Great Basin

https://www.nps.gov/grba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Basin_National_Park Great Basin National Park is in eastern Nevada near the Utah border. It's in the Great Basin Desert and contains most of the South Snake mountains. In the north, the mountain-hugging Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive leads to towering Wheeler Peak. Nearby is one of several ancient bristlecone pine groves. The marble Lehman Caves have distinctive stalactites and other formations. Park wildlife includes bighorn sheep. From the 13,063-foot summit of Wheeler Peak to the sagebrush-covered foothills, Great Basin National Park hosts a sample of the incredible diversity of the larger Great Basin region. Come and partake of the solitude of the wilderness, walk among ancient bristlecone pines, bask in the darkest of night skies, and explore mysterious subterranean passages. There's a lot more than just desert here. From the East or West: From U.S. Highway 6 & 50, turn south on Nevada State Highway 487 and travel 5 miles to Baker, NV. In Baker turn west on Highway 488 and travel 5 miles to the park. From the South (Utah): Travel north on Utah State Highway 21 through Milford, UT and Garrison, UT, Highway 487. Turn west on Highway 488 in Baker and travel 5 miles to the park. From the South (Nevada): Travel north on U.S. Highway 93. No public transportation is available to, or in, Great Basin National Park. Great Basin Visitor Center Phone: (775) 234-7520 Located just north of the town of Baker on the west side of NV Highway 487. The Visitor Center contains an information desk staffed by park rangers, exhibits about the ecology and history of the park, a theater with the park film, and brochures. From Baker, NV take 487 .5 miles north. The Great Basin Visitor Center is on the right. Lehman Caves Visitor Center Phone: (775) 234-7510 Lehman Caves Visitor Center is located 5.5 miles up from the town of Baker, NV. At this visitor center visitors can plan their visit, purchase cave tour tickets, watch the park movie, and explore exhibits about the caves and the darkness of Great Basin National Park. From Baker, NV take 488 5.5 miles to the end of the road. Baker Creek Campground Baker Creek Campground contains 37 campsites. All sites are available, when the campground is open (seasons permitting), on a first-come-first-served basis. Potable water is not available. Nightly Fee 20.00 $20 per night per site. $10 for senior/access pass holders. No checks. Baker Creek Campground Sign Green sign with white text "Baker Creek Campground" Baker Creek Campground is located on the Baker Creek Road Dump Station No overnight camping allowed. Dump Station is for dumping garbage and RV sewage. Dump Station Fee 10.00 $10 to dump RV sewage Dump Station Great Basin Dump Station with sewage hose, water fill up, and dumpsters Dump station located near Lehman Cave Visitor Center Grey Cliffs Campground For visitors to Great Basin National Park, Grey Cliffs Campground is an ideal place to setup and start exploring. Experience the solitude of the desert, the smell of sagebrush after a thunderstorm, the darkest of night skies, and the beauty of Lehman Caves. Nightly Fee 20.00 $20 nightly fee for single site. Nightly Group Fee 30.00 $30 nightly fee when using group sites. Minimum 9 people. Maximum 12 people per site or 30 people per loop. Grey Cliffs Green sign with white text that says "Grey Cliffs Campground" Grey Cliffs campground is the first left on Baker Creek Road Lower Lehman Campground Among the lush green vegetation which hugs Lehman Creek, you'll secure your tent or park your RV within earshot of clear mountain water which has tumbled 3000 vertical feet from the lakes and snowfields of the high Snake Range. Naturally landscaped with red-barked water birch, aspen and white fir a stroll through this sky island ecosystem provides for great bird-watching or a cooling dip in the stream while placing you just minutes from spectacular Lehman Caves. Nightly Fee 20.00 Campsites are $20 per night per site. $10 for senior/access pass holders. No checks. Lower Lehman Campground Lower Lehman Campsite. Picnic table, grill, green tent, and blue skies. Site #8 Snake Creek Primitive Campgrounds Make yourself at home in the Snake Creek Campsites along the Snake Creek River, located on the south-eastern side of the park. These sites are nestled among Aspen groves and at the base of impressive limestone cliffs. Sites to choose from include, Monkey Rock, Squirrel Springs, Pinnacles, Eagle Peak. The Shoshone and Johnson Lake trail sites are a short 0.5 mile hike from the parking lot at the end of the Snake Creek Road. Camping Fees 0.00 There are no camping fees for the Snake Creek Campgrounds. All sites are First-Come-First-Served. Maximum stay is 14 days. Snake Creek Primitive Campground Squirrel Springs Campground sign with mountain in background Squirrel