Treesearch

Establishing if species contractions were the result of natural phenomena or human induced landscape changes is essential for managing natural populations. Fishers (Martes pennanti) in California occur in two geographically and genetically isolated populations in the northwestern mountains and southern Sierra Nevada. Their isolation is hypothesized to have resulted from a decline in abundance and distribution associated with European settlement in the 1800s. However, there is little evidence to establish that fisher occupied the area between the two extant populations at that time. We...

Planning links human and natural systems in the urban-rural interface by engaging people in consideration of the future of natural resources. We review evolving ideas about what planning entails, who it involves, and what its outcomes should be. Sense of place, collaboration, emergent planning, and other new developments in planning are discussed. Smaller plans, shorter time horizons, and broader, more local involvement in planning processes are trends in resource management planning with potential for the dynamic landscapes of the urban-rural interface.

The Schultz Fire burned 6100 ha on the eastern slopes of the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona. The fire burned between June 20th and 30th, 2010, across moderate to very steep ponderosa pine and mixed conifer watersheds. About 40% of the fire area was classified as high-severity, mostly on mountain slopes greater than 30% and in places exceeding 100%. The upper slopes rise to over 3300 m and are the source for high energy water, coarse sediments, and woody material. A series of flood events beginning in mid-July 2010 initiated erosion that removed substantial soil from the upper...

Model calibration is essential for hydrologic modeling of large watersheds in a heterogeneous mountain environment. Little guidance is available for model calibration protocols for distributed models that aim at capturing the spatial variability of hydrologic processes. This study used the physically-based distributed hydrologic model, MIKE SHE, to contrast a lumped calibration protocol that used streamflow measured at one single watershed outlet to a multi-site calibration method which employed streamflow measurements at three stations within the large Chaohe River basin in northern...

Until recently, standing dead tree biomass and carbon (C) has been estimated as a function of live tree growing stock volume in the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program. Traditional estimates of standing dead tree biomass/C attributes were based on merchantability standards that did not reflect density reductions or structural loss due to decomposition common in standing dead trees. In 1999, the FIA program began consistent nationwide sampling of standing dead trees. That data may now be used to supplant previous approaches to standing dead biomass and C stock...

Streamside vegetation is an integral component of a stable riparian ecosystem, providing benefits to both terrestrial and aquatic fauna (Brown and others 1977; National Research Council 2002) as well as Native Americans (Betancourt and Van Devender 1981). On the UVR, stable streambanks are a desirable management goal to attain channel stability for a variety of wildlife and fishery needs. Only recently have efforts begun to quantify streamside plant communities-owing to a paucity of adequate descriptions of riparian habitats and to address the managers need for qualitative and general...

Streamside environments are inherently dynamic, yet streamside vegetation plays a key stabilizing role on riparian and aquatic habitats (Van Devender and Spaulding 1979; Van Devender and others 1987). Because of its dynamism, streamside vegetation is rarely the subject of classification analyses, yet it is a focal point for land managers regulating land uses, such as livestock grazing, that could potentially impact aquatic communities (Brown and others 1979). Livestock grazing along the UVR has been a politically charged issue, with recent years (1998 to present) witnessing a removal of...

Stream water temperatures are of general interest because of interactive effects among physical, biological, and chemical parameters of water chemistry (Langford 1990). Water temperature regimes dictate the types of aquatic flora and fauna present within the aquatic system, as well as influence the system’s susceptibility to parasites and disease. These regimes are commonly noted in critical habitat designations as potentially limiting to native fish populations of Southwestern streams (Federal Register 2007). Temperatures that approach the upper thermal tolerances of Southwest native...

The UVR of central Arizona, from its source at Sullivan Lake to the mouth of Sycamore Creek, 60 km (38 mi) downstream, is rare among the State’s rivers because it still retains some of its native fish fauna. In 1994, six of the native fishes that were historically recorded in this reach of the Verde still occurred, along with at least seven nonnative species, and many other native species have been incidentally reported (Stefferud and Rinne 1995). The native fish fauna includes longfin dace (Agosia chrysogaster), speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus), roundtail chub (Gila robusta), spikedace...

This chapter contains a number of research recommendations that have developed from the 15 years of research on the UVR conducted by the Southwest Watershed Science Team, as well as from insights from key cooperators and contacts. It is meant to be our best insight as to where efforts should go now. Achieving these recommendations will depend on a number of factors, including agency budgets of the USDA Forest Service, USDI Geological Survey, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, and Arizona Game and Fish Department. A key to future success in marshalling resources to conduct research on the UVR...