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(ALL RIGHTS GRANTED TNC) View of Escudilla Mountain. Fall colors heighten the natural beauty of forest and meadow in the White Mountains, one of Arizona’s last wide-open spaces and where TNC works to protect the headwaters of three major Arizona rivers: the Salt, Gila, and Little Colorado and their greenbelts – riparian habitats critical for wildlife and water quality – as well as restore healthy forests within the largest ponderosa pine community in the world, save rare and unique wildlife and plant species, and control non-native, invasive species, such as crayfish, Arizona. © Betsy D. Warner/TNC
Aerial view of the Parks West restoration site overseen by TNC. Taken March 16, 2020.
Conservancy staffers, Dale Turner and Amanda Rebore, helping to map the Sabn Pedro River in Arizona. They use a GPS unit to denote the end of the water flow on the LowerSan Pedro River. They hiked through the Conservancy’s San Pedro Preserve.

Our Approach to Science

The Nature Conservancy’s conservation science program in Arizona engages stakeholders and expertise in applied science and policy to develop new information, ideas, and tools that can help solve some of our most pressing challenges affecting people and nature

Explore Our Science

Future Forests

We are working with partners and stakeholders to accelerate the pace and scale of forest restoration for a healthy Arizona

Mapping the Status of River Streams

Wet/dry mapping provides a low-cost, river-wide snapshot of hydrologic conditions for rivers with interrupted perennial surface flows.

Our Science in Action

Future Forests
Forests
Future Forests
Accelerating the pace and scale of forest restoration for a healthy Arizona.
Wet/Dry Mapping
Rivers & Water
Wet/Dry Mapping
Snapshot of hydrologic conditions for rivers with interrupted perennial surface flows.
Arizona Rivers & Water
Rivers & Water
Arizona Rivers & Water
Achieving sustainable water management.
Las Ciénegas Adaptive Management
Deserts & Grasslands
Las Ciénegas Adaptive Management
Collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management at Las Ciénegas National Conservation Area.
Natural Infrastructure
Conservation
Natural Infrastructure
Developing a natural infrastructure dataset by integrating studies on wildlife habitat and open space.
Ecoregion Assessments
Conservation
Ecoregion Assessments
Conservation of biodiversity across western North America.
Southwest Forest Assessment Project
Forests
Southwest Forest Assessment Project
Restoring ecosystems throughout Arizona and New Mexico’s National Forest.
Southwest Grasslands
Deserts & Grasslands
Southwest Grasslands
Assessing the state of Arizona’s grasslands.

Explore Our Science

Mar 2022
Papers
Arizona
Climate Change, Fire, Forest Restoration Benefits
Forest
USGS
Lisa A. McCauley, John. B. Bradford, Marcos D. Robles, Robert K. Shriver, Travis J. Woolley, Caitlin A. Andrews
Landscape-scale forest restoration decreases vulnerability to drought mortality under climate change in southwest USA ponderosa forest
Drought is projected to increase tree mortality in many western US forests due to climate change and could result in large-scale tree die-offs, altering forest composition and ecosystem services. Tree mortality has also been found to be higher in forests with greater tree density. Southwestern US fo[…]
Nov 2021
Papers
Arizona, Colorado River Basin, Western U.S.
Forest
USDA ARS, Western Water Assessment
Elizabeth Payton, Joel Biederman, Marcos Robles
Snowtography: Snowpack & Soil Moisture Monitoring Handbook
The Nature Conservancy, in collaboration with the Western Water Assessment and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, has produced a snowtography handbook to support resource managers, researchers, and practitioners seeking to understand how the arrangement and density of trees, or the size and sev[…]
Nov 2021
Papers
Arizona
Climate Change, Forest Restoration Benefits
Forest
USGS
John. B. Bradford, Robert K. Shriver, Marcos D. Robles, Lisa A. McCauley, Travis J. Woolley, Caitlin A. Andrews, Michael Crimmins, David M. Bell
Tree mortality response to drought-density interactions suggests opportunities to enhance drought resistance
A future of hotter temperatures and less precipitation under climate change could increase tree mortality under drought conditions in dry forests across the western U.S., causing large-scale tree die offs.  Restoration projects that reduce densities of overgrown forests can result in lower competit[…]