Landscape Monitoring and Research
Large Scale Monitoring
The ERI works at multiple sites to assess landscape change through time at large scales (2,000 – 4,500 acres). Tenth-hectare plots (based on the Fire Monitoring Handbook methodology) placed on 250m to 300m grids are permanently referenced. Plots at the first site, Mt. Trumbull, were established starting 1995, additional sites were added through the early 2000’s. Data collected includes current vegetation composition and structure, available evidence of historical composition and structure, for and grass species composition and abundance and fuel loading. Most sites collect forest dendrochronological data, allowing for historical reconstruction analyses.
A benefit to installing such a large number of permanent plots across landscapes is the ability to study the effects of large-scale ecological processes, such as wildfires. In the past few years several wildfires fires have burned through portions of our study sites, and ERI researchers returned afterwards to re-measure the plots. Data from these re-measurements will teach us about the ecological effects of fire in these forests, and inform us of how other south-western forests could function after restoration treatments.
Site Name: Mt. Trumbull Landscape Restoration
Date Established: 1995
Partners: Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Strip District; Parashant National Monument, AZ Game and Fish
Acres: 4000 acres
Forest type(s): Ponderosa pine – Gambel oak ecosystem
Objective: To test landscape-scale forest restoration treatment effects on multiple ecosystem variables, including wildlife, forest structure, fire behavior, and understory response.
Site Name: Grand Canyon Ecosystem Monitoring
Date Established: 1997
Partners: Grand Canyon National Park
Acres: 2,000 – 4,500 acres, at North and South Rims
Forest type(s): Ponderosa Pine, Mixed conifer
Objective: To assess a never-harvested natural forest as partial reference site for forest structure, understory composition and fuels (note that some fire exclusion/suppression occurred in 20th century).
Site Name: San Francisco Peaks Fuels and Fire Study
Date Established: 2000
Partners: Coconino National Forest; Rocky Mountain Research Station
Acres: 2,000 – 4,500 acres, at North and South Rims
Forest type(s): Ponderosa pine, mixed conifer and aspen, spruce-fir and bristlecone forests
Objective: Landscape assessment across a 3500 foot elevational gradient detailing forest structure, composition and age distribution, forest floor fuels and the herbaceous community. Includes a fire history and historical forested stand reconstruction.
Historic Forest and Understory Surveys
The ERI and NAU School of Forestry faculty work to relocate and remeasure historic inventory plots.
Two types of plots were established in the early 1900s to study forest dynamics: stand-scale plots focused on overstory dynamics, and small-scale plots focused on herbaceous understory dynamics. First, the stand-scale (i.e., several-acre) plots were established in which all trees were mapped and measured in 5 year increments (Woolsey 1912; Pearson 1923, 1933, 1942). Both T.S. Woolsey, Jr., Assistant District Forester and Chief of the Office of Silviculture, District 3 (USFS Southwestern District, now Southwest Region 3), and G. A. Pearson, Director, Fort Valley Forest Experiment Station (Flagstaff, AZ), USFS, were instrumental in the establishment and measurement of these overstory plots. However, the plots are called the “Woolsey plots” because it was Woolsey’s idea. These plots were established in Arizona and New Mexico across a broad range of soil parent material.
Site Name: Stand-Scale plots
Date Established: 1909
Partners: NAU School of Forestry, USFS
Acres: Multiple locations across Arizona and New Mexico
Forest type(s): Ponderosa Pine
Objective: To document changes in forest structure and spatial arrangement over decades that included fire exclusion and logging pulses.
Additionally, a set of small-scale (i.e., 1 m2) quadrats were established to evaluate the effects of grazing on bunchgrass plant communities. R.R. Hill, District 3 (now USFS Region 3) Chief of Grazing Studies, established most of the original quadrats; hence, they are called the “Hill plots”. These herbaceous understory plots were located within a 700 km2 area around Flagstaff, Arizona across a broad soil gradient. These plots also include quad rats that were established by G.A. Pearson and C. K. Cooperrider, Range Scientist, Fort Valley Experimental Station, on the Wild Bill Experimental Range near Kendrick Mountain.
Site Name: Small-scale, plant community plots
Date Established: 1909
Partners: NAU School of Forestry
Acres: Multiple locations across northern Arizona
Forest type(s): Ponderosa Pine
Objective: To document changes in understory plant community composition and abundance, over decades that have included fire exclusion, grazing and logging pulses.
Research Sites
This map provides an overview of the Ecological Restoration Institute’s research sites across Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
- A “pin” icon in the upper right-hand corner of the map allows you to toggle between research sites that focus on 3 areas:
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- Landscape Monitoring and Research
- Long-Term Ecological Assessment and Restoration Network (LEARN)
- Wildfire Effects
- Click on a specific pin location (orange, green or blue) on the map to learn more about the research and access literature published from data collected at the site.
- Use Ctrl + scroll to zoom in on the map.