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The purpose of the project, for which this web site is one of the primary
manifestations, is to bring to the public the knowledge and data gleaned
from the Arizona Watershed Program. Our goal
is to take the years of accumulated watershed management research and
package it in a form that is useful to a broad spectrum of the public.
The challenge is to provide information that other researcher will find
useful as well as information that teachers, students, pubic administrators,
and the general public can use.
Research Studies
Research studies were performed by the USDA Forest Service from 1930s
to 1980s to evaluate the usefulness of watershed management techniques
for increasing water yields and other multiple resource benefits within
the Salt and Verde River Basins of Arizona in the United States. One area
of study was the 275,000 acre Beaver Creek Experimental Watershed in north-central
Arizona. Research results from Beaver Creek were used to develop a template
for information from all research sites in Arizona currently being developed
on this web site. Research information from Beaver Creek is documented
in a variety of publications covering many aspects of watershed management
for which an annotated bibliography of nearly 700 references was compiled.
Field Days
In addition, two field days were held on the Beaver Creek Experimental
Watershed, which is also a Biosphere
Reserve (part of UNESCO's Man
and the Biosphere Program), to provide experimental and hands-on learning
to a local audience and to act as a text bed for materials on this website.
Web Site Organization
The website is generally designed by levels, going from the most general
to more specific facts and information about watersheds in the Southwest
to facilitate navigating through the site. Links in the sidebars of the
home page provide general background information concerning the watershed
management program in Arizona. Since the focus of watershed management
research was in the Central Highlands of Arizona, this is a major link
for accessing more detailed information available on this web site. This
page provides links to such information as the climate and vegetation
of the arid and semi-arid Southwestern United States (Central Arizona
Highlands) and the history of watershed research in the area. Here users
can obtain background information for any of the seven major vegetation
types found in the region and access to more specific information
and actual data from experimental watershes in the various vegetation
types.
Give Access to Real Data
A major contribution of this web site is the access it provides users
to the basic data collected from the various research studies. Basic
routines are available that enable users to develop relationships between
parameters, but more important is the opportunity for users to download
information into a spreadsheet for more thorough analyzes at a later time.
Participants
The participants in this project are the Rocky
Mountain Research Station Flagstaff Lab of U.S. Forest Service,
The
University of Arizona Cooperative
Extension, and The University of Arizona's Arid
Lands Information Center, with funding from the International
Arid Lands Consortium (IALC). Our goal is to provide a unique
reference and educational tool on arid and semiarid watershed management
using information
and experience developed from research in different vegetation types
in Arizona. The first materials were put on the web in December 1997,
and
new material will be added, and maintained, as we develop it during
the life of this project.
Statistics
During 2002 and 2003 this site has been used by a little over 100 users
per day with about 2400 hits per day. See this
page for details.
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