CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA
Twentieth Century Vegetation Changes in Chiricahua National Monument
Land use changes, in particular grazing and fire suppression, have altered vegetation patterns throughout the southwestern United States. The goal of this project is to identify and explain patterns of 20th century vegetation change at both stand and landscape scales in Chiricahua National Monument using historical methods. The use of tree rings to reconstruct pre 1900 forest structure or fire history is very limited here because many woody plants do not produce annual rings in this arid environment. In this study vegetation changes are being identified using records of vegetation cover in times series of aerial and landscape photographs and field data on contemporary vegetation structure. Spatial patterns of change are being analyzed, modeled, and related to landscape scale environmental gradients in a GIS.
Recently completed projects in Chiricahua
