Engineering, Planning, and Ecosystem Management: The Upper San Pedro River Basin in Arizona and Sonora

Abstract

The Upper San Pedro River Basin in southeastern Arizona is home to both Fort Huachuca -- the Army's Intelligence Center and Electronic Proving Ground -- and the growing city of Sierra Vista. The basin also contains some of the most diverse plant and animal life in North America. However, water use by Fort Huachuca, Sierra Vista, and agriculture in the basin threatens to lower the water table and dry the San Pedro River. This, in turn, could alter the vegetation in the basin and eliminate endangered species habitat in the nation's first federally protected riparian National Conservation Area. A team from the Harvard Design School; the University of Arizona; the Desert Research Institute; Headquarters, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined the range of potential future growth patterns for the basin (Alternative Futures) and compared them for their relative impacts on a suite of environmental parameters, including hydrology, biodiversity, and landscape vegetation pattern.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA496229

Entities

People

  • Robert L. Anderson

Organizations

  • United States Army Training and Doctrine Command

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agriculture
  • Army Training
  • Biology
  • Drainage Basins
  • Ecology
  • Ecosystems
  • Endangered Species
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Environment
  • Fluids
  • Groundwater
  • Habitats
  • Natural Resources
  • North America
  • Water
  • Wildlife

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Coastal and Marine Engineering/Sediment Transport/Hydraulic Engineering
  • Environmental Remediation and Restoration.
  • Marine Mammal Biology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems