Ponderosa pine forests on the Colorado Plateau are dominated by dense thickets of trees that are susceptible to high-intensity fires. While restoration of such forests by tree thinning and prescribed burning is occurring over large landscapes, an understanding of the impacts of these activities and wildfires on greenhouse gas fluxes is poor. The objectives of our research are to:

• Understand the influence of stand-replacing wildfire and forest restoration treatments on fluxes of major greenhouse gases and energy balance.
• Compare major components of CO2 flux (above and below-ground) among stand conditions.
• Compare annual CO2 flux estimated by the eddy covariance technique (EC) with annual flux estimated from biomass inventory.

An agreement signed by Arizona Governor Jane D. Hull in April, 2000 establishes a new paradigm of cooperation for land stewardship in the United States. In addition to Arizona State Land Department and NAU, other agencies and community groups actively participate by serving on the Centennial Forest Advisory Committee which provides oversight and helps develop the management plan. The 75 year agreement establishes NAU as a national leader in field education and research, showcases ASLD's sound management practices, and benefits the community through increased participation and education opportunities.

The research in this lab focuses on the responses of vertebrates to landscape pattern, vegetation structure, fire, and silvicultural treatments. We are especially interested in fragmented landscape patterns. We study both anthropogenic fragmentation (e.g., how urbanization and freeways impact populations of large carnivores, how tropical forest birds respond to massive agricultural conversion of formerly expansive forest) and naturally fragmented landscapes (e.g. how genomes of puma and white-tailed deer respond to naturally disjunct woodlands in the Sky Islands; how carnivores move among the Sky Islands). We aim to produce results that are scientifically interesting and - even more important - useful to conservation.

Ecosystem Ecology is a sub-discipline of ecology that uses ecosystems as the observational unit, and attempts to understand the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate ecosystem structure and function. Our lab group focuses on both basic and applied ecosystem research primarily in forests of the western U.S. Current projects include assessing:

• the effects of forest restoration treatments (e.g., thinning and/or prescribed fire) and wildfire on soil microbial communities and belowground processes
• the influence of the genetics of a dominant plant on ecosystem processes
• the impact of water diversion on riparian forests
• the role of nitrate in the internal nitrogen cycle of forests
• how insect herbivory alters ecosystem processes
• biotic and geochemical controls on ecosystem development along a three million year chronosequence
• the impact of climate change on soil-plant-atmosphere interactions
• the utility of insect communities as indicators of forest ecosystem health.

We use a variety of tools in these studies ranging from ecological genetics to isotopic analyses, to computer simulation modeling.

The Forest Health program at Northern Arizona University includes a series of graduate level courses and is rapidly expanding into several new research areas. This site outlines the NAU forest health curriculum, includes information on the definition of forest health, discusses the social, economic and ecological aspects of forest health, lists key forest health literature, and has a brief description of one of the many, new forest health research efforts underway at NAU: the Stand Treatment Impacts on Forest Health (STIFH) project. Some key links to other forest health web sites can be found here as well.

The Holbrook Elm Project is a community forestry and arboriculture research project in Holbrook, Arizona. The project is currently testing 28 species and cultivars of elms (Ulmus sp.) for tolerance to the elm leaf beetle (Pyrrhalta luteola) and harsh environmental conditions that exists in this part of Arizona. A web-based community project in urban forestry is underway to provide information on better tree selections and planting techniques for east central Arizona. The program is a cooperative effort among the City of Holbrook, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, University of Illinois Cooperative Extension, Northern Arizona University, and the Arizona State Land Department.

The hydrology lab at Northern Arizona University’s School of Forestry focuses on holistic watershed management. This includes the study of the interaction of forest users, forest restoration treatments, vegetation management and fire on surface hydrology. Other topics we study are: Montane riparian ecosystem restoration, hydrologic modeling, watershed delineation, and conflict resolution concerning social issues in watershed management and water supply. In addition, our lab collaborates with the Watersheds and Riparian Ecosystems Project of the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff, as well as the Water Resources Group at the USGS Flagstaff Field Center.

Current research includes:

• Wildfire and forest restoration treatment effects on the Rio De Flag watershed.
• Developing dynamic Multi-Objective Decision-Making (MODM) models for use in forest management in Northern Arizona and Northern Mexico.
• Monitoring and maintaining two stream gauging stations and one weather station in the former USDA Forest Service Beaver Creek Experimental Watershed

Comprehensive project to examine natural regeneration and pest management of an important forest species in West Africa - Milicia spp. This project includes research and technology development relate to: mixed species plantations of native tropical species, biology of reproduction of Milicia, factors influencing natural regeneration, genetic resistance to insects, genetic conservation plantations, pest management training sessions, nursery practices and plantation establishment.