Weber River Research Articles

Record Low Water Surface Elevations at Great Salt Lake, Utah, 2021-2022

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates two long-term water-surface elevation (WSE) gages on Great Salt Lake, Utah, one north of the Union Pacific Railroad causeway in the historic Little Valley Boat Harbor (Saline gage), and one south of the causeway in the harbor at Great Salt Lake State Park (Saltair gage). From September 28 to December 15, 2022, lake levels were too low in the harbor for the Saltair gage to operate and WSE data was measured at the South Causeway gage, a relatively new gaging station (installed in 2020) located immediately south of the causeway. Data collected at the South Causeway gage were used to estimate the daily mean WSE record for the Saltair gage for the period it was shut down, preserving the continuity of the 175-year WSE record that is associated with this gage. The long-standing historic low daily mean WSE measured at the Saltair gage on October 15, 1963 (4,191.35 feet, relative to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29)) was broken on July 21, 2021. Seasonal lake-level declines Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29)) was broken on July 21, 2021. Seasonal lake-level declines from July 2021 to October 2021 and April 2022 to early November 2022 resulted in a new historic low daily mean WSE of 4,188.5 feet NGVD29, measured during several days during November 2022 at the South Causeway gage. The same value is also the new historic low daily mean WSE for the Saline gage and was measured during several days in November and December 2022 (the previous historic low of 4,188.98 feet NGVD29 was measured in September and October 2016 and was related to closure of two railroad causeway culverts). USGS also operates streamgages on major surface-water inflows including the Bear River, Weber River, Jordan River, and Surplus Canal. The combined annual discharge measured at these gages in water years 2021 and 2022 was 0.704 and 0.743 million acre-feet, respectively, which is less than half of the combined median annual discharge (1.57 million acre-feet) based on the period of record for each gage.

Driving Utah's Rivers: Working Water in the West

Driving Utah's Rivers: Working Water in the West

In This Issue

On summer evenings, LeGrande Davies and his grandfather Otto Kesler loved to sit outside their Cove Fort home and watch the sunset, while a group of coyotes began its serenade. Davies recalled that “‘Grandpa would always say, “Ah. Can't they sing well. Can't they sing well.” There was a peacefulness that would come because the wind quits blowing in the evening.’” So notes Rebecca Andersen in the opening article of the spring 2022 Utah Historical Quarterly, which focuses on land in the Intermountain West and a handful of the entities—whether personal, familial, or corporate—that have made a living off it. The action in this issue takes place mainly in Utah but also in Nevada, Wyoming, and other neighboring states, on the traditional homelands of Indigenous tribes, a testament to the reality that watersheds, economies, and interpersonal networks do not always adhere to neat political boundaries.In 1903, William Henry Kesler moved his family to Cove Fort. Ira N. Hinckley had built the fort, located in Millard County at an elevation of some six thousand feet, in 1867. By the time Kesler arrived, it was almost a ruin. But over the course of the twentieth century, generations of Keslers renovated and cared for Cove Fort and the land it occupied, using it as a ranch, way station, and destination for tourists. Drawing from oral histories, Andersen contextualizes the Keslers’ experience within the broader changes of the twentieth century as the family “fought to maintain sense of autonomy, a way of life and understanding of the past that shaped their identity and relationship to the land.”Next, Sara Dant presents an extensively researched history of log drives along the Weber River and other waterways. A regional market for timber grew in the final decades of the nineteenth century, stimulated in large part by the development of railroads and mines. Entrepreneurs in Utah and elsewhere answered this demand by cutting thousands of trees in mountain forests and driving the hewn logs down river to their next destination. As Dant observes, “In the arid West, water is the essential element,” providing both sustenance and “highways of timber commerce and trade.” This financially significant industry also had a negative impact on the region's forests and waterways, a fact that was observed by Albert Potter, Reed Smoot, and others.Our third article continues the theme of regional resource extraction with William Parry's account of William S. Godbe's mining activities. From the 1860s onward, Godbe and his eight sons were deeply involved in the mineral development of Utah and Nevada. The Godbe men opened mines, combed through tailings, founded companies, created new chemical processes, and much more in their search for mineral wealth. In these endeavors, they met with only partial success and, unfortunately, damaged their own health and, presumably, the health of their employees and the land.Laurie Bryant rounds out the issue with an article that pieces together the history of Utah's first hospital for the mentally ill: an institution run both publicly and privately that had a decidedly rocky career and became part of the religious and cultural tensions that were so present in late-nineteenth-century Salt Lake City. In reconstructing a history of the asylum, Bryant also pays tribute to its patients—people who endured much and yet whose lives were infinitely valuable.

