Field Trips Overview
Fire ecology and management: A trip up Mount Lemmon
Time: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Cost: $60
Organizers: Bob Keane (USDA Forest Service) and Wendell Hann
This field trip will follow the Mt. Lemmon Scenic Byway (Catalina Highway)
that leads to the base of Mt. Lemmon ski area. We will traverse many
ecosystems, from the lower Sonoran zone with saguaro cactus through the
upper Sonoran desert grasslands and oak woodlands, into the transition
zone with ponderosa pine savannas forests and finally the mixed conifer
zone at the top of the road. We will also pass through several recent
fires and at each fire and ecosystem we will stop to discuss the latest
issues facing fire management in the southwestern United States. Topics
will include the concept, calculation, and application of Fire Regime
Condition Class (FRCC); the latest fire management technology (LANDFIRE,
Burn Severity Mapping Project); fuel treatment options (mastication,
prescribed burning); fire ecology and effects; and the barriers to fire
management. Speakers from the local and national USDA Forest Service,
National Park Service, and BLM agencies will be present at the stops
to present and discuss these issues. We will end the trip at the town
of Summerhaven to discuss Wildland-Urban Interface issues.
Box lunch is provided.
Tree Ring Laboratory
Time: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Cost: $60
Organizers: Tom Swetnam and Don Falk (University of Arizona)
The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research is a world-class research and teaching
institute on the campus of the University of Arizona. Participants in
this workshop will enjoy a combined classroom and hands-on learning experience
with tree-ring analysis (dendrochronology). The morning session will
begin with a series of lectures by faculty providing an overview of basic
dendrochronology,
including the biology of wood formation,
variables in ring properties that allow wood to be dated exactly to the
year, and methods of creating a time series of ring properties. Lectures
will also provide brief introductions to the use of dendrochronology
to study questions in climate, ecology, and archaeology, and an overview
of applications such as fire history and calibration of the radiocarbon
curve. After the lecture series, the remainder of the day will be spent
in the laboratory, where participants will work directly with wood specimens
and computer programs under the direction of LTRR scientific staff.
Bring your notebooks (and wood samples, if you have any!), and join us
for an enjoyable and instructive introduction to the world of tree-ring
research.
Box lunch is provided.
Natural and human ecology of the upper San Pedro River basin
on the Arizona-Sonora border
Time: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Cost: $60
Organizer: Sheridan Stone (US Army Garrison)
The drive from Tucson will climb from Sonoran desert up into grassland
basins between forested mountain ranges, in the heart of southeastern
Arizona "Sky Islands". Landscapes of historic Fort Huachuca
will be the focus the trip to the Huachuca Mountains in the Upper San
Pedro River Valley. The military reservation was withdrawn along watershed
boundaries from the public domain for frontier Army needs. It extends
east from mixed conifer forest and a common boundary with Coronado National
Forest lands at the crest of the Huachucas, down to Chihuahuan desert
grasslands scrub adjacent to the BLM's San Pedro Riparian National Conservation
Area. From a foothill vista above a canyon mouth, you will look out across
the San Pedro Valley and learn about historic land uses, landscape and
vegetation changes, and current growth and development pressures on the
bi-national river. Habitat fragmentation in the valley is accelerating,
and growing human demands increase over-drafting of groundwater, which
threatens San Pedro River flows and essential riparian habitat for migratory
and breeding birds. Stops at a cienega and riparian forest in a well
watered canyon will illustrate some of the great diversity of plants
and animals. Stops in the grassland of Fort Huachuca will provide discussion
of ongoing encroachment of woody plants and the impact of an exotic,
invasive grass. The trip will end with briefings on cooperative attempts
in the basin to conservation, reuse and recharge water at the huge scale
necessary to resolve the problem.
The bus will depart the hotel at 7:00 am. Participants should dress
for sunny, breezy weather that time of year, and bring a broad brim hat
and sunscreen for comfort through the day. Binoculars will be very useful
to take in the long vistas or to see unusual birds up close. Cameras
are welcome, too. Although we will not need to walk far from vehicles,
comfortable, sturdy footwear will help negotiate uneven terrain and protect
you from various plants. We will take a break to eat box lunches at picnic
tables in a shaded canyon by a small cienega with an
endangered, aquatic plant and abundant bird life. Keep drinking water
handy all day.
Anyone may enter the fort, but participants 18 years or older must have a form of photographic identification issued by some government agency (e.g., driver’s license, state ID card, or passport). Foreign nationals should have passports.
Box lunch is provided.
Las Ciénegas National
Conservation Area
Time: 8:00 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $60
Organizer: Trevor Hare (Sky Island Alliance)
We will visit Las Ciénegas NCA, a BLM administered area with
a rare desert stream, desert grasslands, oak savannas, and several Sky
Island mountain ranges. Las Ciénegas NCA includes five of the
rarest habitat types in the American Southwest: ciénegas (marshlands),
cottonwood-willow riparian forests, sacaton grasslands, mesquite bosques,
and semi-desert grasslands.
These vegetative communities support a diverse collection of plant and
animal species, including 33 that are federally listed as threatened
or endangered, identified as species of special concern by the State
of Arizona, or designated as "sensitive species" by the BLM.
Sky Island Alliance a local conservation organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the rich natural heritage of the Sky Islands of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico has cooperated with the BLM to put volunteers on the ground restoring landscapes and studying large animal movements.
Sky Island Alliance staff will lead a field trip to look at and learn about SIA’s road closure and road bed rehabilitation program and BLM riparian restoration work. We will also visit a SIA wildlife tracking transects to learn about the importance of landscape permeability. Participants will learn about this unique landscape, the growing threats to it, and Sky Island Alliance’s work to protect and restore it.
Participants should wear good shoes and bring sunscreen, water, a hat, and binoculars.
Box lunch is provided.
Changes in the Saguaro Cactus Community - Saguaro National Park,
East
Time: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Cost: $60
Organizers: Don Swann and Melanie Florez (Saguaro National Park)
Field trip participants to Saguaro National Park will have a chance
to learn first-hand about the Sonoran Desert, the saguaro cactus, and
changes in the desert since Saguaro National Park was first established
in 1933. The program will be led by Don Swann, a biologist at the park
for more than 13 years. In addition to being a fascinating plant, the
saguaro cactus has a intriguing history of research at the park, as scientists
struggled for decades to learn about why the park's Cactus Forest was
declining and how this decline could be reversed. We will tour the park's
8-mile Cactus Forest Loop Road, stopping along the way to study features
of the park's plants and wildlife, and discuss how Saguaro's natural
landscape has changed and continues to change. We will also take a 1-mile
hike in desert terrain on a park trail. In addition, we will stop at
the park's Visitor Center to see a short film. The Visitor Center also
has an excellent store that is well-stocked with books and other items
relating to the natural and cultural history of the Sonoran Desert.
Box lunch is provided.