Bryce Canyon Animals and Plants

At a high desert elevation, Bryce Canyon National Park mainly has shrubs and trees that dot the area. They do not hide the natural red landscape of amphitheaters full of hoodoos, but their green and other colors highlight the area’s wondrous beauty.

Tall and slender ponderosa pines line the rims of the park’s many amphitheaters, and are perhaps one of the most recognizable flora of the area. While they may tower over the terrain dominating the scene, there are several other trees that thrive here. Dwarf forests of pinions and junipers line the lowest section of the park with the help of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, and serviceberry shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers like Indian paintbrush along the ground.

As the terrain rises up the plateaus Rock Mountain junipers replace Utah junipers as the blue spruce and Douglas fir grow in the wet areas. Shrubs like the mazanita and antelope bitterbrush thrive where the ponderosa pines hog the sunshine.

The 9,100 foot elevation of the high country allows Douglas and white fir, aspen, and spruce trees to replace the ponderosa pines. Limber pine and bristlecone pines, which includes some that are about 1,600 years old, populate this high area. The ground is covered by manzanita, common juniper, mountain lover, Oregan grape, and ceanothus plants provide the scrub under the taller trees.

The trees and shrubs provide shelter for the animals that live throughout the park.