Southwest, Volume 22-25 (1995)
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Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest, Volume 22-25 (1995) Item Type text; Proceedings Publisher Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science Journal Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest Rights Copyright ©, where appropriate, is held by the author. Download date 05/10/2021 18:20:50 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/296471 Volumes 22 -25 HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES INARIZONA AND THE SOUTHWEST Proceedings of the 1995 Meetings of the Arizona Section American Water Resource Association and the Hydrology Section Arizona -Nevada Academy of Science April 22, 1995, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, Arizona Ordering Information This issue can be obtained in hard copy as long as supplies last from R. Sayers School of Forestry Box 15018 Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Special arrangements can be made to obtain the entire document on disk. Fax (520) 523 -1880 for more information. Table of Contents Introduction Malchus B. Baker, Jr., and Charles C. Avery vii Evaluation of Water Balance Models: An Assessment in Mixed Conifer Forests of Arizona Peter F. Ffolliott and Gerald J. Gottfried 1 Hydraulic- Conductivity Measurements of Reattachment Bars on the Colorado River William D. Petroutson, Jeffery B. Bennett, Roderic A. Parnell, and Abraham E. Springer 7 The Effect of Dewatering a Stream on its Riparian System: A Case Study from Northern Arizona Peter G. Rowlands, Heidemarie G. Johnson, Charles C. Avery and Nancy J. Brian 11 Sustainability of Fishes in Desert River: Preliminary Observations on the Roles of Streamflow and Introduced Fishes Jerome A. Stefferud and John N. Rinne 25 Interactions of Predation and Hydrology on Native Southwestern Fishes: Little Colorado Spinedace in Nutrioso Creek, Arizona John N. Rinne 33 Effects of Prescribed Fire on Watershed Resources: A Conceptual Model Leonard F. DeBano, Malchus B. Baker, Jr., and Peter F. Ffolliott 39 Effects of Fire on Water Resources -A Review Daniel G. Neary 45 Preliminary Observations on the Transportation of Large Woody Organic Debris in Burned and Unburned Headwater Streams, Tonto National Forest, Arizona Michelle M. Alexander and John N. Rinne 55 Sediment and Nutrient Regime from a Central Arizona Chaparral Watershed Steven Overby and Malchus B. Baker, Jr. 61 Environmental Fate and the Effects of Herbicides in Forest, Chaparral, and Range Ecosystems of the Southwest J.L. Michael and D.G. Neary 69 Fossil Creek: Restoring a Unique Ecosystem Elizabeth Mathews, Tom Cain, Grant Loomis, Jerome Stefferud, and Rich Martin 77 An Ecosystem Management Strategy for the Sycamore Creek Watershed in South- Central Arizona Roy Jemison and Jesse Lynn 85 Using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques to Estimate Land Cover Changes in a Desert Watershed Diego Valdez -Zamudio 93 A Stochastic Model for Simulating Daily Temperature and Humidity on a Ponderosa Pine Type Watershed David E. Rupp and Aregai Tecle 101 Reauthorization of the Safe Water Drinking Act and the Variability of Rural Public Water Systems Dennis C. Cory and Molly V. Moy 109 Introduction After a hiatus of 3 years, we are pleased to bring back into circulation an important document for hydrologists in the Southwest. The impetus for this undertaking began last year and we hope there is enough demand for this publication that its continuance will be assured. Because of the 3 -year break, for indexing purposes this issue is Volume 22 -25. Any literature citation should also reflect this nomenclature. The meeting that took place in Flagstaff, Arizona on April 22, 1995 was jointly sponsored by the Arizona Section of the American Water Resources Association and the Hydrology Section of the Arizona- Nevada Academy of Sciences. This publication was underwritten by Northern Arizona University's Graduate College, which also provided editorial assistance. We gratefully acknowledge the support we have received and especially want to thank Dr. Henry O. Hooper and Ms. Louella Holter, Bilby Research' Center, for their assistance. Malchus B. Baker, Jr. Charles C. Avery EVALUATION OF WATER BALANCE MODELS: AN ASSESSMENT IN MIXED CONIFER FORESTS OF ARIZONA Peter F. Ffolliottl and Gerald J. Gottfried2 Much of the surface water used in Arizona Comparisons have been made between observed originates as precipitation, often snow, on the and simulated streamflow before and after the higher elevation watersheds. However, the implementation of a treatment designed to surface water supplies from these watersheds demonstrate and evaluate multiple- resource are generally limited in most years, although it management practices in mixed conifer forests has been shown that multiple- resource manage- (Gottfried 1991). Future investigations