Zion

National Park / Utah

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Wrought by Water

Immutable yet ever changing, the 

cliffs of Zion stand resolute, a glowing 

presence in late day, a wild calm. 

Melodies of waters soothe desertparched ears, streams twinkle over 

stone, wren song cascades from redrock 

cliffs, cottonwood leaves jitter on the 

breeze. But when lightning flashes 

waterfalls erupt from dry cliffs, and 

floods flash down waterless canyons 

exploding log jams, hurling boulders, 

croaking wild joyousness, and dancing 

stone and water and time. Zion is alive 

with movement, a river of life always 

here and always changing.

Everything in Zion takes life from the 

Virgin River’s scarce desert waters. Water 

flows, and solid rock melts into cliffs and 

towers. Landscape changes as canyons 

deepen to create forested highlands 

and lowland deserts. A ribbon of green 

marks the river’s course as diverse plants 

and animals take shelter and thrive in 

this canyon oasis. From the beginning 

people sought this place, this sanctuary 

in the desert’s dry reaches. The very 

name Zion, meaning ”promised land,” 

evokes its significance.

More than the river’s music and the 

soaring heights alone, Zion’s nature 

multiplies with each slope, aspect, and 

soil type, with each minute change in 

precipitation or temperature. Add to 

these influences species from nearby 

ecosystems, and Zion becomes an 

assemblage of plants, and thus of 

animals, found nowhere else exactly 

like this. Although the southwestern 

desert may look homogeneous, each 

fold, wrinkle, bend, slope, mesa top, 

and canyon bottom creates its unique 

conditions. This unlikely desert harbors a 

mosaic of environments, each fine-tuned 

to place. Welcome to the one called 

Zion.

Water creates emerald oases of lush 

plants in an otherwise red desert 

TEMPLES AND TOWERS AT SUNRISE, NPS PHOTO/REBECCA ALFAFARA
landscape. Red rocks of a remarkable 

slot canyon reveal how rushing waters 

forcefully shaped its narrow and twisting 

walls. Tinted blue by sky, winter’s snow 

highlights the landscape, and then melts 

to feed scouring river torrents in spring.

Geologic Contrasts Create 

Diversity

It’s ironic, in this seemingly unending 

desert, that water creates most of what 

we see. North of Zion, rain falling on 

the 11,000-foot-high Colorado Plateau 

races downhill, slices Zion’s relatively 

soft layers, and pushes its debris off 

the Plateau’s southern edge. This edge 

is not abrupt, but it steps down in a 

series of cliffs and slopes known as the 

Grand Staircase. Above Zion, topping 

the Staircase, Bryce Canyon’s crenellated 

edges form as water trickles off the 

Plateau. Below Zion, Grand Canyon 

forms the lowest rung into which 90 

percent of Colorado Plateau waters run. 

Zion’s gathered waters, known as the 

Virgin River, traverse Mojave Desert 

lands and join the Colorado River in 

Lake Mead’s handmade basin before 

completing their Pacific-bound journey.

Long before today’s landscape even 

appeared, streams, oceans, deserts, and 

volcanos deposited thousands of feet of 

mud, lime, sand, and ash. The immense 

pressure and heat of accumulating 

sediments turned lower layers to stone. 

Later, underground forces uplifted the 

Colorado Plateau, a 130,000-squaremile mass of rock, over 10,000 feet 

above sea level. Rain’s watery fingers 

then worked the Plateau’s minute 

cracks, loosening grains and widening 

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MAPLE LEAVES IN HANGING CANYON
fractures – and eroding today’s mighty 

canyons. These processes continue; 

rivers still deposit sediments that turn 

to stone, earthquakes still punctuate 

the Plateau’s upward journey, and 

erosion pries rockfalls from Zion’s 

seemingly immutable cliffs. Eventually, 

this beautiful canyon will melt away and 

others will form. All it takes is time.

In a Haven of Habitats

People have occupied the landscape 

of what is now Zion National Park for 

thousands of years. Zion’s first residents 

tracked mammoths, camels, and other 

mammals through open desert and 

sheltered canyons. With climate change, 

disease, and overhunting, these animals 

died out 8,000 years ago. Hunters 

adapted by hunting smaller animals 

and gathering food. As resources kept 

diminishing, people adjusted to suit 

their location. One desert culture, 

evident here still, evolved over the next 

1,500 years as a community of farmers 

now known as Ancestral Puebloans. 

The diverse geological setting gave 

them a combination rare in deserts: 

terraces to grow food, a river for water, 

and an adequate growing season. 

On the Colorado Plateau, crops grow 

best between 5,000 and 7,000 feet of 

elevation, which makes Zion’s elevations 

nearly ideal. But drought, resource 

depletion, and migrations eventually 

decreased the Ancestral Puebloans’ 

dominance. The Southern Paiute people 

who followed brought traditions suited 

to the harsh desert climate and thrived 

here.

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Westward expansion eventually brought 

new settlers to the canyon. In the 1860s, 

early Mormon pioneers came to the 

region and built small communities 

and farmed the river terraces. Through 

hard work and faith, the new residents 

endured in a landscape where flash 

floods destroyed towns and drought 

burned crops. The same threats exist 

today, but Zion daily draws new 

explorers to experience the beauty and 

the sanctuary of this place that countless 

generations have considered home.

