Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

New issue of National Parks magazine spotlights Jill Baron's decades-long research studies of air and water quality in Rocky Mountain National Park

By Fort Collins Science Center December 15, 2023

The winter issue of National Parks, the magazine of the National Parks Conservation Association, has an article about Jill Baron written by Senior Editor Nicolas Brulliard, with photos by Emily Sierra. It describes her career studying the effects of air quality in Loch Vale watershed.

Read the full article: The Long Haul
Media
two researchers sit on a plank over a rushing stream, forest and grasses in the background
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media Details
Tim Weinmann and Jill Baron collect water samples in the Loch Vale Watershed. Photo by Emily Sierra for The Long Haul · National Parks Conservation Association (npca.org).
 

Since the 1980s, Jill Baron has studied nitrogen deposition in the Loch Vale Watershed inside Rocky Mountain National Park. Consistent findings of high levels of nitrogen deposition in and around the park's alpine lakes, along with many decades of outreach by Baron and her collaborators, has resulted in multiple federal and local campaigns to reduce nitrogen deposition in the United States.

Read more about Baron's research career in The Long Haul, by Nicolas Brullaird (National Parks Conservation Association), and learn more about Baron's work within the USGS through the publications, science pages, and news items linked below.

Banner Photo: Jill Baron and graduate student Mollie Hendry hike through Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo by Emily Sierra for the National Parks Conservation Association.

 

Loch Vale weather and precipitation sampling station in Rocky Mountain National Park
Photo of Jill Baron, on a raft surrounded by mountains.
Jill Baron on the frozen Loch Vale lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.
A group of students listen to Dr. Jill Baron speak at Loch Vale in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Related

Accelerating changes and transformations in western mountain lakes

While research into eutrophication has been a cornerstone of limnology for more than 100 years, only recently has it become a topic for the remote alpine lakes that are icons of protected national parks and wilderness areas. National park lakes in the western U.S. are threatened by global change, specifically air pollution, warming, and their interactions, and the problem is quickly worsening...
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program
Accelerating changes and transformations in western mountain lakes

Accelerating changes and transformations in western mountain lakes

While research into eutrophication has been a cornerstone of limnology for more than 100 years, only recently has it become a topic for the remote alpine lakes that are icons of protected national parks and wilderness areas. National park lakes in the western U.S. are threatened by global change, specifically air pollution, warming, and their interactions, and the problem is quickly worsening...
Learn More
Loch Vale lake in the Summer, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.

Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains

Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western...
By
Fort Collins Science Center
Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains

Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains

Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western...
Learn More

Proximity to roads does not modify inorganic nitrogen deposition in a topographically complex, high traffic, subalpine forest Proximity to roads does not modify inorganic nitrogen deposition in a topographically complex, high traffic, subalpine forest

Vehicles are an important source for N deposition that may negatively impact roadside ecosystems. While elevated roadside N deposition has been found in many locations, it is not yet known if vehicle emissions cause measurable increases of N deposition in complex, mountainous terrain adjacent to roads. To address this, this study investigated the effect of vehicle N emissions on...
Authors
Katherine Rocci, M. Catrufo, Jill Baron
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

Marmots do not drink coffee: Human urine contributions to the nitrogen budget of a popular national park destination Marmots do not drink coffee: Human urine contributions to the nitrogen budget of a popular national park destination

Reactive nitrogen (Nr) concentrations are higher than expected for mountain lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park, and for many years, high Nr concentrations have been attributed to atmospheric Nr deposition from regional and more distant emission sources, including combustion of fossil fuels and agricultural activities. Here, we estimated the contribution from a very local source, that...
Authors
Jill Baron, Timothy Weinmann, Varun Acharya, Caitlin Charlton, Koren Nydick, Scott Esser
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

Quality assurance report for Loch Vale Watershed, 2010–19 Quality assurance report for Loch Vale Watershed, 2010–19

The Loch Vale Watershed Research and Monitoring Program collects long-term datasets of ecological and biogeochemical parameters in Rocky Mountain National Park to support both (1) management of this protected area and (2) research into watershed-scale ecosystem processes as those processes respond to atmospheric deposition and climate variability. The program collects data on...
Authors
Timothy Weinmann, Jill S. Baron, Amanda Jayo
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

Persistent nitrate in alpine waters with changing atmospheric deposition and warming trends Persistent nitrate in alpine waters with changing atmospheric deposition and warming trends