Springs, one of six primitive campgrounds, located in the Snake Creek area. Upper Lehman Campground Whether you prefer the rich smell of summer mahogany riding air currents blended with the vanilla of ponderosa pine, or the sound of a clear mountain stream babbling beneath a symphony of swaying white fir, you won't regret your stay at Upper Lehman Campground. At 7500 feet in elevation and 3 miles up the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive a stay at Upper Lehman is just a brief cruise from high alpine trails that will take you into the heart of the Snake Range. Nightly Fee 20.00 Campsites are $20 per night per site. $10 for senior/access pass holders. No checks. Upper Lehman Campsite Picnic table, grill, empty tent pad. Surrounded by pine trees with a view of mountain tops. Site #21 Wheeler Peak Campground Located at 9500', Wheeler Peak campground offer a great experience camping at high elevation. Nestled in aspen groves in the shadow of Wheeler Peak, temperatures can be cold even during the summer. Potable water is not available. Nightly Fee 20.00 The Nightly Fee covers a one night stay in one campsite. Wheeler Peak Campground Green sign with white text showing the way to "Wheeler Peak Campground". Snow on the ground. Wheeler Peak Campground Sign in snow Wheeler cirque blue sky with green trees in mountain cirque Trail to ancient bristlecone pine trees. Bristlecone at night Bristlecone pine tree with a dark blue sky behind it with a bright Jupiter shining Planets like Jupiter shine bright at Great Basin Lehman Caves Grand Palace Parachute formation Brown and tan cave formation in the shape of a parachute Lehman Caves of Great Basin National Park offers incredible views of a rare subterranean world. Milky Way at Great Basin National Park Colorful Milky Way over the red lit Lehman Caves Visitor Center Come see the Milky Way at Great Basin National Park. Remember to check the moon phase. Great Basin Visitor Center Tan and green Visitor center with mountains in the background. Great Basin Visitor Center just six miles from the park entrance Alpine Flowers White, yellow,, and pink alpine flowers. Flowers grow even at the high altitudes of the Great Basin National Park Golden Eagle Golden Eagle flying with wings spread wide Wildlife is abundant at Great Basin National Park including birds, deer, fish, and mountain lion. Snow Covered Mountains Snow covered mountains with brown trees in the foreground Snow can come early, even in the fall at Great Basin. Comet NEOWISE Ancient bristlecone with comet NEOWISE in the background Great Basin National Park offers truly dark-skies that rarely seen within the United States. Cave Management Plans, Summer Bat Crew, & Biomonitoring Development of the Lehman Caves Management Plan and Wild Caves and Karst Management Plan are nearing completion. Bat surveys, quarterly biomonitoring in Lehman Caves along with a cave climate change study were a focus of cave activity for 2017. view out of cave opening to distant mountains and trees Army Couple Visits 59 National Parks When you’re a dual-military couple, it can be a challenge to try to find things to do together, especially when you’re at separate duty stations or on deployment. For one Army couple, what started out as a simple idea to get out of the house turned into a five-year adventure. Couple standing in front of The Windows at Arches National Park. The Sounds of Spring When the weather warms, national parks across the country rouse from winter’s sleep. The sounds you hear in parks reflect this seasonal change. They contribute to the unique soundscape of these special places, and are among the resources that the National Park Service protects. Sandhill cranes dance in a courtship ritual in flooded grasslands at Great Sand Dunes NP. Wildland Fire in Douglas Fir: Western United States Douglas fir is widely distributed throughout the western United States, as well as southern British Columbia and northern Mexico. Douglas fir is able to survive without fire, its abundantly-produced seeds are lightweight and winged, allowing the wind to carry them to new locations where seedlings can be established. Close-up of Douglas fir bark and needles. Bat Projects in Parks: Great Basin National Park Bat demographics, hibernacula, occupancy, and outreach in Great Basin National Park. View of Great Basin National Park wilderness Wildland Fire in Ponderosa Pine: Western United States This forest community generally exists in areas with annual rainfall of 25 inches or less. Extensive pure stands of this forest type are found in the southwestern U.S., central Washington and Oregon, southern Idaho and the Black Hills of South Dakota. Recently burned ponderosa pine forest. White Pines Healthy in Great Basin National Park The Mojave Desert Network monitors two white pine species in Great Basin National Park, limber pine and Great Basin bristlecone pine. These