Ponderosa pine, white fir and gambel oak dominate higher places. Canyon bottoms have cottonwood, bigtooth maple, boxelder and aspen. It seems to be a primeval landscape. I've covered a great deal of Zion by foot and helicopter, and I have yet to see a large area without cut stumps and overgrown logging roads. Parts of Zion are excellent mule deer summer habitat.
Edible shrubs abound.
The shrubs and second growth timber provide cover, and with few roads the deer are isolated from human disturbance. Winter is a different story. Much of Zion's lower altitudes are pinon-juniper woodland with little forage. The deer must often leave the park. The land just outside is either private or administered by the Bureau of Land Management.