A Successful Reintroduction of Columbia Spotted Frog (Rana luteiventris) through Repatriation of Recently Hatched Larvae

The Columbia Spotted Frog (Rana luteiventris; CSF) is widely distributed across northwestern North America; however, declines in the southernmost populations, including those in Utah, have resulted in the consideration of this species for protection under the Endangered Species Act. In 1998, a conservation agreement and strategy for Utah's populations of CSF was developed and identified needed conservation actions, including range expansion. We repatriated CSF larvae during 2008–2010 from an extant population in the Provo River into Beaver Creek, a beaver-dominated stream, in the Weber River, a watershed where contemporary surveys indicate CSF have likely been extirpated. In 2011, CSF breeding was first observed in the repatriated population when 11 egg masses were documented in four depositional areas. After ten years of monitoring egg mass numbers, we consider the repatriation a success as this population continues to grow and expand with a high of 54 egg masses (2019) within ten depositional areas (2020). High quality habitat and the large number of CSF larvae transplanted likely attributed to the success of this repatriation. We used 1–2 day old CSF larvae (Gosner life stage 20–21) as the repatriation life stage that we believed would be the most likely to prevent the spread of amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, Bd) from the known chytrid fungus positive donor site in the Provo River. Genetic testing of a robust sample (n = 59) of CSF tadpoles across the repatriation site in 2020 did not detect the presence of Bd, potentially indicating that we did not move Bd through the repatriation. Additional replicates would be required beyond this single experiment, however, to better determine if our transplant techniques are effective at preventing the spread of Bd.

A Multifaceted Reconstruction of the Population Structure and Life History Expressions of a Remnant Metapopulation of Bonneville Cutthroat Trout: Implications for Maintaining Intermittent Connectivity

AbstractFishes that evolutionarily demonstrated a fluvial life history expression and migrated to spawning and rearing habitat by using lotic corridors are increasingly impacted by fragmentation. The overall goal of this study was to identify the contemporary importance of main‐stem connectivity and tributaries for maintaining life history expression, population structure, and viability of a large metapopulation of Bonneville Cutthroat Trout (BCT) Oncorhynchus clarkii utah persisting in the highly fragmented Weber River, Utah. We used a multifaceted approach, including active sampling, mark–recapture, passive PIT tag detection, otolith microchemistry, and genetics. We collected BCT in all tributaries and the main stem, encountering age‐0 fish in three tributaries, indicating successful reproduction. In tributaries, the size structure was bimodal and consisted of smaller fish that were classified as resident and larger fish that were deemed to be fluvial, whereas all sizes and ages (age ≥ 1) were present in the main stem. We identified up to eight age‐classes; tributaries were dominated by ages 2 and 8, and the main stem was dominated by ages 2, 5, 6, and 7. Tributary BCT had lower growth rates than BCT in the main stem. We observed a surprising degree of fluvial life history expression, and fish also demonstrated very complex movement patterns across their life span. Average apparent survival (33%) was within the range estimated in similar studies for BCT, and the resight rate was best explained by angler management regulations. The fact that BCT in the Weber River and tributaries still reproduce successfully in most years and are still able to grow into large, fluvial fish suggests that connectivity must be occasionally available despite considerable fragmentation. Therefore, this metapopulation may need little further human intervention if barriers to fish passage can be removed, thereby improving connectivity, and it represents a high‐priority metapopulation for conservation, thus highlighting the utility of our approach.

