Treeless parks dominated by sagebrush or grasses and herbs are a conspicuous feature of the montane and subalpine vegetation zones in the central Rocky Mountains. Carbon-dated pollen records taken from cores of pond sediments can be used to reconstruct the vegetation history of a site or region. The area around Fish Creek Park in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming will be studied in this way to determine the pattern of spatial and temporal vegetation change. An effort to reconstruct the vegetation history of the Taylor Park, Colorado area might also be warranted, depending upon preliminary findings. Information about the age and spatial stability of the landscape will be used to test three hypotheses of park origin; these hypotheses (which involve persistence, remnants, and natural fire regimes) have been invoked to explain the existence of parks, but have never been tested. Further study of findings might be extended to explain the origins of other parks in the region. The timing and sequence of vegetation change that accompanies park formation will suggest new hypotheses related to specific mechanisms responsible for park establishment and maintenance.
