Red Butte Creek NEON - United States of America

Red Butte Canyon has several distinct plant communities occupying different niches. The mouth of the canyon sits in the Salt Lake Valley, with dominant vegetation reminiscent of that in the rest of the eastern Great Basin. As the canyon rises, it transitions through different vegetative zones until it enters a conifer community that resembles the southern Rocky Mountains. The grass-forb community at the mouth of the canyon includes Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Big Sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata), Antelope Bitterbrush (Pursha tridentata), and Broom Snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae). At the bottom of the canyon lies a riparian zone covered by a canopy of Box Elder (Acer negundo) and Cottonwood (Populus spp.) trees. Under this, numerous smaller trees such as Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Dogwood (Cornus sericea), and Water Birch (Betula occidentalis) intermix with Wild Mint (Mentha arvensis), Goldenrod (Salidago spp.), and Horsetails (Equisetum spp.) along the water’s edge.Red Butte Canyon’s walls rise out of the riparian zone into a community dominated by Gambel Oak (Quercus gambelii) and Bigtooth Maple (Acer grandidentatum). Oregon Grape (Mahonia repens) spreads under this canopy, and grasses and forbs fill in areas where the canopy breaks letting light through. As the elevation rises, Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) begins to dot the canyon and the oak-maple vegetative zone gives way to one dominated by taller stands of trees. Above this, heartier shrubs and forbs that can handle life high on the mountain surround populations of Aspen (Populus tremuloides), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and White Fir (Abies concolor).