Canyonlands National Park is a national park in the United States located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. The park protects a colorful landscape that has been worn away by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their smaller rivers into many canyons, mesas, and buttes. A law creating the park was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 12, 1964.

The park is divided into four areas: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the combined rivers—the Green and Colorado—which formed two large canyons in the Colorado Plateau. These areas share a wild desert environment, but each has its own unique features. Author Edward Abbey, who often visited the park, called Canyonlands "the most unusual, amazing, and magical place on Earth—there is no other place like it anywhere."

History

In the early 1950s, Bates Wilson, who was the superintendent of Arches National Monument, explored the area to the south and west of Moab, Utah. After visiting what is now called the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Wilson supported the idea of creating a new national park that would include the Needles. Later explorations by Wilson and others expanded the proposed park area to include the place where the Green and Colorado rivers meet, the Maze District, and Horseshoe Canyon.

In 1961, Stewart Udall, the Secretary of the Interior, was scheduled to speak at a conference in Grand Canyon National Park. While flying to the conference, he saw the area where the Colorado and Green rivers meet. This view made Udall interested in Wilson’s idea for a new national park in that region, and Udall began supporting the creation of Canyonlands National Park.

Utah Senator Frank Moss first introduced a bill in Congress to establish Canyonlands National Park. His bill aimed to balance the needs of people who wanted to protect nature and those who wanted to develop the land for business. Over the next four years, his proposal was rejected, discussed, changed, and reintroduced to Congress many times before it was finally passed and signed into law.

In September 1964, after years of discussion, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Pub. L. 88–590, which created Canyonlands National Park as a new national park. Bates Wilson became the first superintendent of the park and is often called the "Father of Canyonlands."

Recreation

Canyonlands National Park is a popular place for recreation. More than 400,000 people visited the park each year since 2007, with a record of 911,594 visitors in 2021. The park’s land features support many types of outdoor activities. Hikers, mountain bikers, backpackers, and four-wheelers enjoy traveling on the rough and remote trails. The White Rim Road runs along the White Rim Sandstone layer between the rivers and the Island in the Sky. Since 2015, visitors must get day-use permits before traveling on the White Rim Road because of its growing popularity. The park service aims to improve the wilderness experience for all visitors while reducing harm to the natural environment. The park has a strict rule that hunting is not allowed.

As of 2016, the Island in the Sky district, which is near Moab, Utah, attracted 76.7% of all park visitors. The Needles district was the second most visited, with 20.7% of visitors. The Maze district, which is very remote, had only about 1.5% of visitors. River rafters and other river users made up the remaining 1.1% of total visits.

Rafters and kayakers travel the calm parts of the Green River and Colorado River above the Confluence. Below the Confluence, Cataract Canyon has strong whitewater rapids similar to those in the Grand Canyon. However, because there is no large dam on the Colorado River above the park, the river’s flow at the Confluence depends on snowmelt, not human management. This, along with the unique graben geology of Cataract Canyon, creates the largest whitewater in North America during years with heavy snowfall.

When the park was created, political compromise limited the protected area to only part of the Canyonlands basin. Conservationists hope to expand the park’s boundaries to include the high sandstone rims that naturally form the edges of the Canyonlands landscape.

On March 27, 2020, Canyonlands National Park closed temporarily to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Geography

The Colorado River and Green River meet inside the park, creating three areas called the Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. The Colorado River flows through Cataract Canyon below where it joins the Green River.

The Island in the Sky area is a wide, flat landform in the northern part of the park, located between the Colorado and Green rivers. This area has many viewpoints that look down to the White Rim, a sandstone layer 1,200 feet (370 m) below the Island, and the rivers, which are an additional 1,000 feet (300 m) below the White Rim.

The Needles area is south of the Island in the Sky, on the east side of the Colorado River. This area is named for the red and white striped rock spires that are a major feature there. Other naturally shaped rock formations, such as grabens, potholes, and arches, are also found in this area. Unlike Arches National Park, where many arches are reachable by short or moderate hikes, most of the arches in the Needles area are in backcountry canyons and require long hikes or four-wheel drive vehicles to reach.

The Ancestral Puebloans lived in this region, and some of their stone and mud homes remain well-preserved. However, the tools and items they used were mostly taken by looters. The Ancestral Puebloans also made rock art, such as petroglyphs, which are most visible on Newspaper Rock along the Needles access road.

The Maze area is west of the Colorado and Green rivers. The Maze is the least accessible part of the park and one of the most remote places in the United States.

