Red Butte Canyon Education

University of Utah Education and the Red Butte Canyon RNA

The University of Utah offers courses in Biology, Ecology, Geology, and Meteorology with lab experiences involving the Red Butte Canyon RNA. Each semester, students, with their professors, experience the "untouched" beauty and ecology of Red Butte Canyon. Students are encouraged to research everything from flora and ecology to fauna to climate to geology to hydrology and soils. Red Butte Canyon is located conveniently close to the University of Utah campus and includes the Red Butte Arboreteum at the mouth of the canyon, which is a public garden also offering its own classes and events.

Education at Red Butte Canyon is an experience for students unlike any other they will have while attending the University of Utah!

Here are just some of the classes offered this year with labs using Red Butte Canyon RNA:

Meteorology 3000 and Geography 3280: Mountain Weather and Climate
   Influence of terrain upon typical and severe weather, including local wind circulations and mountain snowstorms. Applications of mountain meteorology to related fields (air pollution, fire weather, road weather) and physiological responses to cold weather and altitude.

Biology 5460: Plant Ecology
   Adaptive physiology and structure/function relationships between plants and their environments. Microclimate, energy balance, life-history, competition, and carbon, water, and nutrient relations of plants in different ecosystems. Focus also on the diversity of global plant communities.

Biology 5465: Plant Ecology Lab
   A laboratory course with an emphasis on mehtodologies involved in plant ecology, including vegetation cover, micro-climate, photosynthesis, water relations, and stable isotopes. Course involves individual and group laboratory and computer projects each week. Course includes weekend field trips (desert and forest ecosystems).