The Restoration Site is located 8 km from the control site on similar basalt-derived soil. The stand was lightly thinned for saw timber and poles several times between 1956 and 1991. The latest thinning occurred in September 2006 (after the far left photo was taken) and removed thickets of small-diameter trees following restoration guidelines commonly used for fuel reduction projects in northern Arizona.

The 2006 thinning occurred on 167 ha in the footprint of the instrument tower that measures fluxes of CO2, water, and energy. Slash produced by the thinning was piled on site and will be prescribed burned in 2007 or 2008. The thinning reduced tree density by 67% (465 to 154 trees ha-1), tree basal area by 39% (20.5 to 12.6 m2 ha-1), and leaf area index by 41% (1.6 to 0.9). Coarse woody debris in 2006 before thinning averaged 8.4 Mg ha-1.

The site is surrounded by the larger Woody Ridge Forest Restoration Project administered by the Coconino National Forest. The sections to the east of the site were thinned to an average basal area of 11 m2 ha-1 in winter 2006 (visible in the photo, left, taken in early 2006), and the sections to the south and north are scheduled for thinning in 2007. Thus, the site is embedded in a larger, managed landscape to ensure similar land use and stand structure in the measurement footprint of the instrument tower.

See Site Characteristics for more information.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 July 2008 )