trees are important foundation species that support wildlife and plants. However, white pines face threats from mountain pine beetles, a warming climate, and the non-native pathogen that causes white pine blister rust. Recent collaborative monitoring documented that surveyed pines are healthy, with no incidence of blister rust infection. Great Basin bristlecone pine on a rocky mountain slope overlooking the sagebrush steppe below. Series: Inside Earth – NPS Cave & Karst News – Summer 2017 This newsletter is produced as a forum for information and idea exchanges between National Park Service units that contain caves and karst landscapes. It also provides a historical overview and keeps partners and other interested folks aware of cave and karst management activities. 4 rangers walk through shoe cleaning station Series: Geologic Time Periods in the Paleozoic Era During the Paleozoic Era (541 to 252 million years ago), fish diversified and marine organisms were very abundant. In North America, the Paleozoic is characterized by multiple advances and retreats of shallow seas and repeated continental collisions that formed the Appalachian Mountains. Common Paleozoic fossils include trilobites and cephalopods such as squid, as well as insects and ferns. The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history ended this era. fossil corals in a rock matrix Lehman Caves Virtual Tour Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park is a beautiful, well-decorated cave that has been visited since 1885. But due to its remoteness and the pandemic in 2020, many people have a hard time getting to the cave in rural Nevada. Fortunately, the half-mile tour route was scanned with LiDAR in February 2020 and the resulting pointcloud was made into a high definition virtual cave tour. Now anyone with an Internet connection can visit the cave. Person conducting LiDAR at the base of a stairway in Lehman Caves. NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Great Basin National Park, Nevada Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. Links to products from Baseline Geologic and Soil Resources Inventories provide access to maps and reports. park scene mountains at night Ordovician Period—485.4 to 443.8 MYA Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks, along with the Blue Ridge Parkway that connects them, pass through rocks from the core of the Appalachian Mountains. The mountains began forming during the Ordovician and eventually attained elevations similar to those of the Himalayas. rock with fossil brachiopod shells Cambrian Period—541 to 485.4 MYA The flat layers of rock exposed in Grand Canyon National Park encompass much of the Paleozoic, beginning in the Cambrian where they record an ancient shoreline. rock with fossil burrow tracks Paleozoic Era During the Paleozoic Era (541 to 252 million years ago), fish diversified and marine organisms were very abundant. In North America, the Paleozoic is characterized by multiple advances and retreats of shallow seas and repeated continental collisions that formed the Appalachian Mountains. Common Paleozoic fossils include trilobites and cephalopods such as squid, as well as insects and ferns. The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history ended this era. fossil corals in a rock matrix Blanket Cave National Youth Park—Activity Enjoy a fun activity and learn about caves even when you can't get out to a park. In this activity you will build your own cave and learn how to make it like a "real" natural cave. Find out about cave formations and wildlife, and how to be safe and care for caves. New "Blanket Cave National Youth Parks" are springing up all across America! Join the fun! cartoon drawing of a childs and a park ranger exploring a cave Plan Like a Park Ranger: Top 10 Know Before You Go Plan like a park ranger using these top ten tips for visiting. See you along the trail! Series: Pacific Ocean Education Team (POET) Newsletters From 2009 to 2015, the Pacific Ocean Education Team published a series of short newsletters about the health of the ocean at various National Park Service sites in and around the Pacific Ocean. Topics covered included the 2010 tsunami, marine debris, sea star wasting disease, ocean acidification, and more. Ocean waves wash in from the right onto a forested and rocky shoreline. POET Newsletter Summer 2010 Pacific Ocean Education Team (POET) newsletter from Winter 2009. Articles include: Stewardship Without Boundaries: Conserving Our Ocean Ecosystem from Baja to the Bering Sea; A Seamless Network of Parks, Sanctuaries, Refuges & Reserves; Life Entwined with the Sea: The Non-Coastal Park Connection; Take the Plunge into Ocean Stewardship; Nearshore Vertebrates in Four Hawaii Parks; and Ocean Stewardship: A Commitment to Collaboration. Sea stacks rise above ocean waves washing ashore. A wooded ridge rises in the distance. POET Newsletter