PROJECT ABSTRACT
Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit
(Cooperative Agreement # H1200-004-0002)
Park: Mesa Verde National Park
Project Title: Phase Two: Fire History and Vegetation Change at Mesa Verde
National Park, Colorado
Funding Amount: $16,000
CPCESU Partner Institution: Northern Arizona University
Principal Investigator:
R. Scott Anderson, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental & Quaternary Sciences
Box 5694, Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
(928) 523-5821
Scott.Anderson@nau.edu
NPS Key Official:
George L. San Miguel
Natural Resource Manager
Mesa Verde National Park
PO Box 8
Mesa Verde CO 81330
Tel. 970-529-5069
FAX-529-5071
George_San_Miguel@NPS.gov
Start Date: June 1, 2009
End Date: September 30, 2010
Abstract:
As part of the original project started in 2005, two meadows within the upper portion of
the Park have yielded sediment cores that span various portions of the Holocene.
Charcoal analysis has been conducted only on one core in Prater Canyon, which spans
the last ca. 4,800 years. Another drill core collected from Morefield Canyon has a bottom
date of 8,700 calendar years, thus spanning most of the Holocene. Using funding
provided in the original NPS cooperative agreement, NAU has been analyzing the pollen
from this core to reconstruct longer-term vegetation changes in Mesa Verde. However
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the original budget does not have enough funds to conduct any additional charcoal
analysis on the Morefield core sample. This phased project would allow for that work to
be conducted in conjunction with the original project.
Key Words:
Holocene, sediment, core, charcoal, pollen, fire history
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