By 1972, the vegetation on the midground hillslopes and most of the bottomlands was stripped of all but a few plants, mostly Larrea. Wind erosion is greatly increased from these stripped bottomlands, and water erosion is increased in all the disturbed sites. Some plants on the far slopes are obviously damaged from vehicles but are still alive. Off-road-vehicle use replaced livestock grazing as the primary use of this area, but cattle still were present in the area. Drought conditions of the early 1970s were not allowing colonization of the disturbed areas, even if the plants could withstand the pounding of vehicle tires. (photographer unknown, courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management)