Coming in a few weeks: A natural way to color those Easter eggs.
Daniel Salzler No. 1295 EnviroInsight.org Four Items February 28, 2025
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1. New Interdisciplinary Research Highlights Wildfire Impacts On Water And Ecosystems In Arid Regions. As wildfires increasingly threaten arid regions, a new conceptual framework developed by a team of researchers offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between fire, water quality and ecosystem recovery.
Led by Tamara Harms, pictured to the left, ASU School of Life Sciences alumna and associate professor at the University of California, Riverside, a collaborative study titled “Fire influence on land–water interactions in aridland catchments” was recently published in BioScience and emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and watershed-focused research.
“This paper is conceptual, so we were a collaborative group of people with expertise in an array of disciplines across ecology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, terrestrial and aquatic perspectives,” Harms said.
The research team included scientists from Arizona State University, the University of California, the University of Nevada, Duke University, Montana State University and the University of New Mexico. Their joint effort identified critical gaps in understanding and proposed a roadmap for future research to mitigate the impacts of wildfires on arid-land ecosystems.
Collaboration across disciplines
The long-term data provided valuable context for understanding
how fire affects hydrology and biogeochemical processes. Grimm pointed out wildfire in the desert was historically rare but is becoming more frequent with the spread of introduced grasses that provide fuel, especially during wet years. “In over 40 years studying Sycamore Creek, I have only seen large wildfires in the last five years — the Bush Fire in 2020 and the Sand Stone Fire in 2024,” she said.
Watershed connections
The research focuses on watershed dynamics — how changes in one part of the landscape, such as vegetation loss or soil erosion, can impact downstream ecosystems. The team highlighted how precipitation patterns heavily influence the timing and scale of fire effects on water quality.
“Our perspective is unique because we focus on watershed connections,” Harms said. “This means looking at how disturbances in upland areas affect aquatic ecosystems downstream.”
In arid regions, fire effects are often delayed until heavy rains transport ash and sediment into waterways. These events can lead to sudden spikes in water contamination or prolonged impacts, depending on the frequency and intensity of rainfall.
The study also explored feedback mechanisms, such as how frequent fires may encourage the growth of fire-tolerant vegetation or how erosion caused by fire can further destabilize soil. Possible recovery efforts after wildfires include monitoring the watershed and assessing the content of debris and fire impact to better understand and mitigate long-term effects on ecosystems. Source: Gabriela Harrod ASU
2. Dry Winter Leaves Little Snow To Melt, But SRP Says Its Water Supplies Are In Good Shape. ROOSEVELT LAKE — Salt River Project hydrologists and meteorologists usually trek through dense snow to conduct snowpack surveys during the winter, tracking how much snowmelt could run off the watershed and into reservoirs come spring.
But not this year.
“There’s been no snow. It’s very weird,” said Bo Svoma, principal climate scientist and meteorologist at SRP. “We haven’t done one snow survey this year.”
With an arid winter, following an abnormally hot and dry summer and fall, the watershed’s usual blanket of snow is notably absent.
A Valentine’s Day snowstorm near Flagstaff — the first major snowfall of the season — wasn’t enough to offset months of dry conditions. The few inches the watershed received are already melting into the parched soils and vegetation rather than running off into SRP reservoirs.
The Salt and Verde Rivers feed SRP’s reservoirs, supplying as much as half the water for Phoenix and surrounding cities.
With no snow to measure, SRP hydrologists on Monday instead measured the flow of water into Roosevelt Lake, the largest of the reservoirs. The current should have been rushing past, making hydrologists’ work difficult; instead, the stream softly rippled by.
They measured an inflow of 130 cubic feet per second (cfs), which was 20% of the normal 638 cfs for this time of year.
While this winter is extremely dry, the lack of snow won’t severely affect SRP’s water supply, now or in the near future, as SRP actively plans for dry years by saving surplus during wet winters.
Regional drought:At odds over water cuts, Colorado River states still seek consensus as deadline nears
How will this unusually dry winter affect SRP’s water supply?
Arizona is experiencing one of its driest winters on record. Phoenix saw a 159-day dry spell, the second-longest on record. Flagstaff, known for its snowy winters, has recorded just 11.2 inches since July 1, compared to a 61.1-inch average.
