Upper Verde Thinning (SRP Dude) Project
Project Title: Ecohydrological Monitoring of Upper Verde Thinning Impacts
Project Sponsors: Salt River Project
Principal Investigators: Teki Sankey (NAU), Salli Dymond (NAU)
Collaborators: Jackson Leonard (USFS), Joel Biederman (ARS)
Graduate Students: Jaime Ortega Melendez (PhD), Logan Ozment (PhD)
Undergraduate Students: Paige Whitton
Project Location: SRP Dude Thinning Sites, Tonto NF, AZ, USA
Funding Total: $820,000
Project Summary: The Upper Verde ecosystem is undergoing landscape-scale changes including long-term recovery from the Dude Fire and near-term thinning treatments. The region is also experiencing severe droughts that are becoming more frequent, hotter, and drier. Forest management will have important impacts on water availability for watershed health and downstream supplies. We propose to comprehensively assess the long-term ecohydrological impacts of the thinning treatments implemented in 2022-2025 across the Upper Verde watershed via measurements of precipitation, snowpack, soil moisture, evapotranspiration (ET), vegetation dynamics, streamflow, and water quality. Our proposed experimental designs, measurements, datasets, and equipment installation will provide a framework for long-term monitoring of future treatments.
Project Sponsors: Salt River Project
Principal Investigators: Teki Sankey (NAU), Salli Dymond (NAU)
Collaborators: Jackson Leonard (USFS), Joel Biederman (ARS)
Graduate Students: Jaime Ortega Melendez (PhD), Logan Ozment (PhD)
Undergraduate Students: Paige Whitton
Project Location: SRP Dude Thinning Sites, Tonto NF, AZ, USA
Funding Total: $820,000
Project Summary: The Upper Verde ecosystem is undergoing landscape-scale changes including long-term recovery from the Dude Fire and near-term thinning treatments. The region is also experiencing severe droughts that are becoming more frequent, hotter, and drier. Forest management will have important impacts on water availability for watershed health and downstream supplies. We propose to comprehensively assess the long-term ecohydrological impacts of the thinning treatments implemented in 2022-2025 across the Upper Verde watershed via measurements of precipitation, snowpack, soil moisture, evapotranspiration (ET), vegetation dynamics, streamflow, and water quality. Our proposed experimental designs, measurements, datasets, and equipment installation will provide a framework for long-term monitoring of future treatments.
Logan, Jackson, and Salli installing an ET sensor at our field site in August 2024.
