Cryptobiotic Crust

Posted on October 22, 2003 in Biomes Fact-Dropping

It’s an unnerving feeling to realize that if you blunder off the trail in a desert park or just about anywhere, one footstep can destroy a population rivalling Manhattan.

Cryptobiotic soil exists just about everywhere in the world that hasn’t been trampled down by livestock or free-running children. In Capitol Reef, it takes the form of rugged dirt pinnacles — none more than three inches tall — that dot the landscape in places exposed to the sun. The bacteria and the lichens hold the ground together, prevent erosion, and give sustenance to the plants.

Yesterday while hiking out in Whiting Ranch, I mourned the loss of our cryptobiotic crust. Whiting had been cattle country, stamped down by America’s finest beef herds and cut over in many places by trail bikers and horses. I got up after writing this and walked a few feet. I noticed beneath the greasewood and along the trail a dark pigment in the soil, like a five o’clock shadow in some places, covered by green and yellow lichens that had taken refuge on rocks during the bovine holocaust and then returned to cover the ground.

The soil was making a comeback. But here, it had the chaparral and heavy winter rains to aid it.

For more information on cryptobiotic soils, click here.