In the 1800s, popular artist Thomas 

Moran captured the majesty of Zion 

Canyon that sparked making it a park 

and a premier American vacation 

destination. Water both fashions beauty 

and supports the richness that makes 

Zion such a haven of habitats.

Zion’s Natural Diversity

The Nature of Sanctuary

Tucked in niches, hidden in soil, peeking 

from cliffs, or scampering between our 

feet, an amazing array of plants and 

animals thrive in Zion National Park. Tiny 

piñon mice, golden eagles, mountain 

lions – all thrive in Zion’s many habitats. 

Park elevations range from 3,600 to 

8,700 feet and provide vastly different 

environments. Fir, ponderosa pine, and 

aspen prefer snowy highcountry winters, 

while piñon, cliffrose, and mesquite 

flourish in the desert’s heat.

Water, and the lack of it, decides what 

grows where. On the plateau, above 

the canyon rim, annual precipitation 

tops 26 inches. In this relatively cool and 

moist environment, sego lilies sprout 

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CANYON TREEFROG
under greenleaf manzanita, yellowbellied marmots scurry between white 

fir, and elk mix with an occasional black 

bear. Here the Virgin River begins in an 

underground cavern of melted snow.

In the desert over 500 times more species 

are found at water sources than in the 

surrounding arid country. The Virgin 

River’s perennial waters give life to 

an overstory of Fremont cottonwood, 

velvet ash, and boxelder. The rare Zion 

snail lives only in Zion’s isolated hanging 

gardens that grow lush with maidenhair 

fern, scarlet monkeyflower, and golden 

columbine. Canyon treefrogs bleat 

while campers sleep, and great blue 

herons wade the river’s currents. When 

summer monsoons send flash floods 

roaring down canyon, it’s a testimony to 

evolution that anything survives.

That’s also true away from the river, 

where aridity has real meaning. Zion 

Canyon’s annual precipitation may 

total a mere 15 inches. At the lowest 

elevations, Mojave Desert species – 

desert tortoise and honey mesquite 

– infiltrate Zion’s dry, south-facing 

canyons. At mid-elevations, Great Basin 

Desert species like shadscale and big 

sagebrush mingle with the Colorado 

Plateau’s bigtooth maple and Utah 

juniper. Zion’s biotic diversity is the 

result of these three communities 

coming together in one location. 

Part of Zion’s uniqueness comes from 

its geology. Great Basin and Mojave 

Desert soils tend to be similar over great 

distances. But Zion’s stacked prehistoric 

environments erode into many soils. The 

Moenkopi Formation’s ancient lakes 

and volcanic ash, for example, corrode 

into a soil rich in the poisonous mineral 

selenium. Specialized plants like prince’s 

plume and milkvetch (also known 

as locoweed from the effects of its 

selenium-infused leaves) grow on such 

odd soils and increase Zion’s diversity. 

Individual and unconnected canyons also 

increase diversity because isolation can 

lead to variation among species.

This national park is beautiful but not 

pristine. Research shows that 150 years 

of farming, grazing, and recreation 

changed Zion’s environment. Exotic 

species like tamarisk and cheatgrass 

replace native willow and native grasses. 

It is the mission of the National Park 

Service to provide sanctuary for and 

reinvigorate Zion’s remaining diversity. 

Although most park species are not 

unusual and much has changed, these 

unique assemblages create and sustain 

the relevance and sanctity of this 

wondrous place called Zion.

Be Prepared, Plan Well, Live Long

A human body is no match for 

floodwaters that rampage through 

narrow canyons, pushing a raft of 

boulders and logs.

Know the weather and flash flood 

potential before your trip. If bad 

weather threatens, do not enter narrow 

canyons.

• Plan your trip. Choose trails that are 

within your ability. 

• Falls cause most injuries and deaths at 

Zion.

• Carry and drink one gallon of water 

per person per day. 

• Wear a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.

• Avoid or get off high places when 

lightning threatens.

• Know the weather before you go. 

Distant storms can cause flash floods. 

When in doubt, stay out!

• Cell phones don’t work in most areas 

and don’t make you invincible.

• Your safety is your responsibility.

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Wilderness

In 2009, Congress protected nearly 84 

percent of the park as wilderness under 

the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness 

designation protects forever the land’s 

wilderness character, natural conditions, 

opportunities for solitude, and scientific, 

educational, and historical values.

Visiting the Park

Zion Canyon Visitor Center is open yearround. A 22-minute visitor connection 

film is shown regularly at the Zion 

Museum. Spring through fall, Zion 

Canyon Scenic Drive is open to shuttle 

buses only. Check the park website 

or the park newspapers for dates and 

times: Map and Guide and Backcountry 

Planner are available at the entrance 

gate, visitor centers, and on the park 

website. Service animals are welcome. 

For firearms regulations visit the park 

website or ask a ranger.

Zion is one of over 400 parks in the 

National Park System. To learn more 

about parks and National Park Service 

programs in America’s communities, visit 

www.nps.gov.

More Information

Zion National Park

Springdale, Utah 84767-1099

435-772-3256

www.nps.gov/zion