Springs Monitoring for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative in Northern Arizona

Springs Monitoring for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative in Northern Arizona

Date: Tuesday, March 21st, 2023

Time: 1:00 PM Pacific/2:00 PM Mountain/3:00 PM Central

Presenter: Larry Stevens, Ph.D., Springs Stewardship Institute

Zoom Webinar Registration:  

https://arizona.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpcOGopzwoH9xvNP9uSVD_97RUxcgg3dIR

Abstract:
The Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) aims to restore 2.4 million acres of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest across four national forests in Northern Arizona to improve forest resilience to climate change and reduce the risk of increasingly frequent and severe wildfires. Treatments such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burns are anticipated to impact springs in the project area—keystone ecosystems of landscapes, and indicators of environmental change. However, there has been limited monitoring of the more than 20,000 springs throughout the Colorado River basin. The Springs Stewardship Institute is in year four of a five-year study monitoring how treatments affect spring ecosystems and influence aquifer recharge. The results will improve knowledge of spring ecosystems and inform future management considerations.
 

Dr. Larry Stevens is the Director of the Springs Stewardship Institute and Curator of Ecology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology from Northern Arizona University and served as the ecologist for Grand Canyon National Park for several years. Well respected in the field of ecology, Dr. Stevens was the editor for Red Lake Books, has served on many ecological councils in Arizona, conducted research on biogeography and springs ecology, and published extensively in peer-reviewed journals.