ASU, SRP use lasers to show how forest work boosts water supplies
Forest thinning increases water supplies downstream while reducing wildfire risk, according to a study conducted by Salt River Project and Arizona State University. Land managers and scientists knew forest thinning — a technique that clears smaller trees and vegetation to reduce fuel loads in forests — decreases wildfire hazard, but wanted to quantify how restoration projects also benefit watersheds. …One acre-foot of water can supply three Arizona families with water for a year. SRP provides water for much of metro Phoenix from snowfall and rain runoff across 8 million acres of land in northern Arizona.