Bryce Canyon National Park

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Facts about Bryce Canyon

By David Terr

Bryce Canyon is a national park located in Utah, near Zion Canyon and the Grand Canyon. It was named after Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer. It is not actually a canyon but a natural amphitheater created by erosion from headwater below the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce Canyon contains unique geological structures called hoodoos, formed from wind, water, and ice erosion.

Native Americans have lived in the Bryce Canyon area for about 10,000 years. Local native American tribes include the Anasazi and Paiute Indians. The Fremont Culture also lived there until the 12th century.

The first Caucasians to reach Bryce Canyon were Mormon scouts in the 1850s, who were interested in agricultural development and settlement. U.S. Army Major John Leslie Powell led the first scientific expedition there in 1872. The canyon became a national monument in 1923 and a national park in 1928.

The geology of Bryce Canyon is fascinating. The sedimentary rock features show deposition from the last part of the Cretacious Period, roughly 70 million years ago, to the first half of the Cenezoic Era, about 40 million years ago. Sedimentary rocks in the canyon include Dakota Sandstone and Tropical Shale.

Bryce Canyon contains a wide variety of animal and plant life. Mammals in the park include mule deer, bobcats, foxes, mountain lions, coyotes, marmots, and ground squirrels. The canyon also contains 160 species of birds, including swifts and swallows, which migrate away from the park in the winter and jays, ravens, nuthatches, eagles, and owls, which stay all year. The park also has a wide variety of trees, divided into three life zones, depending on their elevation.

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