Nitrate concentrations in high-elevation lakes of the Colorado Front Range remain elevated despite declining trends in atmospherically deposited nitrate since 2000. The current source of this elevated nitrate in surface waters remains elusive, given shifts in additional nitrogen sources via glacial inputs and atmospheric ammonium deposition. We present the complete isotopic composition...
Authors
Sydney Clark, Rebecca Barnes, Isabella Oleksy, Jill S. Baron, Meredith Hastings
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Long-term ecosystem and biogeochemical research in Loch Vale watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Long-term ecosystem and biogeochemical research in Loch Vale watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Loch Vale watershed was instrumented in 1983 with initial support from the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program to ask whether ecosystems of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) were affected by acidic atmospheric deposition. Research and monitoring activities were expanded in 1991 by the U.S. Geological Survey Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets program to understand the...
Authors
Jill S. Baron, David Clow, Isabella A. Oleksy, Timothy Weinmann, Caitlin Charlton, Amanda Jayo
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Nutrients and warming alter mountain lake benthic algal structure and function Nutrients and warming alter mountain lake benthic algal structure and function

In recent years, benthic algae have been increasing in abundance in the littoral zones of oligotrophic lakes, but causality has been hard to assign. We used field and laboratory experiments to explore the implications of increasing water temperature and nutrient availability for benthic algal assemblages and ecosystem processes in a Colorado alpine lake. We tested the effect of nutrient...
Authors
Isabella A. Oleksy, Jill S. Baron, Whitney Beck
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Nutrients and warming interact to force mountain lakes into unprecedented ecological state Nutrients and warming interact to force mountain lakes into unprecedented ecological state

While deposition of reactive nitrogen (N) in the 20th century has been strongly linked to changes in diatom assemblages in high-elevation lakes, pronounced and contemporaneous changes in other algal groups suggest additional drivers. We explored the origin and magnitude of changes in two mountain lakes from the end of the Little Ice Age at ca. 1850, to ca. 2010, using lake sediments. We...
Authors
Isabella A. Oleksy, Jill S. Baron, Peter Leavitt, Sarah Spaulding
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

2017 Monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park 2017 Monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the National Park Service (NPS), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Nitrogen Deposition Reduction Plan (NDRP) in 2007 to address the effects and trends of nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). The agencies chose a glidepath approach to reduce wet nitrogen deposition to a...
Authors
Kristi Morris, M. Mast, Gregory Wetherbee, Jill S. Baron, Jim Cheatham, Jim Bromberg, Lisa Devore, James Hou, Kristi Gebhart, Mike Bell, David Gay, Michael Olson, Timothy Weinmann, Daniel Bowker
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center

Loch Vale watershed long-term ecological research and monitoring program quality assurance report, 2003-09 Loch Vale watershed long-term ecological research and monitoring program quality assurance report, 2003-09

The Loch Vale watershed project is a long-term research and monitoring program located in Rocky Mountain National Park that addresses watershed-scale ecosystem processes, particularly as they respond to atmospheric deposition and climate variability. Measurements of precipitation depth, precipitation chemistry, discharge, and surface-water quality are made within the watershed and...
Authors
Eric Richer, Jill S. Baron
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Quality assurance report - Loch Vale watershed, 1999-2002 Quality assurance report - Loch Vale watershed, 1999-2002

The National Park Service initiated the Loch Vale Watershed (LVWS) project in 1980 with funding from the Aquatic Effects Research Program of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. Long-term ecological research and monitoring address watershed-scale ecosystem processes, particularly as they respond to atmospheric deposition and climate variability. Monitoring of...
Authors
Jorin Botte, Jill Baron
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Loch Vale Watershed Project quality assurance report, 1995-1998 Loch Vale Watershed Project quality assurance report, 1995-1998

The Loch Vale Watershed (LVWS) project was initiated in 1980 by the National Park Service with funding from the Aquatic Effects Research Program of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. Initial research objectives were to understand the processes that would either mitigate or accelerate the effects of pollution on soil and surface water chemistry, and to build a record in...
Authors
E.J. Allstott, Michael Bashkin, Jill Baron
Research Ecologist Jill Baron coauthors study finding no effect of road proximity on nitrogen deposition in a complex, mountainous terrain

Research Ecologist Jill Baron coauthors study finding no effect of road proximity on nitrogen deposition in a complex, mountainous terrain

Excess reactive nitrogen from vehicle emissions has the potential to negatively impact ecosystems, through increased soil acidification, biodiversity...

Read Article
Collaborative Research Between FORT Scientist Jill Baron and the Rocky Mountain National Park Featured in the Continental Divide Research Learning Center's September Newsletter

Collaborative Research Between FORT Scientist Jill Baron and the Rocky Mountain National Park Featured in the Continental Divide Research Learning Center's September Newsletter

The Rocky Mountain National Park Continental Divide Learning Center September newsletter has an article titled "Let Me Count the Ways: How Citizen...