Stephanomeria occultata (Asteraceae: Cichorieae), a New Species of Wirelettuce from Northern Utah, and a Key to all Perennial Wirelettuce

Stephanomeria occultata, a new diploid (2n = 16) species of wirelettuce endemic to the Weber River drainage of northern Utah, is herein described, and a key to all perennial members of the genus is provided. The populations of S. occultata occur in unstable gravelly slopes in close proximity to the Weber River between 590–1650min elevation. Stephanomeria occultata is characterized from other species in the region by its large growth habit, which is up to 1mtall, numerous stems, well-developed tomentose leaves, and large number of ray florets (8–14). Information on habitat, ecology, distribution, taxonomic relationships, conservation, as well as maps, photographs, and illustrations are provided. The two populations of S. occultata may contain as few as 200 genets with up to 500 ramets and these small populations are vulnerable to encroaching weeds and anthropogenic disturbance.

The Public Right to Float through Private Property in Utah: Conatser v. Johnson

In the summer of 2008, the Utah Supreme Court addressed the scope of the public’s easement in state waters. Specifically, the Court determined “whether the easement, which allows the public to engage in recreational activities in state waters, also allows the public the right to touch the privately owned beds below those waters.The Supreme Court ruled that “[t]he district court [had] incorrectly interpreted the scope of the public’s easement in state waters so as to limit the Conatsers’ rights to being upon the water and to touching the privately owned bed of the Weber River only in ways incidental to the right of floatation.” In its decision, the Supreme Court found that under Utah law, the public has the right to “engage in all recreational activities that utilize the water” and that this right is not limited to “activities that can be performed upon the water.” While riparian land owners may see the Conatser ruling as a major step backwards in the protection of their property rights, recreation enthusiasts are likely to view the holding in this case as the right interpretation of the public’s easement over state waters in Utah. As the Court emphasized in its Conatser ruling, by statute all waters in Utah are property of the public. Under such a “doctrine of public ownership,” the public has an “easement over the waters regardless of who owns the water bed beneath.” The Conatser ruling resolved two issues: first, whether it is criminal trespass for members of the public to float on state waters through private property; and second, whether recreational users who float through private property on the state waters and touch the beds and banks of these streams are subject to being dragged into court by riparian land owners and charged with civil liability.

Anthropogenic Impacts Facilitate Native Fish Hybridization in the Bonneville Basin of Western North America

AbstractHabitat modification and introduced species are impacting native fishes in western North America, a situation now exacerbated by drought and anthropogenic water acquisition. One species of concern, the Bluehead Sucker Catostomus discobolus in the Bonneville basin of Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, has experienced sharp population declines potentially augmented by hybridization with native Utah Sucker C. ardens. To evaluate this situation, we sequenced three diagnostic nuclear DNA loci and two mitochondrial genes across 81 Bluehead Suckers, 74 of which were collected in a basinwide genetic assessment and 7 from a targeted morphological evaluation. Combined, we detected 14 hybrids from the single site in the Bear River and the three sites in the Weber River that hosts the three largest remaining populations in the basin. All individuals sampled as putative hybrids were confirmed as F1 hybrids, ascertaining efficacy of field‐based morphological identifications. Hybridization may be especially problematic for the numerically reduced Bluehead Sucker because it can further depress recruitment. However, no evidence of post‐F1 backcrosses was found, suggesting in turn that hybrids are not reproducing, although the reasons for this are currently not understood. These results underscore the need to quantify the proportion of Bluehead Sucker recruitment lost to hybridization.Received January 6, 2016; accepted August 31, 2016 Published online November 28, 2016

A 576‐Year Weber River Streamflow Reconstruction from Tree Rings for Water Resource Risk Assessment in the Wasatch Front, Utah

AbstractWe present a 576‐year tree‐ring‐based reconstruction of streamflow for northern Utah's Weber River that exhibits considerable interannual and decadal‐scale variability. While the 20th Century instrumental period includes several extreme individual dry years, it was the century with the fewest such years of the entire reconstruction. Extended droughts were more severe in duration, magnitude, and intensity prior to the instrumental record, including the most protracted drought of the record, which spanned 16 years from 1703 to 1718. Extreme wet years and periods are also a regular feature of the reconstruction. A strong early 17th Century pluvial exceeds the early 20th Century pluvial in magnitude, duration, and intensity, and dwarfs the 1980s wet period that caused significant flooding along the Wasatch Front. The long‐term hydroclimatology of northern Utah is marked by considerable uncertainty; hence, our reconstruction provides water managers with a more complete record of water resource variability for assessment of the risk of droughts and floods for one of the largest and most rapidly growing population centers in the Intermountain West.