A separate part of the park, called Horseshoe Canyon, is located north of the Maze area. Horseshoe Canyon has rock art panels created by hunter-gatherers during the Late Archaic Period (2000–1000 BC), which is earlier than the time of the Ancestral Puebloans. Originally named Barrier Canyon, Horseshoe Canyon contains some of the oldest artifacts, homes, pictographs, and murals in America. The images showing horses date to after 1540 AD, when the Spanish brought horses to the Americas.

Since the 1950s, scientists have studied a 200-acre (81 ha) area completely surrounded by cliffs. The cliffs have kept cattle from grazing on the area’s 62 acres (25 ha) of grassland. Scientists believe this site may hold the largest undisturbed grassland in the Four Corners region. Research has taken place twice each year since the mid-1990s. The area has been closed to the public since 1993 to protect its nearly untouched environment.

Nature

Many mammals live in the park, such as black bears, coyotes, skunks, bats, elk, foxes, bobcats, badgers, ring-tailed cats, pronghorns, desert bighorn sheep, and cougars. Visitors often see desert cottontails, kangaroo rats, and mule deer.

At least 273 bird species live in the park. Visitors might see hawks like Cooper's hawk, northern goshawk, sharp-shinned hawk, red-tailed hawk, golden and bald eagles, rough-legged hawk, Swainson's hawk, and northern harrier. Owls found in the park include the great horned owl, northern saw-whet owl, western screech owl, and Mexican spotted owl. Other birds include grebes, woodpeckers, ravens, herons, flycatchers, crows, bluebirds, wrens, warblers, blackbirds, orioles, goldfinches, swallows, sparrows, ducks, quail, grouse, pheasants, hummingbirds, falcons, gulls, and ospreys.

Eleven lizard species and eight snake species live in the park, including the midget faded rattlesnake. The common kingsnake and prairie rattlesnake have been reported in the park, but the National Park Service has not confirmed their presence.

Six amphibian species have been confirmed in the park, including the red-spotted toad, Woodhouse's toad, American bullfrog, northern leopard frog, Great Basin spadefoot toad, and tiger salamander. The canyon tree frog was reported in the park in 2000, but a study in 2004 did not confirm its presence.

Canyonlands National Park has many types of plants, including 11 cactus species, 20 moss species, liverworts, grasses, and wildflowers. Trees found in the park include netleaf hackberry, Russian olive, Utah juniper, pinyon pine, tamarisk, and Fremont's cottonwood. Shrubs include Mormon tea, blackbrush, four-wing saltbush, cliffrose, littleleaf mountain mahogany, and snakeweed.

Cryptobiotic soil is very important in Canyonlands. It helps provide nitrogen and moisture for plant seeds. One footprint can destroy many years of growth.

Climate

Canyonlands National Park has a cold semi-arid climate, which is labeled as "BSk" in the Köppen climate classification system. The plant hardiness zones at the Island in the Sky and Needles District Visitor Centers are 7a. The average annual extreme minimum air temperature is 4.0 °F (-15.6 °C) at the Island in the Sky and 2.9 °F (-16.2 °C) at the Needles District.

The National Weather Service has operated two cooperative weather stations in the park since June 1965. Official records show the desert climate has less than 10 inches (250 millimeters) of annual rainfall. Summers are usually hot and dry, while winters are cold and occasionally wet. Snowfall during winter is generally light.

The weather station in The Neck region reports an average January temperature of 29.6 °F and an average July temperature of 79.3 °F. Average July temperatures range from a high of 90.8 °F (32.7 °C) to a low of 67.9 °F (19.9 °C). There are an average of 45.7 days with highs of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher and 117.3 days with lows of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The highest temperature recorded was 105 °F (41 °C) on July 15, 2005, and the lowest was -13 °F (-25 °C) on February 6, 1989. Average annual precipitation is 9.33 inches (237 mm), with about 59 days of measurable rain each year. The wettest year was 1984, with 13.66 inches (347 mm) of rain, and the driest was 1989, with 4.63 inches (118 mm). The most rain in one month was 5.19 inches (132 mm) in October 2006. The most rain in 24 hours was 1.76 inches (45 mm) on April 9, 1978. Average annual snowfall is 22.8 inches (58 cm). The most snowfall in one year was 47.4 inches (120 cm) in 1975, and the most in one month was 27.0 inches (69 cm) in January 1978.

