New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The already water scarce Southwest is highly dependent upon mountain snowpack for its water resources. Snow accumulation and melt rates are strongly influenced by forest structure. Additionally, the amount, timing, and form of precipitation is rapidly changing in the face of climate change. With forests becoming drier because of rising temperatures and reduced snowmelt, and a legacy of fire exclusion and fuel buildup, high severity fires are becoming more prevalent. Forest thinning is a common strategy implemented to reduce fire severity and return to more historic conditions. These changes in forest structure in turn affect the snowpack both positively and negatively through changes in shortwave and longwave radiation, albedo, and interception. While there have been a few studies that assess these changes, the extent high severity fires and different thinning techniques have on snowpack in the Southwest is not well characterized. To address this gap, this study examines high severity burn locations, thinned locations, and dense untreated and unburned locations to compare how snow accumulation, melt rates, and dates of disappearance differ in Mixed Conifer and Ponderosa Pine forests of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Each site consists of snow poles monitored by game camera pictures to calculate snow depth, temperatures buttons to calculate snow disappearance dates, and soil moisture sensors. Our goal is to assess the impact these different forest structures have on the snowpack in hopes of preserving this vital resource in the future.