Simulated watershed responses to land cover changes using the Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System

In this work, we used the Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (RHESSys) model to examine runoff sensitivity to land cover changes in a mountain environment. Two independent experiments were evaluated where we conducted simulations with multiple vegetation cover changes that include conversion to grass, no vegetation cover and deciduous/coniferous cover scenarios. The model experiments were performed at two hillslopes within the Weber River near Oakley, Utah watershed (USGS gauge # 10128500). Daily precipitation, air temperature and wind speed data as well as spatial data that include a digital elevation model with 30 m grid resolution, soil texture map and vegetation and land use maps were processed to drive RHESSys simulations. Observed runoff data at the watershed outlet were used for calibration and verification. Our runoff sensitivity results suggest that during winter, reduced leaf area index (LAI) decreases canopy interception resulting in increased snow accumulations and hence snow available for runoff during the early spring melt season. Increased LAI during the spring melt season tends to delay the snow melting process. This delay in snow melting process is due to reduced radiation beneath high LAI surfaces relative to low LAI surfaces. The model results suggest that annual runoff yield after removing deciduous vegetation is on average about 7% higher than with deciduous vegetation cover, while annual runoff yield after removing coniferous vegetation is on average as about 2% higher than that produced with coniferous vegetation cover. These simulations thus help quantify the sensitivity of water yield to vegetation change. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Genetic basis of pathogen community structure for foundation tree species in a common garden and in the wild

Summary Genetic variation within and among foundation plant species is known to affect arthropod, plant and soil microbial communities. We hypothesized that the same would be expected for pathogen communities, which have typically been studied only as individual pathogen species. In a common garden in Utah, USA, we first tested how genetic differences within and among Populus angustifolia, P. fremontii and their interspecific hybrid P. × hinckleyana affect a fungal leaf pathogen community. Next, we tested how Populus genetic differences at the level of species and hybrids affect fungal leaf pathogen communities in the wild, specifically in a natural Populus hybridization zone (13 river km) and throughout the larger Weber River watershed (150 river km). In the common garden, genetic variation both within and among Populus species and hybrids significantly affected the structure (i.e. species abundances and composition) of pathogen communities. In the wild, genetic variation among Populus species and hybrids also significantly affected pathogen communities, though not as strongly as was found in the common garden environment. Stand‐level density of the susceptible Populus species most strongly affected the structure of pathogen communities in the hybrid zone. Synthesis. Plant species and genotypic variation can affect the local and geographic distribution of pathogen communities in a similar fashion as other diverse organisms (e.g. arthropods, plants, soil microbes), both within a relatively controlled common garden environment and in the wild.

Status and Structure of Two Populations of the Bluehead Sucker (Catostomus discobolus) in the Weber River, Utah

Abstract We compared two populations of the bluehead sucker (Catostomus discobolus) during 2007–2009 in the Weber River, Davis, Summit, and Weber counties, Utah. We estimated 225 and 546 individuals in these populations. Based on recaptured, PIT-tagged fish, annual survival of adults (202–575 mm total length) was high (77%); however, our top model indicated mortality increased with size (i.e., senescence). We documented movements ≤15 km downstream and 5 km upstream and 88% of detections from a stationary antenna occurred at night. Despite high rates of survival of adults, recruitment appeared minimal in one of the populations because it was composed primarily of mature adults. Recruitment potentially was limited by interactions with a high density of brown trout (Salmo trutta) and combined effects of an altered hydrograph (magnitude, duration, and timing) and thermal regime. If conservation of these populations is a priority, recruitment must be increased immediately in one of the populations to avoid ext...

