Laura Huenneke, Lead Scientist Dean College of Engineering and Natural Sciences Northern Arizona University Box 5621 Flagstaff, AZ 86004-5621 928.523.2701 928.523.0516 Laura.Huenneke@nau.edu
James Allen Associate Director, School of Forestry Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University South San Francisco Street, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011 James.Allen@nau.edu
Carl Edminster Director, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Southwest Forest Science Complex 2500 South Pine Knoll Drive Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (928) 556-2177
The Beaver Creek Watershed is located in the southwest portion of Domain 13 (Lat 34.755N Long 111.485W, 114,121 ha) and is an exemplary core site for five key reasons: 1) Ecologically representative of Domain 13 2) Ideal for supporting both terrestrial and aquatic research to address the two focal NEON drivers, climate change and land use 3) Available regional expertise, laboratories, and complementary research to ensure leveraging of NEON funds; 4) Institutional support and availability of facilities; and 5) Strong legacy of research that NEON can build upon. Thus, the Beaver Creek Watershed has many of the critical elements for a core site to be successful, and together with other core sites, would realize the national-scale observatory network for monitoring ecological dynamics.
Ecological Representation - The Beaver Creek Watershed is dominated by four broad vegetation types: Ponderosa pine montane forest, pinyon-juniper woodlands, desert shrubland, and grasslands. Together these vegetation types comprise 99% of the Beaver Creek Watershed and 90% of Domain 13 vegetation types, making the area highly representative of Domain 13 vegetation. The proposed site for the Advanced BioMesoNet Tower is in the Ponderosa pine montane forest, which is a widespread habitat in the western US and important from both ecological and human perspectives. A wide range of aquatic habitats occur within the watershed, including gauged streams, springs, and a lake.
NEON Drivers: Climate Change & Land Use - Climate change and land use strongly impact Domain 13 ecosystems. Paleontological studies and recent experimental research demonstrate that the many species in Domain 13 are strongly sensitive to climate change, including ponderosa and pinyon pines, the dominant tree species of forests and woodlands in the Domain. These trees, which are regionally important for hydrological recharge, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration, exhibited severe mortality during recent years of high temperature and precipitation anomalies. Experimental work shows >50% species loss and replacement in response to warming in the herbaceous communities of the desert grassland, ponderosa, and pinyon biomes. Shifts in community composition and performance of keystone species over elevation gradients and ecotones are important barometers of climate change, and the 1625m elevation change along the watershed provides an excellent gradient of habitat types and ecotones in which to assess climate change impacts. Domain 13 is characterized by federal, Native American, and state lands that focus on timber, grazing, fuel reduction, homes, and recreation, all land uses that occur within the Beaver Creek Watershed. Also close to urbanizing Flagstaff, Beaver Creek is an excellent area to document the impacts of land use change.
Expertise and Research - Nearby Northern Arizona University and partner institutions can provide expertise needed to support NEON activities. There are 23 laboratories and research groups that include over 75 PhD researchers in the fields of ecology, genetics, hydrology, soils, GIS/Remote Sensing, climatology, and informatics that can provide expertise for the core site. A number of institutions and individual researchers have ongoing studies in the watershed, continuing the rich history of research.
Institutional and Facilities Support - The Coconino National Forest, USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station, and Northern Arizona University are committed to a thirty plus year future for this core site. Two USFS ranger stations, the Merriam-Powell Research Station, and Northern Arizona University can provide housing, facilities, field support, research laboratories, cyberinfrastructure, and outreach.
Research Legacy - Beaver Creek is a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve and a designated US Forest Service Experimental Watershed, which was established to function as a major center for watershed management research. The Beaver Creek Watershed has extensive “legacy data” available on the area’s climate, hydrology, fire, land use and management. This research has produced over 200 publications and reports on ecology, silviculture, geology, soils, and paleoecology. Additional documentation can be found at http://beavercreek.nau.edu/