GSEP October Newsletter

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The Monument's Wolverine Petrified Forest is the second largest petrified forest in North America, and some of its petrified trees are six feet in diameter!

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2024.

Dear Grand Staircase,

September and early October were busy months in the communities around the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The Escalante Canyons Art Festival brought visitors from around the world. Our team was glad to engage with Festival visitors at our booth, and those who attended my Roving talk about bats, and Kevin's poetry workshop. I was really grateful to co-present the bat talk with Dr. Nicki Frey from Utah State University Extension.

On October 5th, the Boulder arts community welcomed Curbside Theater for their last show of the season, a one-of-a-kind traveling dance-theater, Tarotville. The performance was fantastic and the audience very enthusiastic!

As I was in the neighborhood for both events, I took the opportunity to visit the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument's world class petrified forest. Because petrified forests form when trees are submerged in wet mud, they are not the first thing that comes to mind when you visit the Monument. However, the Monument is indeed home to a rather large and spectacular petrified forest.

Read on to learn about our remote and scientifically intriguing petrified forest.

-Jackie

P.S. Don't forget to answer our poll at the end of the newsletter!

Your donations enable our stewardship, education, and conservation work.

GSEP Newsletter for October, 2024

Our stewardship and conservation programs start ticking up this month because the weather is supposed to be cooling down. The conservation team (Kevin, Alex, and Adrian) took a trip down the Escalante River to monitor the effects of our Russian olive removal program (photo right). Check out our Flickr album, "Monitoring 2024," to get a peek into what they did.

Henderson Canyon has bees!

While we wait for the weather to cool down, our focus will be on introducing you to some less visited areas on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. First up is Henderson Canyon, where Jackie encountered one of the biggest and most active sandstone bee colonies she has ever seen. Henderson Canyon is located in a pocket of the Monument near Henrieville.

You might recall that sandstone bees (Anthophora pueblo) dig burrows with their strong jaws. Most bees have a distinctive buzz made by their wings when they fly, communicate, and sometimes when they forage for pollen. Listen closely to the video (right) to see how many different sounds you can hear from the bees using this sandstone.

Below: A timelapse video of clouds and sun over the dry bed of Henderson Creek. Powerful flows of water from Powell Point carves out the canyon.

The wings of sandstone bees buzz as they fly into and out of their burrows.

Timelapse video of clouds moving over the Henderson Canyon wash.

What caused the Wolverine petrified forest to form in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument?

Visit our Flickr album, "Wolverine Loop Road 2024," for more petrified forest photos.

Above: Towering cliffs of Wingate sandstone dominate the landscape in this photo, but hidden in a little pocket in this photo is the unassuming Chinle geologic formation. This formation gives birth to the Monument's amazing petrified forest. Can you find the soft, rounded, striped hills near the center? Scroll to the bottom to see a photo that identifies where the Chinle emerges from this viewpoint.

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2024.

Above: As you walk up one of many unnamed washes, you will begin to encounter black chunks of ancient Araucarioxylon arizonicum trees. At least one other type of tree is petrified here, but it is much less common. This site is several miles from the main forest. Learn more about the forces that petrified these trees from the Utah Geological Survey.

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2024.

Below: The concentric rings in this black stepping stone give away its ancestry. We can estimate how old the tree was when it died by counting the quartz-filled rings. The power of water moves pieces of wood far from the main source. Collecting is prohibited on the Monument. Your donation can help us spread the word about how to visit this site with respect.

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2024.

Above: Around 225 million years ago, great eruptions of ash from volcanoes to the south buried a massive forest of now-extinct conifers. The ash preserved the trees, contributed to their petrification, and resulted in the colorful clays we see in the Chinle formation.

Grand Staircase Escalante Partners helps to protect the Wolverine Forest by installing fences to keep people from driving up the wash that leads to the forest. Your donation can help us recruit volunteers to work in this remote location.

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2024.

Above: Compare this photo to the one that shows a medium view of the Chinle hills (above), and notice how rough the surface of the Chinle clays are when viewed up close. This "popcorn" texture occurs when the clay swells and shrinks with the cycles of rain and dryness.

The dynamic soil, lack of water, and soil chemistry make it difficult for plants to grow here, but they still do! Prince's plume is one of those plants.

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2024.

Below: Researchers who studied the Wolverine petrified forest in 2012 found fossilized evidence of some of the earliest known wood-boring beetles. The beetles may have been similar to today's pine bark beetles.

Your donation can help us bring student researchers to study and possibly create a map of the petrified forest. Contact Jason Pulver if you would like to sponsor a specific project (jason@gsenm.org).

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2024.

As we celebrate our 20th anniversary as Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, you can support our mission by getting our limited edition 20th Anniversary shirt today! The shirt proceeds raise money for our ongoing efforts to honor the past and safeguard the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument through science, conservation, and education.

Did you locate the Chinle formation in the top photo? Here's a hint.

Nuttall's linanthus photo provide by Jackie Grant 2024.

September poll results:

You let us know that you were interested in our upcoming native plant programs! Over 62% of you indicated that you'd like to know more, or would be interested in volunteering in the future.

Seeds of Success is the national program that will guide some of our work in 2025. We'll let you know when our first volunteer programs roll out next year.

We want to hear from you!

How familiar were you with the Monument's Wolverine petrified forest before this newsletter?

1 - not at all familiar

2 - I knew the name, but not much else

3 - I know someone who has visited

4 - I have been on the Burr Trail Road or Wolverine Loop

5 - I've touched the petrified wood at the forest!

Thank you for your ongoing support.

We couldn't do it without you!

Jackie Grant (she/her/hers)

Executive Director

Donate Today!

Grand Staircase Escalante Partners | gsenm.org