“What is it about the desert?”
“For me, it’s always been the wide open spaces. You know, you’re very small, and so therefore any problems that you might have also feel really small. And so it’s really a place to put things in perspective,” park ranger Liz Ballenger said. “It’s restorative.”
But there are times when even the desert needs to be restored. The arches and cliffs haven’t gone anywhere, but after more than a century of cattle-trampling, beginning in the mid-1800s, vast stretches of land in the West still haven’t come back. Native grass doesn’t grow and wildlife can’t survive.
That’s why Canyonlands and Arches National Parks are involved in an innovative program using something called “con-mods.” “It’s short for connectivity modifier,” Ballenger explained.
It’s a big idea with lots of little parts: the X-shaped con-mods catch seeds and moisture, creating tiny “islands of recovery” that multiply over and over.
“We’re in Salt Valley [in Arches] now … one of the areas that’s really in need of restoration,” Ballenger said. “By having these islands of recovery out here on the landscape, we’re able to get perennial grass established into these systems again.”
So far, scientists say con-mods have a 90 percent success rate.
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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