Cooperating Agencies:

• Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests (Springerville Ranger District)

Location:

Approximately 22 miles (35km) west of Springerville, AZ, in the northern foothills of the White Mountains.

Date Initiated:

2001

Description:

The White Mountains of eastern Arizona form a large mass of high country at the eastern end of the Mogollon Rim, with a broad expanse of ponderosa pine forest surrounding mountainous uplands clothed in mixed-conifer and spruce-fir forests, large aspen groves, and huge, grassy parks. Remote from major population centers in either Arizona or neighboring New Mexico, the White Mountain forests nonetheless have been impacted by grazing, logging, and fire suppression like others across the Southwest.

In late 2001 the ERI proposed adding a replicated restoration experiment to the 40,000 acre (16,000 hectare) Mineral Ecosystem Management Unit, which was in the planning stages for a series of fuels reduction treatments. Four experimental blocks were installed across approximately 400 acres (160 hectares) of ponderosa pine and lower mixed-conifer forest, each containing three treatment units. The treatments include a full ecological restoration treatment aimed at thinning forest stands to approximate pre-Euro-American-settlement structure and density, followed by controlled burning, a burn-only treatment, and a control (no action) treatment.

In the summer of 2002, ERI field crews installed 20 permanent monitoring plots in each treatment unit, for a total of 240 plots across the project area. On each plot, data was collected on overstory tree composition, structure and regeneration, woody fuels abundance, and shrub and herbaceous vegetation. Permanent photopoints were established to visually document changes brought about by restoration treatments.

Project Status:

Restoration treatments are not yet complete, as the site has not been burned. Once the burning has been accomplished ERI field crews will return to measure responses to the treatments.

For More Information:

• Download the Project Proposal.
• Download the Spring 2003 Update.
• Contact Matt Tuten, at

Publications:

This project is still in the early phases, and no publications have yet been generated.