Read Article
Stressed Mountain Lakes Enter Unprecedented Ecological States

Stressed Mountain Lakes Enter Unprecedented Ecological States

This article is part of the Fall 2020 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter.

Read Article
Long-term collaborative research helps Rocky Mountain National Park address nitrogen-based air pollution

Long-term collaborative research helps Rocky Mountain National Park address nitrogen-based air pollution

This article is part of the Fall 2016 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter. 

Read Article
Much Deserved Award Presented to Dr. Jill Baron

Much Deserved Award Presented to Dr. Jill Baron

Every two years, the U.S. Geological Survey reviews top scientists for possible promotion to Senior Scientist (ST) - the highest level that a federal...

Read Article
Dr. Jill Baron New Director of North American Nitrogen Center

Dr. Jill Baron New Director of North American Nitrogen Center

U.S. Geological Survey senior scientist Dr. Jill Baron has been named the new Director of the North American Nitrogen Center, one of five globally...

Read Article

Related

Accelerating changes and transformations in western mountain lakes

While research into eutrophication has been a cornerstone of limnology for more than 100 years, only recently has it become a topic for the remote alpine lakes that are icons of protected national parks and wilderness areas. National park lakes in the western U.S. are threatened by global change, specifically air pollution, warming, and their interactions, and the problem is quickly worsening...
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program
Accelerating changes and transformations in western mountain lakes

Accelerating changes and transformations in western mountain lakes

While research into eutrophication has been a cornerstone of limnology for more than 100 years, only recently has it become a topic for the remote alpine lakes that are icons of protected national parks and wilderness areas. National park lakes in the western U.S. are threatened by global change, specifically air pollution, warming, and their interactions, and the problem is quickly worsening...
Learn More
Loch Vale lake in the Summer, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.

Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains

Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western...
By
Fort Collins Science Center
Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains

Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains

Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western...
Learn More

Proximity to roads does not modify inorganic nitrogen deposition in a topographically complex, high traffic, subalpine forest Proximity to roads does not modify inorganic nitrogen deposition in a topographically complex, high traffic, subalpine forest

Vehicles are an important source for N deposition that may negatively impact roadside ecosystems. While elevated roadside N deposition has been found in many locations, it is not yet known if vehicle emissions cause measurable increases of N deposition in complex, mountainous terrain adjacent to roads. To address this, this study investigated the effect of vehicle N emissions on...
Authors
Katherine Rocci, M. Catrufo, Jill Baron
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

Marmots do not drink coffee: Human urine contributions to the nitrogen budget of a popular national park destination Marmots do not drink coffee: Human urine contributions to the nitrogen budget of a popular national park destination

Reactive nitrogen (Nr) concentrations are higher than expected for mountain lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park, and for many years, high Nr concentrations have been attributed to atmospheric Nr deposition from regional and more distant emission sources, including combustion of fossil fuels and agricultural activities. Here, we estimated the contribution from a very local source, that...
Authors
Jill Baron, Timothy Weinmann, Varun Acharya, Caitlin Charlton, Koren Nydick, Scott Esser
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

Quality assurance report for Loch Vale Watershed, 2010–19 Quality assurance report for Loch Vale Watershed, 2010–19

The Loch Vale Watershed Research and Monitoring Program collects long-term datasets of ecological and biogeochemical parameters in Rocky Mountain National Park to support both (1) management of this protected area and (2) research into watershed-scale ecosystem processes as those processes respond to atmospheric deposition and climate variability. The program collects data on...
Authors
Timothy Weinmann, Jill S. Baron, Amanda Jayo
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

Persistent nitrate in alpine waters with changing atmospheric deposition and warming trends Persistent nitrate in alpine waters with changing atmospheric deposition and warming trends

Nitrate concentrations in high-elevation lakes of the Colorado Front Range remain elevated despite declining trends in atmospherically deposited nitrate since 2000. The current source of this elevated nitrate in surface waters remains elusive, given shifts in additional nitrogen sources via glacial inputs and atmospheric ammonium deposition. We present the complete isotopic composition...
Authors
Sydney Clark, Rebecca Barnes, Isabella Oleksy, Jill S. Baron, Meredith Hastings
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Long-term ecosystem and biogeochemical research in Loch Vale watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Long-term ecosystem and biogeochemical research in Loch Vale watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Loch Vale watershed was instrumented in 1983 with initial support from the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program to ask whether ecosystems of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) were affected by acidic atmospheric deposition. Research and monitoring activities were expanded in 1991 by the U.S. Geological Survey Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets program to understand the...
Authors
Jill S. Baron, David Clow, Isabella A. Oleksy, Timothy Weinmann, Caitlin Charlton, Amanda Jayo
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Nutrients and warming alter mountain lake benthic algal structure and function Nutrients and warming alter mountain lake benthic algal structure and function