will focus ment practices implemented on higher elevation largely on analytical comparisons between ob- watersheds can favorably affect subsequent served and simulated hydrographs for the same streamflow and water quality characteristics watershed. (Rich 1972; Rich and Thompson 1974; Baker 1986; Gottfried 1991; Gottfried and Ffolliott Study Area 1992). A capability to predict the streamflow The south fork of Thomas Creek, within the from higher elevation watersheds before and Apache Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern after the implementation of multiple- resource Arizona, was the study area. This 562 -acre management practices using water balance watershed is situated in the headwater region of models based on easily acquired information is the Salt River. It is a main tributary of the Gila needed. Such predictions would be helpful to River and a main source of surface water for the managers in planning for the possibility of Phoenix metropolitan area. The watershed is lo- increased streamflow into the river systems of cated between 8,400 and 9,200 feet in elevation. Arizona and, as a consequence, the availability Soils are classified as Mollic Eutroboralfs and of more water for downstream users. Mollic Cryoboralfs, and are derived from basal- One major objective of watershed research in tic parent materials. Annual precipitation aver- Arizona has been, and continues to be, the ages about 30 inches, with approximately 55 validation of water balance models and, where percent of this precipitation occurring as snow- appropriate, making modification of these mod- fall during the October through May winter els to better represent the measured parameters: precipitation period. Annual streamflow was annual streamflow totals, timing of streamflow nearly 3.2 inches prior to the treatment. About regimes, and such. Results from previous inves- 80 percent of the annual streamflow total occurs tigations by Baker and Carder (1977), Baker and during the snowmelt period of March, April, Rogers (1983), and Jeton (1990) show that many and May. of the existing water balance models require The watershed originally supported undis- some modifications -input variables, functions, turbed, multistoried, old -growth stands of coefficients -to simulate the actual conditions mixed conifer species (Gottfried 1991; Gottfried that have been measured. and Ffolliott 1992). These stands consisted of This paper reports on a study to evaluate the Douglas -fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca), accuracy of three water balance models in simu- white fir (Abies concolor), corkbark fir (A. lasio- lating annual streamflow totals from a water- carpa var. arizonica), Engelmann spruce (Picea shed in the mixed conifer forests of Arizona. engelmannii), blue spruce (P. pungens), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), southwestern white pine School of Renewable Natural Resources, University of (P.strobiformis), and quaking aspen (Populus Arizona, Tucson 2Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, tremuloides). The pretreatment basal area of these USDA Forest Service, Flagstaff, AZ stands was about 185 square feet per acre. 2 Evaluation of Water Balance Models The Treatment southwestern United States, where snowpacks Following a calibration period, the upper 75 per- are generally intermittent. A modified snow cent of the watershed was harvested in 1978 ac- component called SNOWMELT provides for cording to single -tree selection, group selection, modeling intermittent snowpack conditions and small patch -cut prescriptions; the lower part within the WATBAL framework (Solomon et al. of the watershed remained untreated, however, 1976). because of the steep slopes encountered. The 2. The Baker- Kovner streamflow regression model: timber harvest implemented resulted in a nearly This nonlinear regression model predicts annual 35 percent reduction in the basal area on the streamflow totals from inputs of precipitation, treated areas and the creation of 63 small open- potential insolation, basal area of the forest over - ings representing about 13 percent of the water- story, and two interaction terms (precipitation - shed area. The treatment resulted in a significant basal area and precipitation - potential insola- increase in annual streamflow of almost 1.7 tion). The model was developed with data from inches, an increment representing approximately the Beaver Creek watershed (Brown at al. 1974), 45 percent of the pretreatment streamflow (Gott- and as a consequence is strictly applicable to fried 1991). The increases in streamflow were watersheds with volcanic soils and climate attributed largely to reduced evapotranspiration similar to Beaver Creek. Testing of the useful- from the forest overstory and increased snow ness of the model for other watershed conditions accumulations in the small openings. appeared justified