The Kaibab Plateau is located in northern Arizona in the United States. The plateau, part of the larger Colorado Plateau, is bordered on the south by the Grand Canyon and reaches an elevation of 9241 feet (2817 m) above sea level. The plateau is divided between Kaibab National Forest and the "North Rim" portion of Grand Canyon National Park. The broad feature is heavily forested with aspen, spruce-fir, ponderosa pine, and Pinyon-juniper woodland, and stands in sharp contrast to the arid lowlands encircling it. Tributary canyons of the Colorado River form the plateau's eastern and western boundaries, and tiers of uplifted cliffs define the northern edges of the landform.
The cool forests of the plateau are home to the Kaibab Squirrel, which is endemic to the area. There are other animals such as Deer, Wolves, and more. Winter snowfall is often heavy (sometimes exceeding 200 inches), and this creates good backcountry Nordic skiing and snow camping opportunities.[1]
Kaibab deer
Around the beginning of the 20th century, the Kaibab plateau was witness to an interesting experiment in population engineering. The plateau's pre-1905 population of deer numbered around 4,000, and the land had an average carrying capacity of about 30,000 deer. In order to preserve and expand this herd, on November 28, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve. Overgrazing by herds of sheep, cattle, and horses was already rampant, and hunting was banned. In 1907, the Forest Service moved to protect the deer's numbers by killing off their natural predators; to this end, between 1907 and 1939, 816 mountain lions, 20 wolves, 7388 coyotes and over 500 bobcats were killed.[2]
The deer population experienced a great increase in numbers, with some 100,000 deer inhabiting the range, which subsequently began to rapidly deteriorate from overbrowsing. Despite the reduction of the number of livestock grazing permits, by the mid-1920s, many deer were starving to death. Hunting was once more permitted, to reduce the deer's numbers, and in the fall of 1924, 675 deer were killed by hunters. This represented only a small fraction of the starving deer, and an estimated 60,000 died over the next two winters. The range itself was damaged, and its carrying capacity was greatly reduced. The removal of the deer's natural predators, which had been done in the interest of preserving the deer population, had allowed the deer to overreproduce, and quickly overwhelm the plateau's resources. The experiment highlighted the importance of keeping a population in balance with its environment's carrying capacity. Today, the Arizona Game Commission manages the area, controlling the numbers of deer as well as predators, and issues hunting permits to keep the deer in balance with the range.
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Coordinates: 36°7′36″N 112°0′32″W / 36.12667°N 112.00889°W
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