Changing Upland Plants

In the past, miles of Chihuahuan desert grassland covered the flats above the Rio Grande, with bunch grasses such as alkali sacaton, muhlies, dropseeds, and three-awns widespread and shrubs like honey mesquite, creosotebush, skunkbush sumac, Mormon tea, and four-winged saltbrush scattered among them. Centuries of human habitation and intensive livestock grazing changed the vegetation, replacing grasses with thorny, smelly plants that grazing animals avoided. Today the landscape is dominated by plants that tolerate grazing, and although cattle have been fenced out of the park for decades, the upland plant community still reflects centuries of grazing.

New Mexico · United States