FISHLAKE NATIONAL FOREST, Utah — The world’s densest living organism is right here in Utah.
It’s a clone of Aspen trees called Pando, which are connected through a single root system weighing a total of 13 million pounds.
Researchers say it’s in danger.
“It’s shrinking but not as you might think, getting smaller from the outside, but shrinking from within,” said Paul Rogers, Director of Western Aspen Alliance at Utah State University.
Rogers said mule deer in Fishlake National Forest are herded into Pando’s area to avoid nearby recreation and fencing systems.
As a result, the deer are eating many of the baby trees, or new growth keeping Pando alive.
“We’re missing whole generations,” said Rogers, “It's as if we, if we all lived in a community and all of us were 85 years of age, that community wouldn't have a big future.”
Now, for the first time, the Division of Wildlife Resources is teaming up with the nonprofit ‘Friends of Pando,’ the US Forest Service and researchers to try and track the mule deer.
“The hard thing about getting close to a deer is they don't want you to get close to them,” explained wildlife biologist Vance Mumford.
He said they are aiming to tranquilize and collar 10 deer out of the estimated 30-50 in the area and will monitor their movements.
“We hope it will help us to make better management decisions in the future and education and knowledge are just, are good things and help us make better decisions,” he said.
Rogers said their actions and the overall research efforts on Pando can hopefully save not only Pando, but worldwide Aspen systems.
“If we can apply some of the lessons learned here to Aspen around the world, we can address what I'm calling mega conservation," he said. "So there's some really important lessons and real high value for Aspen worldwide that we can be sort of a starting point right here at Pando, learning about and applying elsewhere.”
