Lytle Preserve

Thirty-six miles west of St. George, Utah, across the Beaver Dam Mountains, is a natural oasis known as the Lytle Preserve. This remarkable area of beauty and biological diversity - one of Utah's most delicate and unique ecosystems - is preserved for study and enjoyment.

The Lytle Preserve is in the southwest corner of Utah where the Basin and Range Province of the Mojave Desert is juxtaposed to the Colorado River Plateau. The Preserve is at an unusual place in North America where unique geological formations and ecosystems overlap.

Consisting of more than 600 acres the Preserve is situated along the Beaver Dam Wash drainage at an approximate elevation of 2800 feet, one of the lowest points in Utah. Beaver Dam Wash drains south into Arizona, where it joins the Virgin River, a Colorado River tributary, at Beaver Dam, Arizona.

Plant and animal diversity offers and ironic contrast in what seems, at first, to be an inhospitable environment. The low elevation course of the entrenched Beaver Dam Creek has provided a pathway for plants, animals, and humans into the Beaver Dam Wash vicinity. A year-round water source on the Lytle Preserve is an unusual feature in the margin of the Mohave Desert, which extends into Utah in this area. The unusual combination of geology, climate, elevation and water supply supports many trees, shrubs, and wildlife, most of which are unique to this part of Utah.

Considerations when visiting the Preserve:

• Please be cautious of the dogs that live on the preserve
  
• Please do not bring your own dogs when you visit the preserve

 Diversity of Life

Liberally clothing the uplands around the Preserve is a warm-desert shrub mixture, mainly Joshua tree, datil yucca, creosote bush, black bush, and cholla cactus. Lowlands along the creek support velvet ash, Fremont cottonwood, black willow, and desert willow. Catclaw acacia grows on the stream terraces and up the drainages into the dry lands. Fruit of the California mistletoe, a parasite of the catclaw, is eaten by several birds, especially the Phainopepla, which transfers the sticky seeds from one plant to another. Desert birds usually associated with arid regions of south of Utah which nest on the Preserve are the White-winged dove, Costa's Hummingbird, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo, Verdin, Black-tailed Gnatcacher, Phainopepla, Lucy's Warbler, Summer Tanager, and Hooded Oriole. Roadrunners nest and thrive on the property by eating reptiles of all kinds including poisonous ones. Desert tortoises on the property are native and survive the summer heat and winter cold in protective dens. Coyotes stalk cottontail, California Jackrabbit; and even mule deer. The Virgin River spinedace, a small, rare desert minnow, is a year-round resident in the stream, and is under review for federal protection. The Gila monster, a beautiful poisonous lizard with bead-like scales, is a rarely seen resident of the Preserve.

Educators, students, teachers, researchers, scouts, school children, and the public are welcome. The Preserve is considered a popular site by bird watchers wanting to add species to their Utah lists, and is used by birders from all around Utah and surrounding states.

The Preserve is served by a full-time operator who is usually available to greet visitors. A campground is maintained and available for use and camping at a nominal fee. Use of these facilities can be arranged by scheduling your visit through the Lytle Preserve Coordinator in Provo, Utah:

290 MLBM
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-5052

We welcome all inquiries regarding the current use and research being conducted at the preserve.

The region now included within the Lytle Preserve was settled by pioneer Dudley Leavitt sometime during the 1870's. Dudley's daughter, Hannah Louisa, married Thomas Sirls Terry as his third polygamous wife and moved to the Beaver Dam site of her father's property in 1889. Hannah and her six children were hidden in this remote site from federal authorities, who were prosecuting those engaged in cohabitation.

In addition to raising hay and cattle, Hannah and her children planted fruit trees and other crops. Today near Hannah Terry's meager homestead is a grove of persimmon trees that offer shade to the person who hikes upstream from the present visitor area. Hannah reared her family at the cabin site, and left the wash in 1912. Her sons Ed and Jed Terry continued to farm downstream from the original home site.

In 1928 a portion of the Terry property was purchased by John Eardley, whose wife and six children cleared the fields and built a ranch house, reservoir, fences, and ditches. They raised alfalfa, sorghum, melons, and fruit of various kinds.

Talmage and Eleanor (Marie) Lytle purchased the ranch from the Eardleys in 1952. In 1985 the Nature Conservancy obtained the property to preserve its natural and unique features and wildlife. Brigham Young University is the present owner having acquired the property in August of 1986.

  The Endowment Fund

When the Lytle Preserve was purchased from the Nature Conservancy, Brigham Young University promised the land would be held in perpetuity as a nature preserve for education and research.

In order to fulfill this promise, we need your help. Our goal is to raise one million dollars in a perpetual endowment fund for continued Preserve operation.

We invite you to become a part of Lytle Preserve's bright future with your donations, however large or small. Please make checks payable to: Lytle Preserve Endowment Fund, Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602.