Risky Restoration
Description
Within the boundaries of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, lies great potential for ecological restoration due to historic and current anthropogenic disturbances. Pictures is a transect tape spread on one such disturbance for vegetation monitoring, in hopes for an improvement from the years past. Restoration keeps the NPS unit more visually pleasing to visitors, but for me, is worth the risk for the reward of improving wildlife habitat. The rattlesnake hiding under my transect was not pleased when we startled each other, but the plant (Encelia farinosa) the snake is hiding under is a direct result of an outplanting project completed many years ago.
This image has been withdrawn.