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Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Geography. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-65).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Geography. / Electronic thesis. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-65). Also available in print ed.

The results of an archaeological survey of North Cottonwood Canyon, San Juan County, southeastern Utah, are herein reported. The purpose and background leading up to the survey are followed by a physical description of the canyon and a description of the 36 archaeological sites recorded. The cultural material collected and/or observed at the sites, including architecture, ceramics, and other miscellaneous artifacts, is described and discussed. This is followed by a distributional analysis between sites. This includes altitude, slope, water resources, and vegetation. Cultural materials in North Cottonwood Canyon are then compared with materials from related areas, including Montezuma Canyon, Beef Basin, Salt Creek, Indian Creek, Cedar Mesa, Hammond Canyon, and Glen Canyon. This is followed by the Conclusion, which discusses the time periods the canyon was inhabited, the lifeway of the prehistoric inhabitants, and some possibilities for further work that hopefully will be conducted in the canyon at a future date.

Due to loss of habitat, Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) currently occupy 8.5% of their presumed historical range. One population survives in Utah, occurring in San Juan County. The Gunnison Sage-grouse Rangewide Conservation Plan and the San Juan County Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation Plan recommended management strategies to address identified conservation threats to the Utah population. I addressed three conservation strategies identified in the plans: 1) creation and enhancement of brood-rearing areas; 2) assessment of habitat conditions within the Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation Area; and 3) prevention or reduction of perching events by avian predators on distribution line power poles. From 2007-2009, I addressed the conservation strategy of creating mesic brood-rearing areas in Conservation Reserve Program fields and native sagebrush areas by evaluating the role of irrigation and dormant season cattle grazing on habitat. Vegetation and arthropod diversity in irrigated versus non-irrigated plots did not differ (p>0.01). Conservation Reserve Program plots exhibited greater arthropod abundance and cover of perennial grass than the native sagebrush plots, but lower diversity of perennial grasses and abundance and diversity of forbs (p<0.01). The second conservation strategy I addressed was the completion of an assessment of habitat conditions within the Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation Area. I measured vegetation conditions within habitat occupied and unoccupied by Gunnison sage-grouse. Cover and height of grasses exceeded guidelines for occupied and unoccupied habitats. Forb cover was below recommended guidelines in occupied habitat. Sagebrush cover was below guidelines for winter habitat. Habitat restoration efforts should focus on retaining existing sagebrush cover and establishment of sagebrush, forb, and grass cover within Conservation Reserve Program fields. The third conservation strategy I evaluated was the retrofitting of distribution line power poles with perch deterrents to discourage avian predators from perching. I evaluated the efficacy of five perch deterrents. The perch deterrents did not mitigate potential avian predators from perching. A deterrent designed for insulators, in combination with physical deterrents we tested, has potential to prevent perching. These studies provided a sound first step that can be built upon by the Monticello/Dove Creek Local Working Group to improve habitat conditions, reduce the threat of avian predation, and plan future conservation activities within the Conservation Area.

The purpose of this study was to learn the reasons for the movement of cattle Into San Juan County, Utah, the development of the Industry, and its contribution to the growth of the county.The few written accounts in existence of the cattle industry in San Juan are brief and found in widely separate areas. The whole and complete account will likely never be written, but there is need for gathering as much of the scattered information as possible.A study of the early history of the inhabitants of San Juan was made, along with an examination of the geography of the region, and of early explorations into the area. The first inhabitants were likely a group of Pueblo Indians whose cultural remains indicate that they were a settled people with a higher standard of living than the Indians who succeeded them. The latter group was represented In three tribes, the Navajos, Flutes, and the Utes.

Homesteading in San Juan County, Utah is for the most part, located on Sage Plain at elevations between 6,000 to 7,200 feet. Sage Plain is an undulating surface deeply dissected with canyons. The soil is relatively shallow and the predominant vegetation is pinyon, juniper, sage brush and blue-stem grass.The 52 year mean precipitation is 15.47 inches. Since the beginning of weather records there has been a noticeable decrease in the annual precipitation. There is generally sufficient moisture to mature winter wheat. Pinto beans are also grown in the more favorable locations.Principle factors that have influenced homesteading and land abandonment are: (1) availability of land, (2) transportation and isolation, (3) schools and cultural benefits, (4) wheat prices, (5) farming methods, (6) precipitation and (7) laws and government policies.The 80 years of land occupancy (1880 to 1960) are divided into 4 periods: (1) the early period (1880 to 1909), (2) the new dry-farm period (1910 to 1920), (3) the land abandonment period (1921 to 1937) and the period of new farming methods and land expansion (1938 to 1960).

The Latter-day Saint settlements in southeastern Utah, namely Bluff, Monticello and Blanding, were impacted by the physical and cultural geography of the area. These geographic elements hindered, and in some cases prevented, the Latter-day Saint colonizers from fulfilling the seven basic principles of Latter-day Saint expansion and colonization in the Great Basin. The impacts of physical geography were the geology, the climate, the soil and the rivers and streams. The impacts of cultural geography were the Navajo Indian Tribe, the Paiute Indian Tribe, and the criminal element. This thesis discusses the geographic elements of the area, how they impacted the settlements of Bluff, Monticello and Blanding, how the Mormons reacted to the situation, and how the impacts were eventually dealt with and solved.