BY MARY O’BRIEN
Regime Shift
What happens when the predators leave?
H
ave you ever driven up Zion Canyon Scenic
Drive in Zion National Park? Have you
gotten out of your car at the massive,
glowing red wall called Temple of Sinawava
and ambled up the scenic walkway, big old
cottonwoods at the Virgin River to your left
and The Narrows closing in on you up ahead?
I remember having no worries while small
Josh and Zeke raced ahead of O’B and me on
the easy path 25 years ago. It was perfectly safe:
lots of happy people around, no steep drop-offs,
balmy weather, stunning scenery at every step.
But there was and is something crucial missing
from that drop-dead beautiful canyon: cougars.
Way back in 1938, seven years before I was born,
Zion Park Naturalist C.C. Presnall told us the story.
He wrote, “Human use of the park was, and no
doubt always will be, concentrated in Zion Canyon,
causing profound changes in the delicate balance
between deer and their natural predators.”
Just how profound those changes are has re-
cently been recorded by Drs. William Ripple, of the
OSU Forest Resources Department, and Robert
Beschta, retired OSU Forestry professor. In an arti-
cle with the long title, “Linking a Cougar Decline,
Trophic Cascade, and Catastrophic Regime Shift in Zion National Park,” they tell
a story of profound contrasts between two Zion National Park stream canyons:
much-visited North Fork of the Virgin River (Zion Canyon) and North Creek.
North Creek doesn’t have a road in it. It sees the occasional hiker, not the tourist
busloads of humans. Rarely visited North Creek has no common name like “Zion
Canyon.” But it does have cougars.
The words “trophic cascade” in the title of Ripple and Beschta’s article refer
to this: When cougars (predators) leave an area like Zion Canyon, populations of
deer (plant consumers) increase. Young cottonwood (producers) are chewed off
by the many deer and can’t grow up into large trees. In Zion Canyon, few young
cottonwood saplings have become grown-up trees since the 1930s when
Presnall was writing. In North Creek, by contrast, where cougars abound, there
are more young cottonwood trees than old ones, which is normal for stream-
side forests.
But the effects don’t stop there. The phrase “catastrophic regime shift” in
the title of Ripple and Beschta’s article means this: The Virgin River in Zion
Canyon is falling apart. With few cottonwood roots holding the river’s banks to-
gether, the stream is widening and deepening with every flood. Less shaded by
trees, the widened stream is heated by the sun, becoming less habitable for na-
tive fish and invertebrates. The deepened stream has become isolated from its
floodplain above. As a result, the floodplain’s riparian (streamside) flowers and
shrubs, dependent on moisture for their lushness and diversity, are replaced by
bare soil and some dry-land (upland) plants. This loss of riparian flowers, rushes,
and shrubs means fewer butterflies, frogs, toads and lizards.
Meanwhile, over in North Creek, none of this is happening. With humans rare
and cougars common, its producers (cottonwood) are at work holding the banks
together. When floods come, water jumps the banks and replenishes North
Creek’s riparian corridor. Water-loving rushes and cattails are 80 times as com-
mon as in Zion Canyon; wildflowers like scarlet cardinal flower and aster are sev-
eral times more common; canyon tree frogs and red spotted toads hundreds of
times more common; lizards three times more common, butterflies five times
more common; native fish three times more common.
North Creek
doesn’t have
humans, but
it does have
cougars.
T
he same story, with some different characters, took place in Yellowstone
National Park. Once wolves were eliminated from Yellowstone (1926), elk
increased, cottonwood forest recruitment stopped, aspen declined,
beaver left, hawks and eagles had little elk carrion to eat — on and on. As
Beschta, Ripple and others are now documenting, all this is now reversing with
the 1995 reintroduction of wolves.
