As both the climate and wildfire crises intensify and investments are made to dramatically increase the pace of forest restoration across dry forests in the western U.S. through the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, an understanding of where Nature-Based Solutions are the most optimal in lessening climate impacts is key. To this end, a collaborative project between The Nature Conservancy (Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Washington, New Mexico, California, Idaho), University of Montana, and U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station created a generalizable framework to assess risk to carbon in forests and mapped where proactive forest management actions (ecological thinning and prescribed and cultural burning) could be taken to reduce those risks. This evaluation of where living trees are at most risk of burning and not sustaining carbon in the future were then compared to areas where human communities are most vulnerable to wildfire, the basis of initial investments by the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The areas of overlap, or “opportunity hotspots” are where we recommend effort be focused to prioritize further action to reduce risks to both carbon and human communities.

(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

Forests

Future Forests

Accelerating the pace and scale of forest restoration for a healthy Arizona.

Rivers & Water

Wet/Dry Mapping

Snapshot of hydrologic conditions for rivers with interrupted perennial surface flows.

Rivers & Water

Arizona Rivers & Water

Achieving sustainable water management.

Deserts & Grasslands

Las Ciénegas Adaptive Management

Collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management at Las Ciénegas National Conservation Area.

Conservation

Natural Infrastructure

Developing a natural infrastructure dataset by integrating studies on wildlife habitat and open space.

Conservation

Ecoregion Assessments

Conservation of biodiversity across western North America.

Forests

Southwest Forest Assessment Project

Restoring ecosystems throughout Arizona and New Mexico’s National Forest.

Deserts & Grasslands

Southwest Grasslands

Assessing the state of Arizona’s grasslands.

Explore Our Science

Sep 2023

Maps

BLM, NGO

Freshwater Assessment

Riparian-aquatic

San Pedro River

Dale Turner, Brooke Bushman, Lisa McCauley

San Pedro River Wet/Dry Map Animation

Every June groups of volunteers walk the entire 170 mile length of the San Pedro River and record where it is wet and where it is dry during the hottest, driest time of the year. Twenty years’ worth of data on summertime surface flows in the San Pedro River within the San Pedro Riparian National C[…]

Sep 2023

Papers

Arizona, Geo Region

Collaboration

Ecosystem, Forest

Forest Restoration Benefits, Topic

Jamie L Peeler, Lisa McCauley, Kerry L Metlen, Travis Woolley, Kimberley T Davis, Marcos D Robles, Ryan D Haugo, Karin L Riley, Philip E Higuera, Joseph E Fargione

Identifying opportunity hot spots for reducing the risk of wildfire-caused carbon loss in western US conifer forests

Sep 2023

Papers

Arizona, Colorado River Basin, Western U.S.

Climate Change, Forest Restoration Benefits

Collaboration, USDA ARS

Forest

Ravindra Dwivedi, Joel A. Biederman, Patrick D. Broxton, Kangsan Lee, Willem J.D. van Leeuwen, Jessie K. Pearl

Forest density and snowpack stability regulate root zone water stress and percolation differently at two sites with contrasting ephemeral vs. stable seasonal snowpacks

Much of the western United States depends on high elevation snowpack in forested watersheds for water supply, wildlife habitat, and recreation in both adjacent and downstream communities. The forest-snow-water relationship is well studied in areas with stable – that is, cold – seasonal s[…]