July | 2016 | Information Bravo

Protect, Transform, Inspire: This year, celebrating its 50th year, TNC Arizona looks backward at past accomplishments and forward to the future. The state chapter is committed to affirming core values and aligning goals with its mission. In Arizona, protecting water resources is of particular urgency. Hart Prairie with its riparian willows, high altitude wet meadows, and mixed conifer forests, is a locus of significant forest restoration research, in particular its Ponderosa pine forest functioning as a demonstration plot for the larger Four Forest Restoration project (the Forest Service has committed to clearing 30,000 acres per year for the next decade or so).

What is the ecological purpose of a forest? For one thing, it functions to protect water sources: northern Arizona forests supply 30% of the water for more than 2 million citizens. So how do we ensure we have healthy forests? While this might be considered a “new forestry school” belief, a healthy Ponderosa pine forest is fire-adapted and has about 15-40 trees per acre (as opposed to many areas, where the density is now more like 500 trees per acre, due to fire suppression and lack of management). When Ponderosa grows thickly, the forest sucks up groundwater and also becomes a candidate for the intense and dangerous crown fires. With a grant from the US Forest Service, TNC treated 70 acres at the Prairie by thinning the smaller trees; groundwater levels were measured before and after.

The Preserve’s prize Bebb willows (Salix bebbiana) are not a rare species (supposedly, we have them here in New England), but the Hart Prairie community is unique because it is so large. Most Bebb willows grow in stands of under 50 trees; here there are more than 1300! This willow species is not particularly attractive (I totally agree that the trees look gnarled and misshapen), but it is an indicator species for a healthy wet meadow. The willows, which are dioecious, grow from seed, and TNC has tried planting seeds to keep the population either stable or increasing, and has also tried fencing them in to keep them from being munched on by herbivores.

Locale: The Museum of Northern Arizona was founded in 1928 by Harold and Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, a wealthy Philadelphia family with a close connection to Dick and Jean Wilson, the benefactors who donated the Hart Prairie Preserve to TNC. The Museum focuses on the Colorado Plateau: its volcanic geology, its paleontology specimens, and the material remains left by the successive human cultures which inhabited the area. The collection is also extensive in terms of ethnology, with a focus on the Native American groups who have lived in the area for centuries: the Hopi, Navajo, Zuñi, and some Apache. Contemporary artisans from these tribes are proud of their traditions, but by incorporating their personal experiences into their work, they enrich their cultures and make them accessible to all; a striking example is the wrap-around mural in the Museum’s Kiva Room. Being herself an artist and a national leader in arts education, founder Mary Colton clearly understood the value of the arts; thus, the Museum has continued to acquire and exhibit the work of Native American and Anglo-American artists whose work is connected to the Colorado Plateau. On display this summer are landscape paintings by Curt Walters, beautiful oils of the Grand Canyon and other southwest vistas. Of course I was mesmerized by the jewelry on display; I am particularly fond of silver and turquoise, and the museum has some outstanding pieces by contemporary Native American artists.

Weather: High 80, Low 54. Partly cloudy

Creatures: Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), Elk (Cervus canadensis)

Itinerary: FR 151 to US 180 to Flagstaff and return

Excursions: Hart Preserve Bebb Willows, Museum of Northern Arizona

Speakers:

Mark Ryan, TNC, Arizona State Chapter Projects (morning)
Phyllis Wolfskill, MNA Docent, Guided Museum Tour (afternoon)
George Bain, Rock Climbing in the Grand Canyon (evening)

Reflections: At the Museum, we were allowed to touch a meteorite, which, when you think about it, is one of the strangest things on earth, because it is truly extra-terrestrial! I was also delighted to hold a dinosaur thigh bone (huge) and mastodon tooth (huge), and I marveled at the relative weights of the volcanic rocks (pumice is as light as air, almost). The gift shop at the Museum was particularly enticing, and I ended up buying a pair of turquoise earrings (for myself, because this stone is lovely).

I wish I could have had climbing adventures with George, but I am afraid of heights. I started to feel dizzy even as I was looking at his slides.

Images:

Stand of Bebb willows

Large Bebb willow

Replica of dinosaur skeleton at MNA

Locale: The first non-native person to settle here in the 1860s was a man named Frank Hart; he put up four walls for a building, then disappeared into the dustbin of history. Next came German immigrants Augustus Dillman Freudenberger and his wife Lena. Their log home, now known as the Homestead, still stands on the property. The Dillman Ranch at Hart Prairie, as it came to be known, was a stop for the stagecoach that ran between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, with famous passengers such as President Theodore Roosevelt pausing for refreshment. Other early Hart Prairie homesteaders tried for a time to grow potatoes, barley, and hay, but farming here was tough-going, and after the Great Depression nearly all of them were gone.

The ranch then passed into the hands of Suzanne Colton, sister of Harold Colton, founder of the Museum of Northern Arizona; she changed its name to Fern Mountain Ranch. It then went to her son Dick Wilson and his wife Jean. In 1994, after protracted discussion and negotiations, the Wilsons donated 245 acres of Hart Prairie to The Nature Conservancy.

At 8,500 feet, the Preserve is considered a high altitude meadow; it is home to a large stand of Bebb willows, a centrally-located aspen grove with a hidden rock pile, and encroaching Ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa). Conservancy scientists believe that in the not too distant past, this area looked more like open savannah, but fire suppression and livestock grazing changed the landscape to favor forest cover.

Looking directly east from Preserve cabins, the eye is drawn upward to the San Francisco Peaks, the results of volcanic eruptions that began millions of years ago and continued into recorded history. These mountains, including Mount Humphreys, at 12,633 feet the highest point in Arizona, are examples of strato-volcanoes, or cone-shaped volcanoes formed by eruptions of molten lava alternating with layers of cinder and ash. Mt Agassiz, to the south of Mt Humphreys, has been developed as a ski area; the lifts and trails are clearly visible.

Protect, Transform, Inspire: The current research projects at the Prairie can be considered links in a scientific chain which stretches back over a hundred years. In 1889, a biologist named C Hart Merriam studied plant and animal life on the San Francisco Peaks, in the Painted Desert, and in the Grand Canyon. From his observations, he developed the theory of “life zones,” which proposes that biological communities change in a predictable way as one moves north or rises in elevation. The Merriam classification is not much used today, except perhaps in the American Southwest, although the concept remains important in describing and classifying ecoregions. At Hart Prairie, ecological research continues with sophisticated weather monitoring and even a pheno-camera, which is used to track plant phenology (phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life-cycle events that are influenced by climate and seasonal change in the environment).

So what is a prairie anyway? By one definition, a prairie is an area of flat, predominantly treeless grassland, especially in a large plain with deep fertile soil; it is a region of extensive grasses and forbs, maintained in its natural state by climate, grazing, and fire. In the United States, prairies were once widespread but are now highly endangered. Not only here in Northern Arizona but also in the Midwest, TNC is working hard to restore and maintain these unique ecosystems.

Weather: High 82, Low 52. Cloudy, drizzle

Creatures: Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

Itinerary: Flagstaff, via N San Francisco St to US 180, right onto FR 151 to dirt road

Excursions: Hart Prairie Preserve Research Area

Speaker: Blair Foust, TNC, Introduction to Hart Prairie Preserve (afternoon)

Reflections: We are a group of eight TNC supporters at the Prairie this week: myself (Worcester), Julie and Sam (Seattle), Julia and David (northwest Arkansas), Ann (Washington DC), niece Melinda (Colorado Springs) and aunt Linda (Sacramento Foothills). So pleased to meet everyone!

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