Description: This dataset represents 505 campsites along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon with associated debris flow probabilities calculated for approximately a 100-year period (Griffiths and others, 2004) and geomorphic attributes mapped by the USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) (Hadley and others, 2018). The campsite polygons were developed as part of a master campsite database that was a collaborative effort to maintain between the National Park Service in Grand Canyon National Park and the USGS GCMRC. Debris flow probabilities have been added as an attribute from ungauged tributary watersheds published in 2004 (Griffiths and others, 2004). Area and percentages of campsites on geomorphic units comprising debris fans were calculated based on a pre-existing geomorphic basemap (Hadley and others, 2018). Due to ongoing environmental variability, geomorphic change, and sediment storage fluctuation in the river corridor, campsite boundary and attribute accuracy may change over time.
Copyright Text: The National Park Service (NPS) and Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) help led a collaborative effort with the U.S. Geological Survey, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (USGS GCMRC) from 2006 through 2009 to catalog and map all known river campsites along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. This collaborative effort was based on even earlier campsite inventories conducted in 1973 (Weeden) and again in the 1990s (Lisa Kearsley) as part of the Glen Canyon Environment Studies research effort funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Glen Canyon Dam unit. These and other earlier campsite surveys were synthesized by Helen Fairley (USGS GCMRC, unpublished) into a master list of campsites that then guided the NPS-USGS collaborative work conducted in the 2000s. Additional documentation referring to these earlier campsites surveys may be added as addendums to this data release.
In 2021 - 2022, GRCA conducted a series of campsite visitation surveys as part of their on-going monitoring program, using the original, unpublished campsite monitoring inventory data set as the basis and source for this more recent work. During this series of field efforts, the campsite boundaries originally developed between the years of 2006 and 2009 were not adjusted or modified, however, some names of camps and other existing attributes were edited, and new attributes were developed by NPS to assist with their administrative and monitoring procedures. These NPS administrative attributes are NOT include in this dataset release, and do not have utility for the purposes of our work.