Meanwhile, Idaho’s new Gov. Butch Potter is vowing to allow hunters to exter-
minate 60 of the 70 wolf packs that are now helping restore Idaho following the
Nez Perce Tribe’s guidance of wolf reintroduction there under the Endangered
Species Act. Because of the Tribe’s success, the Bush administration is removing
endangered species protection for Northern Rockies wolves, and Potter wants
cattle protection. Protected cows mow down willows and young cottonwood.
This is how we dismantle the world.
Mary O’Brien of Eugene has worked as a public interest scientist since 1981. She can be reached at
mob@efn.org
4 FEBRUARY 1, 2007
TO THE EDITOR
URGE TO SURGE
I’ve been overwhelmed by a fantasy of
late. In a nutshell, here it is: At 10 am on a
sunny Saturday in early May 2007, people
begin peacefully marching from at least 100
meeting points about this great city. At the
same time, all the buses are re-routed, headed
in the same direction. Where? To Autzen
Stadium, of course, for “The Surge Against
the War.”
By noon, at least 50,000 people have
gathered in peaceful, orderly fashion. The
parking lot includes tents and tables from all
the schools, all the social and political action
organizations and all the churches, each with
its own agenda, all under the big blue banner
declaring “Surge Against the War.”
Those present will be in blue T-shirts, the
purchase of which will pay for the event. We
will be treated to a four-hour presentation, in-
cluding examples of the best speech-making
and music that this sometimes-great land has
to offer. Think about it, people: What presi-
dential candidates, what musicians, what
healers or spokespeople or leaders would
care to donate their time to such an event? Of
course, all who are worth a notice will want
to come.
This event will be a prototype for every
community in the land. Throughout the sum-
mer and into the fall, The Surge Against the
War will build in momentum. The agendas
will become clear. Eugene will acquire an-
other important little footnote in history. Of
infinite more import, though, once again We
the People, in seeing our numbers face to
face, will grow empowered. And when we
declare, the world will have to listen.
Stay tuned, people. Volunteers are step-
ping up. At least 50,000 are needed in this lit-
tle town alone. A lot of real work remains to
be done before that one day, a Saturday in
May. After that, the dream will continue.
Surge!
Scott Landfield
Eugene
DRINKING WORDS
Last night (1/23) two friends and I “cele-
brated” the State of the Union address by
playing a drinking game based on what our il-
lustrious leader said. I found this highly
amusing and finished off a third of a bottle of
tequila myself (I groaned every time my
friend called out “Reference to something
that doesn’t exist!”Apparently, Iraq is a
drinking word as well). I realized in my
drunken stupor that politics is probably the
best comedy we have at the moment, and
even Carlos Mencia can’t compete with the
talking heads on C-SPAN.
I can’t help but laugh every time I see
some article or letter lamenting the failures of
the U.S. government or its myriad adventures
around the globe. When will you people learn
that the only thing government does well is
propagate itself? Your representatives do not
represent you; they simply fill their wallets
from your coffers and pass the savings on to
their friends. Social programs are nothing but
a sham to launder money into personal pet
projects. The war in Iraq will continue no
matter who is in office. Babies will continue
to be enslaved from the moment they exit the
birth canal. The countless means of theft
from the American people will never stop.
There is a solution, though, no matter how
much we may enjoy this “monarchic” com-
edy. Ignore them. Stop giving them money.
Stop wasting your life griping about the fail-
ures of your “representatives” or writing let-
ters to them to that effect (as if that will actu-
ally accomplish something ... ). The people in
government will always act in their own best
interest; you should too. Let’s get rid of this
system and get back to our lives.
Bonus question: Who can tell me why
corporations have so much power? Here’s a
hint: It has to do with the “laws” that make a
corporation possible in the first place.
Justin Bengtson
Eugene
SMITH’S PROUD VOTES
It seems to be back to business as usual for
Gordon Smith. I thought that after his
evening speech before a bunch of empty
chairs expressing his displeasure with the
conduct of the debacle in Iraq, maybe he was
beginning to realize why he was elected to