The weather station in The Needles region reports an average January temperature of 29.7 °F and an average July temperature of 79.1 °F. Average July temperatures range from a high of 95.4 °F (35.2 °C) to a low of 62.4 °F (16.9 °C). There are an average of 75.4 days with highs of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher and 143.6 days with lows of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The highest temperature recorded was 107 °F (42 °C) on July 13, 1971, and the lowest was -16 °F (-27 °C) on January 16, 1971. Average annual precipitation is 8.49 inches (216 mm), with about 56 days of measurable rain each year. The wettest year was 1969, with 11.19 inches (284 mm) of rain, and the driest was 1989, with 4.25 inches (108 mm). The most rain in one month was 4.43 inches (113 mm) in October 1972. The most rain in 24 hours was 1.56 inches (40 mm) on September 17, 1999. Average annual snowfall is 14.4 inches (37 cm). The most snowfall in one year was 39.3 inches (100 cm) in 1975, and the most in one month was 24.0 inches (61 cm) in March 1985.

National parks in the Western United States are more affected by climate change than the rest of the country. The National Park Service is researching how climate change will affect the ecosystem of Canyonlands National Park and nearby areas and ways to protect the park for the future. The average temperature in the park increased by 2.6 °F (1.4 °C) from 1916 to 2018. Scientists predict that if current warming trends continue, summer highs in the park could exceed 100 °F (40 °C) by 2100. In addition to rising temperatures, the region is experiencing more severe and frequent droughts. These droughts reduce native grass cover and lower the flow of the Colorado River. The Upper Colorado Basin has lost 300,000 acre⋅ft (370,000,000 m³) of water per year, which has reduced sediment in the river and made rapids more difficult for rafters to navigate. The area is also seeing an earlier spring, which may change the timing of plant blooming and animal migration. These changes could cause food shortages for wildlife and a longer fire season.

The National Park Service is closely monitoring the effects of climate change in Canyonlands National Park to develop management strategies that will help protect the park’s landscapes and ecosystems for the long term. Originally, the National Park Service aimed to preserve landscapes as they were before European colonization. However, it has shifted to a more adaptive management strategy to conserve the park’s biodiversity. The National Park Service is working with other groups, including the US Geological Survey, local Indigenous tribes, and nearby universities, to create a management plan for the park. Current research focuses on identifying which native plants are most resistant to climate change so the park can prioritize conservation efforts. The Canyonlands Natural History Association has provided funding for this and other climate-related research. In 2019, they gave $30,000, and in 2020, they gave $61,000 to the US Geological Survey.

Geology

During the Pennsylvanian period, a sinking basin and a nearby rising mountain range called the Uncompahgre existed in the area. Seawater trapped in the sinking basin formed thick salt deposits by the middle of the Pennsylvanian. These salt deposits, along with eroded material from the nearby mountain range, became the Paradox Formation, which is part of the Hermosa Group. Salt layers from the Paradox Formation began to move later in the Pennsylvanian and likely continued moving until the end of the Jurassic period. Some scientists think the Upheaval Dome was formed by movement of the Paradox salt layers, creating a salt dome. However, more recent studies suggest a meteorite impact is more likely to have caused the dome.

A warm, shallow sea covered the region again near the end of the Pennsylvanian period. This led to the formation of the gray-colored Honaker Trail Formation, which contains rich deposits of limestone, sandstone, and shale. A period of erosion followed, creating a gap in the rock layers called an unconformity. Early in the Permian period, an advancing sea deposited the Halgaito Shale. Later, coastal lowlands returned, forming the Elephant Canyon Formation.

Large fans of sediment filled the basin where it met the Uncompahgre Mountains, creating the Cutler red beds, which are made of iron-rich arkose sandstone. Underwater sand bars and dunes along the coast mixed with the red beds and later became the white-colored Cedar Mesa Sandstone. Brightly colored, oxidized muds were then deposited, forming the Organ Rock Shale. Coastal dunes and marine sand bars again became dominant, creating the White Rim Sandstone.

After the Permian sea retreated, a second unconformity formed. Floodplains covered the eroded surface, and mud built up in tidal flats, forming the Moenkopi Formation. Erosion returned, creating a third unconformity. The Chinle Formation was then deposited on top of this eroded surface.

Dry climates dominated the Triassic period. Sand dunes spread across the area, forming the Wingate Sandstone. For a time, wetter conditions allowed streams to cut through the dunes, creating the Kayenta Formation. Arid conditions returned, leading to a large desert that became the Navajo Sandstone. A fourth unconformity formed due to erosion.

Mud flats returned, forming the Carmel Formation, and the Entrada Sandstone was deposited next. A long period of erosion removed most of the San Rafael Group and any Cretaceous-era formations in the area.

The Laramide orogeny began uplifting the Rocky Mountains 70 million years ago, which also raised the Canyonlands region. Erosion increased, and when the Colorado River reached the salt beds of the Paradox Formation, the rock layers above the salt beds stretched toward the river, forming features like The Grabens. Increased rainfall during the Pleistocene ice ages sped up canyon erosion. Similar erosion continues today, but at a slower rate.