UTAH COUNTY, Utah — A BYU professor is using decades of research into our native landscapes to offer a natural solution to fire dangers at a local trailhead.
Rock Canyon offers an easy escape for locals in Provo and Orem for any number of outdoor activities.
“Probably two to three times a week, I’m here,” said Mark Showalter, who was hiking the trail Friday. “Throughout the year - actually during the winter as well.”
“My kids grew up climbing this canyon,” said Phil Allen, pointing to the soaring rock walls up the trail. “Red Slab is this [route], Curious George is around the corner.”
The proximity to homes means the canyon’s trails are no secret.
“Rock Canyon is the most heavily visited canyon along the Wasatch Front that does not have a road going through it,” Allen said, noting more than 20,000 people come here every month.
But by this time of year, some of the scenic surroundings start to lose their luster.
“Especially this first segment of the trail - this is really hot and dry,” Showalter said.
Recent renovations at the trailhead were readily invaded by cheatgrass, a non-native species which Allen says sucks up all the groundwater each spring and kills off native vegetation.
“It’s a very effective competitor,” said Allen with a chuckle. “By June, it’s ready to burn.”
While the trails reopened in October 2024, the fuel for potential devastation remains.
Allen is a landscape management professor at BYU and has been looking into how to combat these harmful grasses since the 1990s.
“In some of my research, we’ve counted over 35,000 cheatgrass seeds per square meter,” said Allen.
Allen’s decades devoted to uprooting the problem have provided a more colorful alternative - that’s been here all along.
“To create a native wildflower meadow similar to what would’ve been here a couple hundred years ago,” Allen said. “That window of the fire season is reduced because the native plants stay greener longer”
Allen notes that once they grow, those meadows wouldn’t just reduce wildfire, they’d also be a boon to wildlife in the area.
“As we bring back nature, we’ll have a lot more animals that will feel comfortable being here,” said Allen.
It won’t happen overnight - a similar project Allen completed in Heber City took nine years.
“It’s benefiting the community directly,” said Showalter. “But it’s also educating students and promoting things that will last generations.”
But he says that lasting impact it could have is well worth the effort.
“There’s no way to avoid fires in our landscapes,” Allen said. “But we can sure do a lot to minimize them - and we need to.”
Allen says dozens of students and thousands of volunteers have contributed to the ongoing effort over the years. If you'd like to support, he says the fall will bring opportunities to seed those new wildflowers.
