What is a Chronolog?
You can now take an active role in monitoring your public lands with the BLM and CCA! Learn more about the new Chronolog stations in McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area below.
A Chronolog is an interactive tool for the community to monitor changes to our landscape. With each picture submitted, a longer time-lapse of the landscape will be created. Three new Chronolog stations were recently installed in McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. Each station monitors a different change in the landscape
How does it work?
Place your phone in the pre-installed bracket.
Take a photo.
Email your photo to: upload@chronolog.io
Watch the time-lapse grow!
What is a Chronolog?
A way to monitor changes in the landscape through time-lapse technology…
A way to engage people in nature and how it changes over time…
A way to connect communities with land stewards to protect natural areas!
The 3 Chronolog Locations
Knowles Canyon Overlook at Rabbit Valley
Knowles Campground is an ideal place for visitors to camp, with access to motorized and non-motorized recreation opportunities and incredible views of the Colorado River that characterize the Rabbit Valley area of McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. The area surrounding the campground also happens to be popular with a non-human public land user: a rare, little-known species of desert wildflower called the Dolores River skeletonplant (Lygodesmia dolorensis).
The Dolores River skeletonplant is tracked by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program because it is endemic to the Western Slope of Colorado; this means the Western Slope is the only place in the world this species can be found. Its lovely, 5-petaled pink flowers can be seen from May to August. However, this plant is an annual and germinates only in the right conditions, so it can be incredibly scarce or very common at this site depending on the amount and timing of precipitation Rabbit Valley receives that year. This Chronolog timelapse provides information on the conditions at Rabbit Valley over time and supplements data provided by the citizen science Dolores River skeletonplant monitoring project run jointly by the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Canyons Association.
View the site here!
May Flats in Ruby-Horsethief Canyon
Within McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area you can find natural arches, sandstone canyons, alcoves, and a 24 mile stretch of the Colorado River corridor. Riparian areas are of great importance in desert landscapes and can provide important resources and refuge for plant and animal species that depend on riparian areas. River corridors can also provide a means for the spread of invasive plants, for example tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissma) and Russian knapweed (Acryptilon repens). These invasive species were introduced in this area and can disrupt native ecosystems. Russian knapweed can outcompete native plant species along the Colorado River, degrading riparian vegetation communities, which can have further negative effects on animal and insect communities. Because of this, a biological control agent, the Russian knapweed gall wasp (Aulacidea acroptilonica), has been released in this area. This gall wasp targets Russian knapweed specifically and can reduce growth, flowering, and seed production of Russian knapweed. This can help reduce the competitive ability of Russian knapweed and slow the spread of this plant. This biological agent is part of an integrated management strategy to improve the overall ecosystem health of this riparian area.
As part of a National Environmental Education Foundation grant (https://www.neefusa.org) in partnership with Colorado Canyons Association and the Palisade Insectary, students from School District 51 are monitoring how the gall wasps are affecting Russian knapweed and how native vegetation is responding. This Chronolog will help further the monitoring efforts.
View the site here!
Sieber Fire Restoration Area at Jones Canyon Trailhead
The Sieber Fire began as a lightning strike in the Blackridge Canyons Wilderness in McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area during the summer of 2020. The wildfire covered 1,094 acres of the Wilderness before it was contained. One of the most damaging potential outcomes of wildfire on the landscape is the large-scale erosion that can follow when the area has been stripped of the vegetation that stabilizes the soil. Without the forage and cover that that vegetation used to provide, wildlife can suffer as well.
The autumn following the Sieber fire, volunteers and staff with the Bureau of Land Management and CCA collected seed from sagebrush growing in the wilderness near the burn area. This seed was grown into seedlings by the Upper Colorado Environmental Plant Center, and then brought back to the burn area to be planted by work crews and volunteers in patches or “islands,” with locally collected pinyon and juniper deadwood scattered throughout. Research by staff at the BLM Grand Junction Field Office has shown that this method is successful at regenerating sagebrush populations after a fire. This Chronolog timelapse provides information on the regeneration of this site over time as it recovers from the Sieber wildfire in 2020.
View the site!
Want more information? Ask the BLM! Call their office at (970)244-3000 or email BLM_CO_GJ_Web@blm.gov.