{"id":78365,"date":"2026-07-20T16:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T23:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78365"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T23:16:17","slug":"dymond-srp-growvera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/dymond-srp-growvera\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the best way to measure fire risk? The answer might be underground."},"content":{"rendered":"

When fire risk is high,\u00a0Arizonans know the major warning signs:\u00a0hot\u00a0temperatures, low\u00a0humidity\u00a0and lots of wind.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0one fire factor we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0fully\u00a0understand: soil moisture.\u00a0<\/span>Salli Dymond<\/span><\/b>, an associate professor in NAU\u2019s School of Forestry, said measuring moisture levels in the soil and in forest plants\u2014fire\u2019s potential fuel\u2014could prove key to preventing or\u00a0containing\u00a0some of the most catastrophic wildfires in the Southwest and beyond.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This summer, Dymond is working with Salt River Project (SRP) and the startup company\u00a0Growvera\u00a0to install moisture sensors on plants\u00a0and\u00a0dead fuel\u00a0on the forest floor and underground throughout the southeastern Tonto National Forest. Over the course of a year, she and her colleagues will\u00a0monitor\u00a0the sensors and analyze the data they generate. Dymond said that if the sensors provide\u00a0accurate\u00a0enough moisture data, they could become a gamechanger in how Arizona officials communicate about and prepare for\u00a0wildfire\u00a0season.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNew studies have shown that using soil moisture in conjunction with fuel moisture will bring all the pieces of the puzzle together,\u201d Dymond said. \u201cIt could help us understand how dry the forest fuels are, how dry the soils are and how stressed the plants are from hour to hour. That way, we can make real-time decisions about road and forest closures, fire stage\u00a0warnings\u00a0and fire suppression right from our computers, without having to drive out and\u00a0observe\u00a0these\u00a0conditions.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Salli<\/a>
Dymond and her colleagues recently traveled to sites in Tonto National Forest and buried soil moisture sensors at different depths underground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why\u00a0soil\u00a0moisture?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Today, experts in Arizona predict fire risk by gathering and interpreting weather data such as humidity,\u00a0temperature\u00a0and wind speed. Dymond said that while\u00a0that\u00a0current system works, it misses the full picture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe collect weather data out in the open and in a few locations, and it\u2019s not always indicative of on-the-ground conditions,\u201d she said. \u201cMany times, our wildfires ignite under complex terrain where the plants are interacting not only with the weather but also with below-ground moisture.\u00a0So,\u00a0the moisture of the soil and the fuels growing in it is really a better indicator of what the conditions are like on the ground.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Measuring soil and fuel moisture used to be expensive, but sensors have become much more affordable in the last 10 years.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0where\u00a0Growvera\u00a0comes in, Dymond said. The New Mexico startup has developed a cheaper alternative to traditional plant moisture sensors, and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0working with Dymond and SRP to test out their product\u2019s efficacy. If the sensors work well,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a win-win:\u00a0Growvera\u00a0can\u00a0market its sensors, backed with research success,\u00a0to forest managers, and the Southwest can stay safer from catastrophic wildfires.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think\u00a0Growvera\u00a0and I have the same goal, which is to get this into the hands of practitioners who can benefit from it,\u201d Dymond said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hyperlocal data<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

This month, Dymond and her colleagues traveled to sites in Tonto National Forest and attached\u00a0Growvera\u2019s\u00a0Chip Clip-like sensors onto dead trees, healthy trees and other wildfire fuel sources like dead twigs and branches. They also buried soil moisture sensors\u2014these look like tiny fans\u00a0and are manufactured by a different company\u2014at different depths\u00a0underground. Alongside the data they gather from those sensors,\u00a0they\u2019ll\u00a0also gather data from a weather station\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0installed nearby.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll track small-scale fluctuations in temperature and relative\u00a0humidity,\u00a0and we\u2019ll see how the fuels respond,\u201d Dymond said. \u201cWe\u2019ll\u00a0also see how moisture levels change as precipitation comes in. Live fuels like trees and plants are more complicated than soil in the way they change.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0like human bodies; they all behave a little differently.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Clip-on<\/a>
The New Mexico startup Growvera has developed a cheaper alternative to traditional plant moisture sensors, and they\u2019re working with Dymond and SRP to test out their product\u2019s efficacy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0not just because\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0individual beings\u2014it\u2019s\u00a0also because rain is hyperlocal. As Arizonans know all too well, a super-soaker monsoon might hit one square mile and completely miss another. Gathering that geographically specific and time-intensive information from afar could help leaders fine-tune their understanding of fire danger while staying safely away from at-risk areas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRather than giving blanket statements like \u2018critical fire risk in the Flagstaff region,\u2019 we could say, \u2018there\u2019s a critical fire risk in Coconino Estates and a lower risk in Sunnyside,\u2019\u201d Dymond said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0also helpful for prescribed burns and wildfires that are already happening. We could use the data to make a real-time decision to either suppress a fire or keep it going.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tonto as\u00a0a\u00a0training ground<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Along with Dymond and SRP experts, NAU forestry master\u2019s student\u00a0<\/span>Anastasiya Jonas<\/span><\/b>\u00a0will analyze data from the sensors, looking\u00a0particularly at relationships between dead fuel moisture levels, live fuel moisture levels, soil\u00a0moisture\u00a0and vapor pressure.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dymond hopes that if all goes well with the sensors\u2019 one-year trial, she and her SRP colleagues can not only continue collecting data in Tonto but also expand to other fire-prone forests in the region, giving more students like Jonas hands-on experience with tiny tech that could transform Arizonans\u2019 lives for the better.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hope is to have a network of sensor sites across the Southwest and even beyond that,\u201d Dymond said. \u201cWildfires have become a concern in the entire Western U.S., the Midwest, the Southeast\u2014really everywhere. There are so many regions that could\u00a0benefit\u00a0from this data.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When fire risk is high,\u00a0Arizonans know the major warning signs:\u00a0hot\u00a0temperatures, low\u00a0humidity\u00a0and lots of wind.\u202f\u00a0 But\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0one fire factor we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0fully\u00a0understand: soil moisture.\u00a0Salli Dymond, an associate professor in NAU\u2019s School of Forestry, said measuring moisture levels in the soil and in forest plants\u2014fire\u2019s potential fuel\u2014could prove key to preventing or\u00a0containing\u00a0some of the most catastrophic wildfires in the Southwest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2880,"featured_media":78368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2880"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78365"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78371,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78365\/revisions\/78371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}