Hybridization among dominant tree species correlates positively with understory plant diversity

Elucidating the factors that determine the abundance and distribution of species remains a central goal of ecology. It is well recognized that genetic differences among individual species can affect the distribution and species interactions of dependent taxa, but the ecological effects of genetic differences on taxa of the same trophic level remain much less understood. Our goal was to test the hypothesis that differences between related overstory tree species and their hybrids can influence the understory plant community in wild settings. We conducted vegetation surveys in a riparian community with the overstory dominated by Populus fremontii, P. angustifolia, and their natural hybrids (referred to as cross types) along the Weber River in north central Utah, USA. Understory diversity and community composition, as well as edaphic properties, were compared under individual trees. Diversity metrics differ under the three different tree cross types such that a greater species richness, diversity, and cover of understory plants exist under the hybrids compared with either of the parental taxa (30-54%, 40-48%, and 35-74% greater, respectively). The community composition of the understory also varied by cross type, whereby additional understory plant species cluster with hybrids, not with parental species. Genetic composition dictated by hybridization in the overstory can play a role in structuring the associated understory plants in natural communities-where a hybridized overstory correlates with a species-rich understory-and thus can have cascading effects on community members of the same trophic level. The underlying mechanism requires further investigation.

Using the Biotic Ligand Model, Water Effect Ratio, and Translator for Site-Specific Copper Criteria to Update Effluent Limits at a Wastewater Treatment Plant

Using the Biotic Ligand Model, Water Effect Ratio, and Translator for Site-Specific Copper Criteria to Update Effluent Limits at a Wastewater Treatment PlantUsing EPA guidance, a study of copper in the Weber River showed that effluent limits for copper at a municipal wastewater treatment plant could be revised upward. A copper translator of 0.53 was derived, and site specific acute and chronic criteria for copper were derived based on the biotic ligand model (BLM) and the water effect ratios (WER). However, the WERs would result in adjusted criteria...Author(s)Scott TobiasonPhil HeckSharonne ParkKaren TobiasonSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 93 - NPDES Permit Compliance Options for Metals: Striving for EconomyDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2009ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20090101)2009:9L.6325;1-DOI10.2175/193864709793956914Volume / Issue2009 / 9Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)6325 - 6344Copyright2009Word count161Subject keywordsWastewaterCopperBiotic Ligand ModelWater Effect RatioTranslatorCriteria

Monitoring aquifer recharge using repeated high-precision gravity measurements: A pilot study in South Weber, Utah

Repeated high-precision gravity surveys were conducted over two infiltration cycles on an alluvial-fan aquifer system at the mouth of Weber Canyon in northern Utah as part of the Weber River Basin Aquifer Storage and Recovery Pilot Project (WRBASR). Gravity measurements collected before, during, and after infiltration events indicate that a perched groundwater mound formed during infiltration events and decayed smoothly following infiltration. Data also suggest the groundwater mound migrated gradually south-southwest from the surface infiltration site. Maximum measured gravity changes associated with the infiltration were [Formula: see text] during the first event (2004) and a net [Formula: see text] increase during the second event (2005). Gaussian in-tegration of the spatial gravity anomaly yields an anomalouscausative mass within 10% of the [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] of infiltrated water measured in 2004. The spatial gravity field is consistent with a groundwater mound at the end of the infiltration cycle approximately equivalent to a cylindrical disc of height [Formula: see text] and a radius between [Formula: see text]. After infiltration ceased, gravity anomalies decreased to approximately 50% of their original amplitude over a characteristic time of three to four months. The reduction of the gravity signal is simulated by analytical solutions for the decay of a groundwater mound through a saturated porous media. This comparison places relatively tight bounds on the hydraulic conductivity of the alluvial-fan material below the infiltration site with a preferred value of [Formula: see text] on a length scale of a few hundred meters.

