Science Moab Kristina Young

While modern day river systems are highly engineered to efficiently move water, this is not necessarily a “healthy” condition. Joe Wheaton, a fluvial geomorphologist and Professor of Riverscapes at Utah State University, works to better understand the dynamics of fluvial environments and their subsequent management and restoration. We talk with Joe about his research on how the dam building activity of beaver can alter physical habitat for their own benefit as well as many other fauna and flora. This activity can also help create resiliency in a river corridor facing a warming climate.

There has been a long history of climate transitions in the southwest and the people who have lived in this region for tens of thousands of years have dealt with this climate change through time, especially with adaptations of their food systems. We talk with Kyle Bocinsky whose specialty is paleoclimate reconstruction, and specifically, looking at how past farmers responded to climate change and negotiated the social implications of climate change in their societies. We explore the adaptation techniques that humans have used in the past, and how we can use them to learn about our future.

A series of linear roads were built around 1000 years ago all over the four corners area, but focusing on the Chaco Canyon region. We talk with Rob Weiner – archaeologist, anthropologist, and student of religion – whose research at the University of Colorado in Boulder focuses on monumental roads that the ancestors of the Pueblo and Diné people built about 1000 years ago here on the Colorado Plateau. We talk about the significance of these architectural monuments, how they are mapped out, and why it is important to preserve them.

The sagebrush ecosystem in Utah and the greater Western U.S. is actually its own biome, or biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which it is found. There is more sagebrush in the West than forest. We talk with Adam Mahood of the USDA Agricultural Research Center about his work with sagebrush ecosystems in terms of their distribution, challenges, and what they may look like into the future.

Brendan Moore was one of the first round of Grand County High School students to participate in Science Moab's School to Science program, which pairs GCHS students with scientists for mentorship opportunities in the field and the lab. In this high-level internship, Brendan received guidance on how to develop his own research question and experimental method that he would use to investigate it. Brendan ultimately chose to study patterns of rock lichen development. We talked with Brendan about his experience.

Moab is known as a Colorado River town, but the key to its existence is the LaSal Mountains. With peaks over 12,000’, the LaSal Mountains contain the snowpack that recharges several aquifers that produce potable water for Moab. Hydrogeologist Tom Lachmar talks about the path water takes from the high peaks of the LaSals to the Colorado River. We also talk with Tom about the several water studies that have been conducted on Moab’s aquifers and what the results mean for the future.