US Forest Service Research and Development Desert Experimental Range - Rocky Mountain Research Station - RMRS - US Forest Service
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Desert Experimental Range

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The Desert Experimental Range is in Pine Valley approximately 70 km (43 miles) west of Milford, Utah. It is geographically a nd floristically representative of approximately 200,000 square kilometers (77,220 square miles) of the Great Basin, an arid region of the Western United States comprising a series of north- and south-aligned ranges and closed basins. It was established in 1933 when President Herbert Hoover withdrew 225 sqare kilometers (87 square mile sections) from the public domain "as an agricultural range experiment station." Construction of an office, living quarters, support buildings, well, tennis court, major roads, and over 190 km (118 miles) of fence were completed before 1935 by a large camp of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

These facilities have allowed the Desert Experimental Range to serve not only as a year-round research center at a remote location, but also as a range ecology educational facility of international significance. Appropriately, in 1976 the Desert Experimental Range was designated a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) under the Man and the Bioshpere (MAB) program. Currently, it participates as one of a handful of Biosphere Reserves representative of cold-desert biomes worldwide and is unique in this respect in the Western Hemisphere.

Sheep grazing studies began in the winter of 1934-35 to study the economic and ecological impacts of grazing at different intensities, seasons, and frequencies. The core of those grazing treatments has been maintained to date. Several permanent exclosures ranging in size from 0.4 to 740 ha are scattered throughout the Desert Range on most plant community types. This allows direct examination of the effects of grazing and non-use.

Climate

The climate is that of a cold desert, with cold winters and warm summers. Mean January temperature is -3.5 °C, and 23.3 °C for July. Mean daily range in temperature is 18 °C, though daily swings of 28 °C are not unusual in the summer. The average frost-free period is from about mid-May to late-September (125 days). Elevation ranges from 1,547 to 2,565 m. Mean annual precipitation at valley sites is 157 mm, about half of which falls from May to September. Generally, monsoonal precipitation (July-August) does not reach the effective root zone (deeper than 8 cm) of most species, providing little value for plant growth. Winter and spring precipitation typically reaches soil depths of 15 to 70 cm, and is available to plants during the growing season. Precipitation on surrounding hills can be as much as 50 percent higher than that in valley locations.

Soils

The mountain ranges surrounding the Desert Range are composed primarily of sedimentary rock of Paleozoic origin. Dolomite, limestone, and quartzite are the primary parent materials of soil formation. Some early Tertiary igneous extrusions are present. Soils are Aridisols (Calciorthids and Camborthids) and Entisols (Torrifluvents and Torripsamments). They are mostly gravelly loams, sandy loams, and loamy sands with low clay content, except for the mostly barren hardpan, or playa, in the valley bottom. Soil pH averages around 8.0 and salt concentrations are low (upper 30 to 40 cm). Carbonate content is relatively high in most series.

Soil disturbance is important on local and landscape scales. For example, burrowing mammals occupy and continually disturb patches 3 to 12 m in diameter. This retards soil horizon development and thus alters vegetative composition. These patches create a distinctly spotted appearance when viewed from above and occur on 10 to 15 percent of the landscape. On a larger scale, a small Pleistocene lake filled the lower regions of Pine Valley and left still recognizable shorelines and a playa. Infrequent but intense summer storms scour ephemeral washes, moving sediments down the long alluvial fans that skirt the rocky peaks.

Vegetation

Native vegetation for the alluvial slopes and valley bottom that make up about 75 percent of the Desert Range comprises relatively few perennial shrubs, grasses, and forbs, commonly referred to as the salt-desert shrub vegetative community. Dominant shrub species are short, approximately 25 cm, and include shadscale saltbush, winterfat, budsage, and low rabbitbrush. Larger shrubs that become important on upper alluvial fan sites and in washes include Nevada ephedra, rubber rabbitbrush, and desert almond. Primary grasses include Indian ricegrass, bottlebrush squirreltail, galleta grass, sand dropseed, purple three-awn, and blue grama. Gooseberryleaf globemallow is the most widespread perennial forb. Important annuals include cheatgrass, halogeton, and Russian thistle, all nonnatives. Numerous distinct combinations of two to eight dominant species and near monocultures are common.

Black sagebrush, Utah juniper, singleleaf piñon pine, and littleleaf mountain mahogany often dominate the shallow soils of foothills and mountain slopes. Numerous species of shrubs, grasses, and forbs result in communities with considerably greater floristic and structural diversity than those in valley locations.

Long-Term Data Bases

Daily precipitation and daily temperatures (minimum and maximum) are available from 1934 to 1981. Collection of hourly data on precipitation, air and soil temperatures, soil moisture, solar radiation, and windspeed and direction began in 1993. Field-drawn vegetation maps were completed in 1934 and 1974. Community composition data on paired grazed and ungrazed exclosures were collected periodically from 1934 to 1994. Biomass production data are also available. Maps reveal grazing treatments, roads, vegetative communities, and fences. Aerial photographs were taken in 1953 (1:60,000), 1970 (1:30,000), and 1973 (color 1:15,000). A soils map is available.

Research, Past and Present

Research on the Desert Range has focused on the following topics: disturbance and successional processes in North American cold-desert plant communities; desertification; winter sheep management on the cold desert; rodent ecology; pronghorn antelope biology and management; cryptobiotic soil-crust ecology; and avian and mammalian population dynamics.

Facilities

Three dwellings with running water, electricity, telephone, and oil furnaces are maintained at the DER. Support structures include power house, garages, shops, horse barn, and well house. Potable water is available. There are no laboratory facilities. An automated weather station is maintained at the headquarters. Use of the facilities must be scheduled in advance.

Location

The Desert Experimental Range is located in Pine Valley about 70 km west of Milford, Utah, on State Road 21. The headquarters complex is about 4 km north of Highway 21 on an improved gravel road accessible by ordinary vehicles year round. Travel to the Desert Range is about 4 hours from Provo, and 2 hours from Cedar City, Utah.

Lat. 38°40' N, long. 113°45' W

Contact Information

Desert Experimental Range
US Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Research Station
Shrub Sciences Laboratory
735 North 500 East
Provo, UT 84606
Tel: (801) 356-5100

Forest website

Related Links
Desert Experimental Range Website
 

The material for the Experimental Forests pages was originally published in:

Adams, Mary Beth; Loughry, Linda; Plaugher, Linda, comps. 2004. Experimental Forests and Ranges of the USDA Forest Service. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-321. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 178 p. GTR-NE-321 - 5.5 mb pdf

Information has been updated since original publication.

Rocky Mountain Research Station
Last Modified: Monday, 28 April 2008 at 17:14:15 EDT (Version 1.0.5)