Winter 2009 Pacific Ocean Education Team (POET) newsletter from Winter 2009. Articles include: Stewardship Without Boundaries: Conserving Our Ocean Ecosystem from Baja to the Bering Sea; A Seamless Network of Parks, Sanctuaries, Refuges & Reserves; Life Entwined with the Sea: The Non-Coastal Park Connection; Engage Visitors in Ocean Park Stewardship; Inventory Map & Protect Ocean Parks; and Ocean Stewardship: A Commitment to Collaboration for Conservation. A color map indicating the depth of the Pacific Ocean floor. Darker blue represents deeper oceans. Saving Our Sagebrush Sea A recent study underscores the importance of protecting sagebrush lands in national parks to prevent a national treasure from disappearing. Sagebrush lands in front of the Teton Range in Wyoming Changing Patterns of Water Availability May Change Vegetation Composition in US National Parks Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios. Green, orange, and dead grey junipers in red soil, mountains in background Beatrice Rhodes Beatrice Rhodes spent ten years (1920-30) as the steward of Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park along with her first husband. Her time there coincided with the era’s burgeoning automobile tourist industry, fueling a desire among many to explore the US West and escape the pressures of urban modernity. Rhodes’ role as an advertiser, tour guide, and even entertainer at the Lehman Caves embodied this trend to seek excitement and individuality in the rural West. Rough, single story log cabin with door and window in shrubby desert Battle of the Bark Trees shade us from the sun, provide homes for wildlife, stabilize Earth’s surface, and produce food for humans and animals alike. Some are massive, and others are miniscule by comparison, but what makes one better than the other—we’ll let you decide! Check out our iconic trees below and find your favorite! Five thick barked red-brown trees are backlit by the sunlight. Pollinators in peril? A multipark approach to evaluating bee communities in habitats vulnerable to effects from climate change Can you name five bees in your park? Ten? Twenty? Will they all be there 50 years from now? We know that pollinators are key to maintaining healthy ecosystems—from managed almond orchards to wild mountain meadows. We have heard about dramatic population declines of the agricultural workhorse, the honey bee. Yet what do we really know about the remarkable diversity and resilience of native bees in our national parks? Southeastern polyester bee, Colletes titusensis. The bioblitz: Good science, good outreach, good fun Part contest, part festival, part educational event, and part scientific endeavor, bioblitzes bring together naturalists, professional scientists, and the interested public, who canvass the area over a 24-hour period to find and document all plants and animals. young woman gathers flying insects from a backlit white sheet at night. Studying the Past and Predicting the Future Using Rat Nests In the western United States, packrat middens are one of the best tools for reconstructing recent environments and climates. These accumulations of plant fragments, small vertebrate remains, rodent droppings, and other fossils can be preserved for more than 50,000 years. Packrat middens have been found in at least 41 National Park Service units. Photo of a wood rat. Series: Park Paleontology News - Vol. 14, No. 2, Fall 2022 All across the park system, scientists, rangers, and interpreters are engaged in the important work of studying, protecting, and sharing our rich fossil heritage. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/newsletters.htm">Park Paleontology news</a> provides a close up look at the important work of caring for these irreplaceable resources. <ul><li>Contribute to Park Paleontology News by contacting the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/common/utilities/sendmail/sendemail.cfm?o=5D8CD5B898DDBB8387BA1DBBFD02A8AE4FBD489F4FF88B9049&r=/subjects/geoscientistsinparks/photo-galleries.htm">newsletter editor</a></li><li>Learn more about <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/">Fossils & Paleontology</a> </li><li>Celebrate <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/">National Fossil Day</a> with events across the nation</li></ul> Photo of a person sitting while using a laboratory microscope. Series: Geologic Time—Major Divisions and NPS Fossils The National Park System contains a magnificent record of geologic time because rocks from each period of the geologic time scale are preserved in park landscapes. The geologic time scale is divided into four large periods of time—the Cenozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, Paleozoic Era, and The Precambrian. photo of desert landscape with a petrified wood log on the surface Series: Women's History in the Pacific West - California-Great Basin Collection Biographies from Northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada Map of northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada Lehman Cave Area's Water and Wastewater Systems to be Rehabilitated at Great Basin National Park to Protect Long-Term Visitor Services through GAOA Funding Great Basin National Park, with funding from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), will rehabilitate water and wastewater systems that serve the Lehman Caves area. From the summit of Wheeler Peak to the sage-covered foothills, 150,000 annual visitors come to Great Basin National Park to enjoy the solitude of the wilderness, walk among ancient bristlecone pines, bask in dark night skies, and explore the mysterious passages of Lehman Caves. gray rocks climbing up cave's walls. Some pointy rocks haning down from the ceilding. Outside Science (inside parks): Rattlesnakes in Great Basin National Park Meet biologists Meg Horner and Bryan Hamilton as they explore rattlesnake dens in Great Basin National Park. Rattlesnake NPS Establishes NPSage Initiative to Restore Sagebrush-Steppe Ecosystems Artemisia species, commonly known as sagebrush, are far from being the only species on the landscape. The sagebrush biome is composed of a rich mosaic of thousands of diverse plant species, which are largely driven by differences in climate, soil and elevation. These distinct sagebrush plant and animal communities occur in approximately 70 park units across the western U.S— all of which are experiencing significant threats from wildfire and droughts. Two NPS staff knealing next to plants growing in a nursery Understanding Woodrat Distribution Where do woodrats live in Great Basin National Park? What do they eat? Researchers from the University of Nevada - Reno work to answer these and other questions and find some interesting results. woodrat in cage Uncovering the Mystery of Cave Turnips Turnip stalactites are not your everyday speleothem. In fact, we hardly know anything about them. But due to the research of an intern, we now know a lot more, including that Lehman Caves has over 1,000 turnip stalactites! person lying on back measuring cave turnips Meet the 2023 USA Cave Animal of the Year: Cave Crickets! What lives underground? The Cave Animal of the Year project hopes to spread the news about the intriguing species that call underground home. Meet the 2023 designee: cave crickets. tan cave cricket on cave wall Great Basin Pie Recipes A brief history of the Lehman Caves Orchard and the pie making traditions associated with it! Geologic Fundamentals of Great Basin National Park Caves Caves only form in specific rock layers. This article highlights those rock layers for Great Basin National Park, as well as three different ways that caves form in the park. cave walls with vertical lines Top 10 Things To Know Before Visiting Great Basin Tips from Rangers to be prepared for a visit in the summer of 2023 Series: Summer 2023 Issue of The Midden The Midden is the Resource Management Newsletter of Great Basin National Park, published each summer and winter. Find out the latest going on at Great Basin National Park in resource management and research, including: * Understanding Woodrat Distribution * Turnip Stalactites * Cave Animal of the Year * Fundamentals of Cave Geology To find past issues, visit: https://www.nps.gov/grba/learn/news/midden.htm ranger next to table of small mammal skeletons and skins Bats Are in Danger. Here’s How and Why We’re Helping Them. Bats are amazing animals and a formidable force against insect pests, but a nasty fungal disease is killing them. A coordinated national response brings hope. GIF of a bat with big ears in a gloved hand, rotating its head and opening and closing its mouth. Project Profile: Develop Native Plant Capacity for Sagebrush Parks The National Park Service will establish a native seed collection and plant propagation facility on the Oregon State University (OSU)-Cascades Campus, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and private industry. a sagebrush steppe environment adjacent to a yellow aspen grove on a hillside Project Profile: Build Resilient Sagebrush Neighborhoods The National Park Service will implement nature-based solutions to rapid, fire driven, transformations that are occurring in parks across the sagebrush biome, using the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework and the Sagebrush Conservation Design. The National Park Service will achieve lasting benefits through partnerships and pooling funding sources. Work will occur in eight parks across the Intermountain and Pacific West Regions. a sagebrush bush and a bag full of sagebrush seeds

