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Blue Chute

Most Recent Blue Chute Phenocam IMageBabbitt Ranches is the landowner of two biological research field stations that will serve as SEGA garden sites: Blue Chute and Black Point. Blue Chute is dominated by pinyon-juniper. Babbitt Ranches, through its Landsward Foundation, is an active SEGA partner.

Background: Established in 1886, Babbitt Ranches practices ecological ranching while maintaining western traditions. The Landsward Foundation is a nonprofit organization that serves as the liaison between the owners of Babbitt Ranches and the scientific community. The purpose of the Landsward Foundation is two-fold: (1) to develop and disseminate scientific information that will increase awareness and understanding of ecological processes and (2) to facilitate and advance land-use management based on a land-use ethic that places the long-term ecological health of the lands as a primary objective and takes into account the intimate relationships that exist between people and the natural world.

 

 

Site Characteristics Table
Garden name: Blue Chute County: Coconino County, Arizona
Latitude and Longitude: 35.58, -111.97
Nearest city: Flagstaff, Arizona
Elevation: 6,332 ft (1,930 m)
Annual Mean Air Temperature: Minimum 33.6°F (0.9°C) - Maximum 65.5°F (18.6°C) - Mean 49.4°F (9.37°C)
Annual Mean Precipitation: 18.8 in (478 mm)
On-site manager: No
Overnight housing: No
Parent Material: Basalt & limestone
Water source: Water delivery by truck
Dominant veg. type: Pinyon-juniper
Weed species:
Mammalian herbivores:
Cows, elk
Other: Babbitt Ranches owns the land on which the Blue Chute garden is located.
Cell Reception at the site: Yes
Animals: Bees, possible rattlesnakes & scorpions.
Other hazards: lightening during monsoon season (June-Sept). Muddy/impassable roads in wet weather/after snow melt.

Soil Description: 

Soil type: Clay loam



Vegetation Description: 

Widely spaced pinyon juniper chapparal with grasses.

Total number of species: 47

Dominant species; Pinus edulis (two-needle pinyon pine), Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper), Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama grass)

Main associates: Gutierrezia sarothrae (broom snakeweed), Hilaria jamesii (James' galleta grass), Achnatherum hymenoides (Indian ricegrass)

Site Documents: 

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