Contributions of Snow Research to Forest Watershed Management in the Southwestern United States

Snowpacks that accumulate on high-elevation forested watersheds are an important source of water in much of the southwestern United States. However, snowpacks in this region differ from those in more northern regions because of the variability in annual snowfall accumulations and the intermittent melting throughout the winter season. Snow research over the past 50 years has indicated that there are possibilities of increasing snowmelt-runoff through the implementation of forest management practices. The effects of these forest management practices can often be predicted from inventory-prediction relationships. Other research has resulted in development of snow-runoff forecasting procedures and simulation models of forest snowpack dynamics leading to increased knowledge of snow hydrology.