Researchers monitor pollutants at the canyon
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AMARILLO -- We can control much of what goes on in the Palo Duro Canyon and it remains mostly untouched by our pollution. But one element we can not keep from possibly polluting that area is the air.
Air travels: blowing from one area to the next and bringing with it pollutants like nitrogen and ammonia. Those chemicals fall to the ground, like with the rain and, therefore, change the balance of the surface of the canyon.
As one national park learned, a little inorganic nitrogen can make a big difference.
"Rocky Mountain National Park's main objective is to maintain their ecosystem in as natural a state as possible. And something that is manmade falling out of the sky is changing that," said Jill Baron, research ecologist with the US Geological Survey.
The park is losing its famous wildflowers.
"Flowering plants are just getting competed and shaded out," said Baron.
The only reason researchers know to blame inorganic nitrogen in the air is because of a monitoring system set up decades ago.
"Monitoring was critical and it's critical for your site in Texas as well," said Baron.
Amarillo area researchers have just recently joined a network of such ecosystem monitoring sites.
"We would not be able to reap the future benefits of it without doing the homework up front," said Brent Auvermann, research engineer with Texas AgriLife Extension Service.
No one expects the yucca plants in Palo Duro Canyon to begin to die out but, in case that happens, researchers hope to pinpoint the problem like Colorado did by studying wet and dry pollutant deposits.
"The ultimate source of the pollutants could be from anywhere from Mexico to right next door," said Auvermann. "So crop lands close by or power plants far to our south."
The amount of pollutants researchers have found in the canyon so far is slight.
"The flip side of that is that if today's deposition is very very small, a small change in that might have significant consequences," said Auvermann.
So if those yucca plants ever do start to disappear researchers will have a good campaign for asking for change in the air pollutants permitted.
"It's better to have good information for a long time before you make those kinds of momentous decisions about spending other people's money," said Auvermann.
Rocky Mountain National Park is working with the state and the EPA to voluntarily decrease the ammonia plus nitrogen that is killing off wildflowers. If that does not work, regulations could eventually come.
Researchers at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service hope to soon have students working on their monitoring site. They say the study combines chemistry, ecology and meteorology as well as other sciences.
