The Colorado Plateau is one of the North America’s five major deserts and encompasses 340,000 km2 of land in the western US. In addition to its vast spatial extent, the Colorado Platueu offers a number of opportunities for nationally-relevant restoration because of the large proportion of public lands and dominant tourism and recreation industries. For example, ca. 75% of the Colorado Plateau is managed by federal and tribal agencies and > 30 million people visit the Plateau’s public lands each year. While the Colorado Plateau is clearly important and clearly used, our knowledge of effective ways to manage Plateau ecosystems remains poor relative to other U.S. deserts. Colorado Plateau ecosystems also maintain restoration challenges and opportunities that are unique from other systems given the multiple land management agencies managing substantials tracks of land that often share resource boundaries. Each of these subscribe to varying policies that determine allowable land use practices and impacts, restoration needs and desired outcomes, and perceptions of management needs in a changing climate. The Colorado Plateau is also expected to undergo large ecosystem shifts in the face of climate change.
Results/Conclusions
Here we describe the current state of Colorado Plateau restoration science and underscore key challenges and opportunities to improving our capacity to maintain the myriad of services provided by this desert, including energy development, recreation, grazing, and wildlife habitat. We highlight past research and future needs related to key restoration concepts including considering and designing novel ecosystems, impacts related to climate change, the importance of utilizing local seed that is genetically appropriate, and values and perceptions of restoring systems on the Colorado Plateau and beyond.