Garden of the Gods

Master slides for citizen science training

to be used in instructional videos

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs, CO

• owned by the City of Colorado Springs

• National Natural Landmark

• busiest city park in the United States

Recreation Impacts

In 2014, Garden of the Gods was awarded Trip Advisor’s Travelers’ Choice Award as the best park to visit in the United States.

1,300 acres x 0.0015 = 2.03 square miles for 2 million visitors/yr.Perspective: Rocky Mountain National Park is 265,761 acres (415.25 sq mi) for 3 million users/yr.What does this mean? The Garden of the Gods’ visitor density is 100 times greater than that of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Most of the trails in the Garden were established in the 1930’s and were never designed to accommodate the current level of use.

Many of the climbing access trails are straight lines up to the base of climbs, and do not consider the surrounding topography and effects of water.

Recreation Impacts

The primary goals of RMFI’s Garden of the Gods Community Restoration Program are to:

• Provide stewardship opportunities for a broad spectrum of the community including individuals, local schools, community organizations, businesses, and religious institutions

• Foster community awareness about the ecology and natural history of the Garden of the Gods Park

• Educate the community about the current threats to the park

• Complete critical restoration work in the most severely degraded areas of the park.

Recreation Impacts

Restoration Monitoring Questions

• How does the trail change over time?

• How do slope and aspect relate to trail tread depth and width?

• Do structures slow the rate of change on a trail? Is this correlated with slope and aspect?

Research Objectives

• Create a long-term monitoring data set that records trail depth and width over time.

• Analyze the effect of slope and aspect on trail dynamics over time.

• Compare depth and width before and after structures are implemented.

Data Collection Objectives

• Measure the trail tread depth and width over time

• Measure the slope and aspect of trail

• Collect photo point data over time

Learning Objectives for Citizen Science Training Initiative• Explain how recreational impacts affect trails and their

environs

• Describe the effects of erosion and identify erosion in landscape photos

• Identify flora and fauna present

• Define slope and aspect and know how to measure it

• Take tread depth and width measurements in the field and record them in the datasheet Barrel cactus (Ferocactus spp.)

Landscape dynamics and erosion instruction

• These slides will be used to develop instructional

Slope

• The angle of the land surface

• Measured by ecologists • Effect of gravity on the movement of materials-

erosion

• Recreational impact by trail users

• The steeper the slope, the more materials tend to movement downward rather than stay in place• Ex. Extent of erosion

• Ex. Avalanche danger

Aspect• The geographic direction towards

which the land surface faces

• Causes variation in vegetation on the land surface• Moisture• Solar radiation and therefore

temperature

• In Colorado, due to the position of the sun at this latitude (41°N)• south- and west-facing slopes are

similar (drier, warmer, shorter vegetation)

• North- and east-facing slopes are similar (wetter, colder, taller vegetation)

Can you see which aspect is north-facing based on the vegetation?

Erosion

• How does erosion affect the landscape and how can you detect it?

• http://jornada.nmsu.edu/files/RSQIS9.pdf

Erosion in Garden of the Gods

Erosion in Garden of the Gods

Erosion in Garden of the Gods

Trail dynamics instruction

• These slides will be used in the instructional video that trains citizen scientists perform the trail dynamics and photo point measurement protocols

Data Collection Objectives

• Measure the trail tread depth and width over time

• Measure the slope and aspect of trail

• Collect photo point data over time

Monitoring Information

• Schedule: once per month and after storm events

• Location: Garden of the Gods

• Equipment needed: camera, map of photo points, trail map, 1 meter tape, 1 meter stick, compass, clinometer

• Field notebook includes: Diagram of measurements, brief explanation for measurement of aspect and slope, data collection sheet, photo point diagram

Trail width: Using the meter stick if it is long enough, or the meter tape if necessary, measure the distance across the trail. Measure from the plant/soil interface on either side. Record in cm.

Trail depth: Using the meter stick if it is long enough, or the meter tape if necessary, measure the depth from the center of the width measurement to the trial surface. Record in cm.

Soil sample: collect a small sample in a baggie. Back in the lab, characterize the soil according to texture and material, if non-native (ie crusher fines, gravel).

Slope and aspect: Using a clinometer, record the slope of the fall line and trail at the site of width/depth measurement. Use the compass to measure the aspect.

Take these measurements every 10 meters along the trail, starting at the permanent marker

How to measure slope

• Use a slope meter (clinometer)

• Trail slope: rest the slope meter on the ground right under the depth measurement site.

• Fall line slope: rest the slope meter on the meter stick used for the width measurement• on level ground• avoid setting it on a rock or other debris

in the trail that is not the trail surface

• Record measurement on the data sheet

How to measure aspect

• Stand in the trail facing downhill

• Hold the compass at your chest in your level palm

• You and the compass are one; the direction of travel arrow should be pointing out from your chest in the direction of your line of site

• Turn the dial under red fred (the compass needle) is in the shed (the hollow arrow on the dial that moves with the compass dial)

• Read the bearing at the direction of travel arrow

• Record measurement on the data sheet

Photo points

• Photo points are permanently established photos that show change over time

• Taken at easily identifiable landscape feature• Like trail junctions, specific trees, etc.

• Photo points are not taken at every trail measurement• They characterize the larger context

• Each site has 3-5 photo points• Record the photo number from digital

camera in the data sheet

Data collection sheet• Data can be collected

• on paper data sheet • using smartphone and google sheets

Vegetation Monitoring Instruction

• The following slides will be used for the instructional video that trains citizen scientists in plant identification, which will be pertinent if we resume measurement of established vegetation plots near Spring Canyon picnic area.

• Additional slides not yet created will describe the measurement protocol.

Restoration mix native plants

Bouteloua curtipendulasideoats grama

Pascopyrum smithiiwestern wheatgrass

Bouteloua gracilisblue grama

Schizachyrium scopariumlittle bluestem

Festuca ovinasheep fescue

Nassella viridulagreen needlegrass

Panicum virgatumSwitchgrass

Flora seen in the Garden

Oxytropislocoweed

Salvia sage

Solanaceaenightshade

Flora seen in the Garden

Bromus inermissmooth brome

Ferocactusbarrel cactus

Opuntiaprickly pear

CastillejaIndian paintbrush

Oryzopsis hymenoidesIndian ricegrass

Agropyron cristatumcrested wheatgrass

Exotic plants

Colorado Noxious Weed Law https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/Current%20Noxious%20Weed%20List_123015.pdf

Tamarix pentandrasaltcedar

Exotic plants

Linaria dalmaticaDalmatian toadflax

Circium vulgareCanada thistle

Euphorbia esulaleafy spurge

Centaurea diffusadiffuse knapweed

Convolvus arvensisfield bindweed

Conium maculatumpoison hemlock

Cardaria drabahoary cress

Clematis orientalisoriental clematis

Toxicodendron rydbergiiPoison ivy

Exotic plants

Transect• A line along which measurements are taken• Can be random…in several ways• Can be systematic…in several ways• Where will it start? • Where will it end?• What will you measure along the transect?• How will you know when you have sampled enough?

Quadrat

• 1 meter square with cross lines so that each square = 1cm2

• There are lots of ways to interpret this measurement schema

• All protocols must be established prior to measurement

• Talk with your peers- come up with one way to use the square to measure percent cover

• Hint: you will have to decide what percent cover means…among other considerations

QuadratLet’s practice

How many squares contain flowers?

If you count presence/absence per square, what is the percent cover?

If you estimate what percentage using each square as a frame of reference, what is the percent cover?