Water yield from forest snowpack management: Research findings in Arizona and New Mexico

Snow falling in high‐elevation forests is an important source of water for much of the arid Southwest. Snowpack conditions in Arizona and New Mexico differ from those in more northern regions, because of the variability in annual accumulations and the intermittent melting throughout the winter season. Snow management research in Arizona and New Mexico over the past 25 years has indicated the possibilities of increasing snowmelt water yields through forest management activities. The effects of management can be predicted from forest inventory data. Other research has resulted in the development of snow‐runoff forecasting procedures and computer simulation models of forest snowpack dynamics, as well as increasing the general knowledge of snow hydrology.