The current site of the Visitor’s Center of Red Rock Canyon State Park was a cattle-ranch headquarters in the 1920s. Part of the current campground area was a cleared agricultural field, probably used to produce hay for stock. The ranch was sold to the State of California in 1968 for the state park, but agricultural activities had probably ceased well before that time. For example, desert plants appear to have reoccupied the cleared field at left center in the 1920s. The undisturbed vegetation beneath the cliffs consists of a rich assemblage dominated by Yucca brevifolia (Joshua trees) and Larrea tridentata (creosote bush) with perhaps 20 perennial species present. The plants in the foreground are Atriplex polycarpa (cattle spinach). (photographer unknown, courtesy of Roberta Starry)