Please join the AHS Flagstaff Chapter’s Dr. Abe Springer, Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer, for a talk about upland management influences on hydrogeologic processes.
Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2022 4-5 PM
Location: Physical Sciences Room 103 (Northern Arizona University) or via Zoom (event hosted by NAU/SES)
Zoom: https://nau.zoom.us/j/82102773528
Meeting ID: 821 0277 3528
Password: SESseminar
Abstract: Upland Land Management Influences on Hydrogeologic Processes
Landscape-scale, upland forest management practices affect hydrological processes and specifically groundwater recharge. The Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) is a landscape-scale, collaborative effort to restore fire-adapted Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa pine) ecosystems and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire throughout four National Forests along the southern Colorado Plateau in Arizona. The forests generate all water for rural areas and nearly half of the water for downstream desert cities. The first treatments, which began in 2014, include over 2,400 km2 within the Kaibab and Coconino National Forests. Treatments include an initial mechanical thinning to reduce the basal area of the forest, followed by the restoration of a regular, low-intensity fire regime to maintain the reductions in basal area.
Models were developed to quantify how landscape-scale forest restoration and climate projections will affect groundwater recharge to regional aquifer systems, springs, and streams. Climate projections bracket future precipitation values for the study area and were simulated in the model with predicted changes in recharge. Based on historical experimental watershed studies in southwestern U.S. pine forests, recharge is projected to increase when the hydrologic conditions are favorable. Paired watershed studies were established to observe the hydrological responses of low, medium, and high levels of mechanical forest thinning. Results from the pre-treatment, calibration phase of the paired watershed studies indicate the significant influence of climate on watershed response in semi-arid climates.