Book Description

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO) encompasses approximately 753,222 acres in south central Idaho. CRMO is located approximately 84 miles west of Idaho Falls, ID and 90 miles northeast from Twin Falls, ID. This unique unit of the National Park Service (NPS) includes volcanic cones, craters, lava flows, and kipukas characteristic of the Great Rift on the broad Eastern Snake River Plain. The park is cooperatively managed by the NPS and Bureau of Land Management and consists of three main lava flows, the Craters of the Moon, Kings Bowl and Wapi lava fields. This unique, moon-like, terrain supports approximately 701 species of vascular plants and includes examples of native plant communities common to cinder fields and lava beds. To better understand the distribution of the plant assemblages located at CRMO, the NPS Vegetation Mapping Program funded an effort, beginning in 2006, to map the vegetation at CRMO. The Upper Columbia Basin's Inventory and Monitoring Network (UCBN) coordinated the vegetation inventory effort.