Plant Succession as a Result of Grazing and of Meadow Desiccation by Erosion Since Settlement in 1862

Ecological changes in the vegetation of mountain meadow-lands in the West have recently attracted much attention as a phase of the erosion problem. Ordinarily, too little information regarding the specific history of these changes is available to permit accurate analysis. The history of the case treated in the following paper is, however, unusually well known. Mountain Meadows in southwestern Utah is a spot of much local historical interest. Moreover, the rapid invasion of heavily grazed sagebrush and grasslands by junipers is an ecological change of major consequence from the standpoint of both range workers and foresters.