub; Quasimodos of the Colorado – courtesy of KNAU

The Sentry milk-vetch is a herb endemic to shallow Kaibab Limestone cracks in the Grand Canyon’s rim. Commonly in the Pinyon Pine Forest, milk-vetches are an inch tall and have lavender flowers. It’s existence is threatened, bitterly ironically, by its adaptation to the desert climate. Its seed and germination cycle means its seeds seldom sprout. Originally a solid way to combat the water paucity in the region, climate change means the Sentry milk-vetch numbers are lagging in our time. Pollinators such as mason bees visit early blooms of the herb, and its growing patches tend to be off limits to protect them. Soil condition monitoring, greenhouse hand-pollination, and replanting on the rim are efforts being taken to revitalize the Sentry milk-vetch.

Sentry milk-vetch – courtesy of National Park Service

Nothing else to say, except …

Watch out for our page on the North Rim.

Courtesy of Under Canvas

Sources:

1. “Geology”. National Park Service. 15 February 2023 (Updated). https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/nature/grca-geology.htm
2. “Grand Canyon”. History. 2 December 2009 (Original Publication), 29 September 2020 (Updated). https://www.history.com/topics/landmarks/grand-canyon
3. “Ecology of Grand Canyon National Park”. USGS. https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/ecology-grand-canyon-national-park

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