Park News Great Basin National Park National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior The Midden The Resource Management Newsletter of Great Basin National Park Strawberry Fire Burned Area Rehabilitation and Restoration The lightning-ignited Strawberry Fire was reported on August 8, 2016 in upper Strawberry Creek in Great Basin National Park. Aided by strong winds, the fire quickly grew, burning a large portion of the canyon and pushing the fire down-canyon onto BLM and private lands. The fire was declared controlled on August 23, 2016 after 4,656 acres burned, with 2,790 acres on NPS and 1,769 acres on Bureau of Land Management lands. The fire consumed a mix of habitat types. The dominant plant communities impacted in the park were montane sagebrush steppe (1,148 acres), pinyon-juniper (667 acres), aspen (597 acres), mountain mahogany (209 acres) and montane riparian (42 acres). After the fire, resource management staff prepared a Burned Area Rehabilitation (BAR) plan to address and mitigate natural resource issues created or exacerbated by the fire. Plan objectives were 1) prevent the establishment of non-native invasive plants to enable the restoration and establishment of a healthy, stable ecosystem 2) revegetate lands unlikely to recover naturally post-fire and 3) replace minor infrastructure destroyed by the fire. The park selected several strategies to meet BAR plan objectives for native vegetation recovery including aerial seeding and invasive plant management. Preventing the Summer 2017 Photo by Brian Flynn By Meg Horner, Biologist Native lupine growing after the Strawberry Fire. establishment of invasive forbs and annual grasses, mainly cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), following fire is critical to protect and maintain healthy, resilient plant communities. Cheatgrass invades recently burned sites, particularly pinyon-juniper woodlands and sagebrush-steppe, and can maintain dominance for decades. Not only does this compromise native plant recovery, but it also adversely affects soil stabilization and fire return intervals. Non-native invasive forbs such as bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare), spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe), and whitetop (Cardaria draba) exploit soil and vegetation disturbances following wildfires and fire suppression activities. They can then outcompete native vegetation for limited resources, negatively affect soils and discourage use by wildlife. A total of 894 acres in the park were determined to be at-risk of invasion and recommended for aerial seeding. Aerial seeding was completed on February 12 -13, 2017 with support from the Nevada Department of Continued on Page 2 In This Issue Strawberry Fire Rehabilitation.....1 Steps to BCT Recovery................3 Stalagmites Show Drying Trend..4 Fuel Loads near Bristlecones.....5 Results of Bird BioBlitz..............6 New Publications......................7 Long Term Ecological Research..8 2017 Lichen BioBlitz.................10 Volume 17 Issue 1 Bags of seed for restoration in the Ely Seed Warehouse. diverse, native plant community will benefit park- and BLM-managed lands along with private landowners by stabilizing soils, slowing runoff after precipitation events, preventing the establishment of invasive plants, and providing forage and habitat for wildlife. Establishing native species is a more cost effective strategy than trying to restore native plant communities from annual grass monocultures or sites dominated by invasive forbs. NPS Photo by Margaret Horner Restoration and monitoring will continue for the next several years. Additional seeding efforts may be Aerial seeding objectives supported needed depending on establishment those outlined in the BAR plan success and persistence of native focusing on the restoration of native plants seeded this winter. In arid plant communities and minimizing regions, precipitation is highly the establishment of invasive forbs variable, causing uncertainty and and annual grasses. Restoring a high failure rates in germination and seedling establishment. Recent reviews of the factors limiting seeding success have recommended a “bet hedging” strategy (Madsen et al. 2016). Rather than applying seed at high rates during a single fall seeding, seed is applied at lower rates, with multiple seedings at varying times of year. With multiple Helicopter returning with empty hopper after seeding. 2 The Midden seedings, native species have more opportunity to utilize soil moisture conditions maximizing the probability of establishment. Both the park and BLM will be monitoring vegetation to document post-fire recovery and the success of revegetation efforts. The BLM has partnered with the USDA Agriculture Resource Service to monitor biological soil crusts and dust flux (particles/ m2/second). Portable weather stations have also been installed on NPS and BLM lands to measure precipitation, temperature, soil moisture, and wind. Invasive plant surveys and treatments are already underway. R

