With more than 90 percent of northern Arizona\u2019s springs degraded or disappearing, Northern Arizona University hydrologists will be using new dollars to focus on new life in high elevation wetlands.<\/p>\n
The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust is providing $146,000 to fund the two-year\u00a0collaborative project in partnership with NAU, the Grand Canyon Trust\u2019s Spring Stewards and the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council. Some 200 sites on the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests will be studied in an effort to identify and restore high priority springs. The gift was presented to the NAU Foundation on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 1,000 springs and spring-fed wetlands support rich plant and animal life in northern Arizona, including rare species such as the northern leopard frog,\u201d said hydrogeology professor\u00a0Abe Springer<\/strong>\u00a0of NAU\u2019s School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability. \u201cUnfortunately almost all of them have been declared \u2018at risk\u2019 by the Arizona Water Institute.\u201d<\/p>\n Scientists say changes to the forest since pioneers arrived have caused the degradation.<\/p>\n Ecological Restoration Institute hydrologist\u00a0Sharon Masek Lopez<\/strong>\u00a0said, \u201cMany springs were plumbed decades ago to deliver drinking water to livestock. But this infrastructure is often dilapidated and can neither effectively provide water to livestock nor water for the\u00a0riparian or wet meadow environments that springs would naturally support.”<\/p>\n In addition, millions of trees in Arizona\u2019s forests are absorbing water and drying out meadows that historically were spongy, muddy and wet.<\/p>\n \u201cTrees use a greater amount of soil moisture than grasses and may be keeping springs from flowing,\u201d Springer\u00a0 said.<\/p>\n One of the project\u2019s tasks will be to evaluate existing springs’ water rights to determine which springs are no longer being used for people or livestock and can be regained for aquatic habitat.<\/p>\n Because springs are hotbeds for biodiversity, prioritizing them is a significant component of large forest health projects such as the\u00a0Four Forest Restoration Initiative<\/a>\u00a0currently in the planning stages for 2.4 million acres of Arizona\u2019s ponderosa pine forest.<\/p>\n Through interviews, questionnaires and site visits, hydrologists expect to identify at least 50 spring sites for restorative action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"