But SRP’s reservoirs are still fuller than average, thanks to recent winters that brought an influx of precipitation across the state.
“SRP reservoirs are about 70% full right now, which is above normal,” said Stephen Flora, a senior hydrologist at SRP. “So we’re in pretty good shape due to two winters we had in 2023 and 2024.”
Those winters brought heavy precipitation to the Southwest, refilling SRP’s system to 93% of its capacity and offsetting this season’s short-term drought.
Planning for drought
Alternating between wet and dry years is part of Arizona’s climate, and while these past few months have been extraordinarily dry, it’s normal for the desert to experience drought.
SRP takes advantage of the ebbs and flows of winter precipitation in Arizona.
“We plan for years like this,” Flora said. “We use this data and these measurements and determine how much of our water supply will be surface water from the reservoirs to use versus how much groundwater to pump in the Valley.”
When the reservoirs are at a higher capacity, water managers can use more surface water and preserve groundwater.
If reservoirs begin to decline during several dry years, SRP can pump more water from the ground to compensate, balancing storage while meeting Phoenix’s water demand.
Water and power:Federal law gives SRP OK to create new reservoir for power storage. How it works
Will the watershed recover?
In ecosystems like the Colorado River Basin, it can take time for the land and water supply to recover from short-term drought. Arid soils and vegetation will absorb snowmelt rather than letting it run off, delaying recovery in streamflows and reservoirs.
But because of the relatively small size of the Salt and Verde watersheds, they can bounce back quickly.
“It would just be one wet winter to recover from this,” Svoma said. “We get so much runoff from winter rainfall and big winter events. So much water is put on our relatively small watershed, that in just one winter, we can erase the effects of all of this.”
A productive monsoon could also help slow the decline. While SRP relies on winter precipitation to replenish its reservoirs, monsoon rain can help lessen the decline, especially during high-demand summer months.
Although SRP is not worried about meeting demand during this drought, there is another issue that could impact the watershed and people who live around it: wildfire.
Fire risk drastically rises when vegetation is dry. The peak fire months in April through June could be worse than normal in the forestlands, and fires could spark earlier than normal in late February or early March.
Scorched landscapes can reduce runoff productivity and endanger crucial infrastructure needed to store and transport water.
“Fire is the biggest concern; that’s the biggest thing to pay attention to,” Svoma said. “If we do get some late winter storms, that’s going to be more important for the forest than the water supply.”
Hayleigh Evans writes about extreme weather and related topics for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com
3. Do You Know What a.m. And p.m. Stand ForWhen Referring ToTime? The abbreviations “a.m.” and “p.m.” differentiate between these counts. Since these times revolve around noon, we might expect to see “n” in the abbreviations, but 17th-century Englishmen opted to use Latin instead.
a.m. p.m.
a. Aunt Milly a. Partum Modeum
b. agustus modem b. postum modem
c. anti marieusm c. post marieusm
d. before midday d. after midday
The answer is found at the end of the newsletter
4. Arizona Senators Say Trump’s Freeze On Federal Funding Is Putting Colorado River At Risk.
Colorado River conservation programs have stopped receiving money from the federal government despite temporary restraining orders intended to halt the Trump Administration’s funding freeze.
Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego raised concerns this week that Colorado River programs are no longer receiving money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. The Senators say freezing these funds could “undo the collaboration and careful planning needed to keep the Colorado River flowing.”
Current agreements for splitting the Colorado’s water expire in 2026 and negotiations were underway between states, Tribes and the federal government to establish new guidelines. Federal funds were providing billions of dollars for these planning efforts and for drought relief, water access, and conservation projects.
Currently, the Lower Colorado River Basin is under “extreme” drought conditions and major reservoirs are two-thirds empty.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey declined or did not respond to KNAU’s request for information.Source: February 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM MST February 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM MST. By Melissa Sevigny
Answer To Number 3 Above:
his was sort of a trick question. In Latin, “a.m.” stands for ante meridiem. Translated, this means “before midday.” The counterpart, “p.m.,” stands for post meridiem, which, naturally, translates to “after midday.” In establishing the timekeeping standards, midday was set to be 12, noon. Source: Word Smarts
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