The Bristlecone The official newspaper of Great Basin National Park National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Summer 2016 - Spring 2017 Do not throw this paper in trash! Recycle after use! In Your Park________________2 Park Rules and Safety________3 Centennial Schedule_________4 Explore 5 More____________5 Trail Guide_______________6-7 Local Services_______________8 Campsite Guide____________8 Protect Your Park___________9 What is the Great Basin?___10 Park Partners__________10-11 Map_____________________12 Kids nps.gov/kids Teachers nps.gov/teachers Volunteer nps.gov/getinvolved Discover Nature nature.nps.gov Mailing Address Great Basin National Park 5500 W. Hwy 488 Baker, NV 89311 Websites nps.gov/grba facebook.com/GreatBasinNPS Grey Cliffs Campground & Cave Tour Reservations recreation.gov (877) 444-6777 Locate Night Skies nature.nps.gov/night Park Information and Questions (775) 234-7331 Understand Climate nps.gov/climatechange After Hours Non-Emergency Help (702) 293-8998 Examine Biology nature.nps.gov/biology Notice Natural Sounds nature.nps.gov/sound Investigate Geology nature.nps.gov/geology Emergencies 911 The Great Basin Observatory Great Basin National Park is not only a wonderful place to recreate, it is also an extremely valuable laboratory to conduct scientific research. page 11), has raised funds to build the Great Basin Observatory, the first researchclass astronomical observatory in a national park. The park has some of the darkest night skies in the United States and has drawn thousands of people to the exciting experience of seeing a primeval night sky. It is also an ideal spot to conduct astronomical research. In celebration of the National Park Service Centennial (2016), the Great Basin National Park Foundation, the park’s nonprofit partner (see article on The Great Basin Observatory will feature a 0.7-meter (28 inch) telescope with special cameras to capture images of deep space objects. It will be a fully autonomous and robotic astronomical observatory, meaning scientists and students from all over the world will be able to use its instrumentation to conduct research without having to be located on-site. Potential research topics include galaxy detection, extra-solar planet discovery, asteroid and comet observation, and supernova studies. The observatory will be used by various groups of researchers from university scientists to elementary and high school students of the Great Basin, and beyond. The Great Basin Observatory is a cooperative effort of the Park, the Foundation, and four universities: University of Nevada, Reno; Western Nevada College (Carson City, NV); Southern Utah University (Cedar City, UT); and Concordia University (Irvine, CA). The observatory will be used to educate and inspire scientists and park visitors about the wonders of our National Parks and Universe. As the National Park Service celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2016, there is no better time to expand our definition of parks and ensure their preservation for future generations. Our national parks provide opportunities for recreation, to learn our history, to protect our most vulnerable species, and now to peer into the universe and contemplate our place in it. 2016 Great Basin Astronomy Festival September 29 - October 1 Join park rangers and experience out of this world family fun, excitement, and learn about day and nighttime astronomy. Astronomy Programs On a clear, moonless night in Great Basin National Park, thousands of stars, five of our solar system’s eight planets, star clusters, meteors, manmade satellites, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye. The area boasts some of the darkest night skies left in the United States. Low humidity and minimal light pollution, combined with high elevation, create a unique window into the universe. The Lost and Found Report “Why would you leave your rifle and not come back?” Numerous questions surround the small piece of American heritage found and recovered by Great Basin National Park archaeologists in November, 2014. A 132 year-old rifle, exposed to sun, wind, and snow, found leaning against 2 The Bristlecone a tree in the park, attracted worldwide attention through social media. The cracked wood stock, weathered to grey, and the brown rusted barrel blended into the colors of the old juniper tree in a remote rocky outcrop, keeping the rifle hidden for many years. “Model 1873” distinctively engraved on the mechanism identifies the rifle as the Winchester Model 1873 repeating rifle. The serial number in Winchester company records held at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West museum in Cody, Wyoming indicates the gun was shipped from the factory in 1882, but the detailed history of this rifle is unknown. The mystery fueled imagination and prompted numerous theories of when and why the gun was abandoned. Assisting with conservation, the Buffalo Bill Center identified a cartridge through x-ray imag