Within-species variation in foliar chemistry influences leaf-litter decomposition in a Utah river

Leaf-litter inputs provide substrate and energy to stream systems. These contributions vary based on species-specific differences in litter quality, but little is known about how differences in litter quality within a species can affect ecosystem processes. Genetic variation within tree species, such as oaks and cottonwoods, affects ecosystem processes including decomposition and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems and has the potential to do the same in streams. We collected litter from 5 genotypes of each of 4 different cottonwood cross types (Populus fremontii, Populus angustifolia, and natural F1 and backcross hybrids), grown in a common garden, and measured their decomposition rates using litter bags in the Weber River, Utah. The proportion of 35 species-specific P. fremontii restriction-fragment length polymorphism markers in the genotype explained 46% and genetically controlled phytochemical mechanisms (e.g., % soluble condensed tannin in litter) explained >72% of the variation in leaf-litter decomposition rate, respectively. Understanding how natural genetic variation in plants can affect ecosystem processes will provide baseline information with which to address the loss of genetic variation (through habitat fragmentation and global change) and altered genetic variation through hybridization with cultivars and transgenic manipulations in the wild.

ORTHOGRAPHY AND DISTRIBUTION OF PARALEPTOPHLEBIA PACKII (EPHEMEROPTERA: LEPTOPHLEBIIDAE) IN WESTERN NORTH AMERICA

Leptophlebia packii Needham was originally described from the North Fork of the Ogden River, Weber County, Utah, by Needham (1927). This species is one of the tusked burrowing leptophlebiids of western North America (e.g. Edmunds and McCafferty 1996), and was referred to as Pack’s Tusker by Needham and Christenson (1927). Traver (1935) correctly referred to it as the recombined Paraleptophlebia packii (Needham). Beginning with its citation in a checklist by Edmunds and Allen (1957), it has been incorrectly referred to as Paraleptophlebia packi. As per the recent correction of the name Drunella doddsii (Needham) by Jacobus and McCafferty (2004), even if the subsequent emendation of orthography was deliberate, the use of the first spelling ending in “-ii” is mandated by Section 4 of Article 33 of the current International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999), and the original orthography is here restored. This species has been known from Grand and Jackson Counties in Colorado (McCafferty et al., 1993), Weber County in Utah (Needham 1927), and Teton County in Wyoming (Kroger 1974). New records of P. packii based on materials residing in the Purdue Entomological Research Collection, West Lafayette, Indiana, or on data provided by the late George Edmunds, include the following: UTAH: Summit County, Weber River, at Peoa, 14-X-1970, M. M. Boreman (larvae); Wasatch County, Provo River, at Midway, 11-XI-1947, G. F. Edmunds (larvae and adults); Weber County, South Fork Weber River, at Huntsville, 20XI-1968, G. Z. Jacobi (larvae). WYOMING: Natrona County, North Platte River, at By-The-Way Ranch, ca. 24 miles southwest of Casper, off State Road 220, 8-X-2001, W. P. and N. McCafferty (larvae).

Hybrid matched-block bootstrap for stochastic simulation of multiseason streamflows

A new hybrid model is proposed for stochastic simulation of multiseason streamflows, as an improvement over the hybrid moving block bootstrap (HMBB) model introduced by the authors in an earlier work. In the proposed model, periodic streamflows are partially pre-whitened using a parsimonious linear periodic autoregressive/autoregressive moving average model and residuals are extracted. The nonoverlapping within-year blocks formed from the residuals are conditionally resampled using the matched-block bootstrap (MABB) to obtain innovations, which are then post-blackened to generate synthetic replicates. The use of MABB for resampling the residuals, in lieu of moving block bootstrap (that was used in the HMBB model), has resulted in improved simulation of streamflows. The effectiveness of the proposed model in reproducing a wide variety of statistical attributes (including strong dependence structure) is demonstrated through Monte-Carlo simulations on both hypothetical and real data sets. Through application to streamflows of the Weber river, USA, the proposed model is shown to be more efficient in predicting reservoir storage capacity and in preserving storage based performance statistics and critical run characteristics compared to low-order linear periodic parametric models (Box-Jenkins type) and the HMBB model. This model offers enough flexibility and is a viable alternative to the conventional models when hydrologic sequence exhibits strong dependence and if the presence of nonlinearity and/or multimodality is suspected in the underlying hydrologic process. However, the proposed hybrid model may not be appropriate, if long-term dependence is significant in the hydrologic data.

