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In the canyon country of southwestern Utah, the Delores River rips through sandy peaks to create stone pinnacles, sand stone mazes, and wide flood plains. On one of these river terraces is the former Entrada Ranch, now the Rio Mesa Field Station – a restoration field laboratory managed by our close partners at the University of Utah. We are also working on the historic Redd Ranch, now managed by The Nature Conservancy near Monticello, Utah. This property is surrounded by Canyonlands National Park and is bisected by several small streams that we are working to restore.
Rio Mesa is a research station managed by the University of Utah. It is an ideal site to bring students for field courses and train restorationists. Several well-kept housing and semi-permanent tents, in and out-door kitchens, a yurt classroom (furnished with ping pong table) and volley ball and horse shoe pits – plus a river to swim and raft – motivate hard work during the day.
We are primarily conducting applied research at the Rio Mesa Center. Projects include:
We offer a leadership program, the Restoration Certificate Field School in ecocultural restoration through the Coconino Community College to encourage career pipelines in the conservation industry for youth. The youth that we are working with are part of the Ancestral Lands conservation corps program for Navajo and Hopi youth working on conservation of southwestern landscapes.
