 Independence Rock can certainly teach us about history, but it can also certainly teach us about Wyoming Range Land Ecology. Consider that in addition to the ruts caused by thousands of wagons that traveled by here as immigrants made their way west, this area must have been very heavily grazed every summer for several decades by thousands of cattle the immigrants brought with them. Did that intensive livestock use significantly change this ecosystem? Historic photographs taken in the exact same spots a hundred years apart help us answer that question. What the photos from the 1870s and then the 1970s show is remarkable. Despite the intensive grazing associated with wagon trains and more than a hundred years of ranching in the Sweetwater Valley, very little ecological change is evident. The area is still dominated by sagebrush and grass just like it was a century ago. So why didn't all these wagon trains erode the area? Apparently it's because of the season of use. The grasses that grow around Independence Rock are nearly all cool season grasses. Their growth cycle is done by July, so heavy grazing after that caused them little damage. There really wasn't any range management around Independence Rock in the mid-19th century. Wyoming's range lands are very resilient, but climate and wagon train logistics also helped them here. I'm Tom Hild for the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service, exploring the nature of Wyoming.