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Figure 5. The marsh at Cardenas Creek (mile 70.9-L). .. t A. January 23, 1890. Robert Brewster Stanton took this upstream view at 3:00 PM during the climb to what is now called Cardenas Hilltop Ruin. Except for scattered mesquite and what appears to be clumps of willows, little riparian vegetation is present along the Colorado River (R.B. Stanton 396, courtesy of the National Archives). damaged by a flash flood in 1955, and tamarisk on the Lake Mead delta was periodically destroyed by rises in the elevation of the lake. Large native trees were rare (Table 4). Photographs taken in 1923 showed a small grove of cottonwood trees at mile 222-L; these trees are no longer present. Bob Sharp observed an increase in native willow trees downstream from Lava Falls in 1937, implying that few trees were present upstream. Others, particularly Dock Marston, had similar observations in later years (1948). Shade was eagerly sought but rarely found under trees during the Nevills' expeditions, and the locations of large trees were specifically noted in diaries. By the 1950s, native trees were rarely mentioned, but the presence of tamarisk high enough to provide shade was recorded. With the exception of a large catc1aw acacia (now gone) at the mouth of Nankoweap Creek (mile 52.2-R), no leguminous trees or netleaf hackberry trees, were specifically mentioned by the Old Timers. Early river runners rarely saw exotics other than tamarisk. None of the Old Timers remembered seeing camelthorn, a noxious exotic, during their river- running experiences. Clover and Jotter (1944), found Bermuda grass in the Lake Mead delta, and Reilly observed it at Tapeats Creek and "several other places in the canyon" in 1956. The Bermuda grass in western Grand Canyon may have originated from the sacks of seed lost in the January 1910, flood in Havasu Creek (Melis and others, 1996; Webb, 1996), from plantings around the ranger stations at Bright Angel Creek and Phantom Ranch, or (much later than the initial observation) from the golf courses and other developments at Page, Flagstaff or Williams, Arizona, or possibly, Kanab, Utah. , Marshes Cutter confirmed the photographic evidence that no marshes were present along the river (Fig. 5) that were not fed by perennial tributaries or springs. The known marshes - for example, the warm springs below 20 OBSERVATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN GRAND CANYON