Contested Empire: Peter Skene Ogden and the Snake River Expeditions

Contested Empire: Peter Skene Ogden and the Snake River Expeditions. By John Phillip Reid. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. pp. xiii, 258. Illustrations, maps. Cloth, $29.95.)In late May 1825, Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) clerk Peter Skene Ogden, leading his first Snake country fur-trapping expedition, was encamped on the Weber River in northeastern Utah when he encountered a group of twenty-five trappers working on contract for American fur traders based in St. Louis. Given the intense competition between the British and American trapping parties and the contested territorial claims over the Oregon country, Ogden soon found himself in a precarious situation. Twenty-three of his own free trappers-French Canadians, Metis, and Iroquois-chose to desert to the American party, taking several thousand beaver pelts with them. Ogden also became embroiled in a tense confrontation with John Gardner, unofficial leader of the American party. In the end, Ogden chose to retreat with his depleted expedition rather than risk a violent clash with the Americans.Ogden's encounter with the American trapping party and the mass desertion of freemen from his Snake county party form the cornerstone of John Philip Reid's Contested Empire. In contrast to his previous book, Patterns of Vengeance: Cross-Cultural Homicide in the North American Fur Trade (1999), a large-scale project on the North American fur trade, Contested Empire is a tighter, more focused study. As a legal scholar, Reid again explores questions of law, here probing the relations between British and American fur-trapping parties in a region that was jointly claimed by the United States and Great Britain, but in which no formal legal institutions existed to police those relations. Although the Far West has often been portrayed as lacking law and order, Reid asks why, in fact, violence did not occur between British and American fur-trapping parties in the Snake River Country during the 1820s.Reid opens his investigation with a brief overview of the historical literature on the fur trade, placing his own emphasis on legal questions within this framework and making a convincing argument that the limited attention given to legal matters reveals an important weakness in the field. Reid grounds his analysis in a close reading of the primary sources and asks fresh questions that will stimulate future research about the fur trade in particular and about frontier zones more generally. By arguing that the Snake country was not a lawless region, but a place where westerners attempted to solve real legal problems, Reid demonstrates how legal behaviorism, or lawfulness, operated in the transboundary Oregon country.The Anglo-Canadians, French-Canadians, Metis, French-speaking Native Americans (mainly Iroquois), French-Americans, and Anglo-Americans involved in the Far Western fur trade shared an internalized knowledge of legal principles, especially property rights, that allowed them to avoid violence-though not necessarily misunderstandings-among themselves. The historic dominance of English-speaking peoples in North America is central to Reid's argument about a shared respect for property rights among the trappers. Unfortunately, Reid overlooks the legal tradition in French North America after the Conquest of 1763, especially how this tradition may-or may not-have influenced the perceptions of the francophone French-Canadians, Metis, and Indians. …

Cottonwood hybrids gain fitness traits of both parents: a mechanism for theirlong‐term persistence?

Using surveys of natural populations, experimental crosses, and common garden trials, we tested the hypothesis that hybrid cottonwoods (Populus fremontii × P. angustifolia) from the Weber River in northern Utah would produce as many viable offspring as their parental species. We found that both F(1) generations and backcross generations can be just as fit as the parent taxa. First, F(1) hybrids produced as many viable seed as P. angustifolia (but less than P. fremontii), and backcross genotypes produced as many viable seeds as both parent taxa. Second, hybrids produced nearly two times as many ramets from root sprouts as P. angustifolia and four times as many ramets as P. fremontii. Third, the high mortality of germinated seedlings of all tree types (i.e., >90%) and very low mortality of asexually derived ramets provide hybrids with equal sexual reproduction and enhanced asexual reproduction, especially since backcross hybrids exhibit transgressive segregation in ramet production. Our findings suggest that the introgression of P. fremontii seed traits into the hybrid genome is responsible for their equivalent performance (at least to one parent) in sexual reproduction, while the contributions of asexual traits from P. angustifola results in hybrids having equal or greater fitness.