In recent years, benthic algae have been increasing in abundance in the littoral zones of oligotrophic lakes, but causality has been hard to assign. We used field and laboratory experiments to explore the implications of increasing water temperature and nutrient availability for benthic algal assemblages and ecosystem processes in a Colorado alpine lake. We tested the effect of nutrient...
Authors
Isabella A. Oleksy, Jill S. Baron, Whitney Beck
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Nutrients and warming interact to force mountain lakes into unprecedented ecological state Nutrients and warming interact to force mountain lakes into unprecedented ecological state

While deposition of reactive nitrogen (N) in the 20th century has been strongly linked to changes in diatom assemblages in high-elevation lakes, pronounced and contemporaneous changes in other algal groups suggest additional drivers. We explored the origin and magnitude of changes in two mountain lakes from the end of the Little Ice Age at ca. 1850, to ca. 2010, using lake sediments. We...
Authors
Isabella A. Oleksy, Jill S. Baron, Peter Leavitt, Sarah Spaulding
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Fort Collins Science Center

2017 Monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park 2017 Monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the National Park Service (NPS), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Nitrogen Deposition Reduction Plan (NDRP) in 2007 to address the effects and trends of nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). The agencies chose a glidepath approach to reduce wet nitrogen deposition to a...
Authors
Kristi Morris, M. Mast, Gregory Wetherbee, Jill S. Baron, Jim Cheatham, Jim Bromberg, Lisa Devore, James Hou, Kristi Gebhart, Mike Bell, David Gay, Michael Olson, Timothy Weinmann, Daniel Bowker
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center

Loch Vale watershed long-term ecological research and monitoring program quality assurance report, 2003-09 Loch Vale watershed long-term ecological research and monitoring program quality assurance report, 2003-09

The Loch Vale watershed project is a long-term research and monitoring program located in Rocky Mountain National Park that addresses watershed-scale ecosystem processes, particularly as they respond to atmospheric deposition and climate variability. Measurements of precipitation depth, precipitation chemistry, discharge, and surface-water quality are made within the watershed and...
Authors
Eric Richer, Jill S. Baron
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Quality assurance report - Loch Vale watershed, 1999-2002 Quality assurance report - Loch Vale watershed, 1999-2002

The National Park Service initiated the Loch Vale Watershed (LVWS) project in 1980 with funding from the Aquatic Effects Research Program of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. Long-term ecological research and monitoring address watershed-scale ecosystem processes, particularly as they respond to atmospheric deposition and climate variability. Monitoring of...
Authors
Jorin Botte, Jill Baron
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Loch Vale Watershed Project quality assurance report, 1995-1998 Loch Vale Watershed Project quality assurance report, 1995-1998

The Loch Vale Watershed (LVWS) project was initiated in 1980 by the National Park Service with funding from the Aquatic Effects Research Program of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. Initial research objectives were to understand the processes that would either mitigate or accelerate the effects of pollution on soil and surface water chemistry, and to build a record in...
Authors
E.J. Allstott, Michael Bashkin, Jill Baron
Research Ecologist Jill Baron coauthors study finding no effect of road proximity on nitrogen deposition in a complex, mountainous terrain

Research Ecologist Jill Baron coauthors study finding no effect of road proximity on nitrogen deposition in a complex, mountainous terrain

Excess reactive nitrogen from vehicle emissions has the potential to negatively impact ecosystems, through increased soil acidification, biodiversity...

Read Article
Collaborative Research Between FORT Scientist Jill Baron and the Rocky Mountain National Park Featured in the Continental Divide Research Learning Center's September Newsletter

Collaborative Research Between FORT Scientist Jill Baron and the Rocky Mountain National Park Featured in the Continental Divide Research Learning Center's September Newsletter

The Rocky Mountain National Park Continental Divide Learning Center September newsletter has an article titled "Let Me Count the Ways: How Citizen...

Read Article
Stressed Mountain Lakes Enter Unprecedented Ecological States

Stressed Mountain Lakes Enter Unprecedented Ecological States

This article is part of the Fall 2020 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter.

Read Article
Long-term collaborative research helps Rocky Mountain National Park address nitrogen-based air pollution

Long-term collaborative research helps Rocky Mountain National Park address nitrogen-based air pollution

This article is part of the Fall 2016 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter. 

Read Article
Much Deserved Award Presented to Dr. Jill Baron

Much Deserved Award Presented to Dr. Jill Baron

Every two years, the U.S. Geological Survey reviews top scientists for possible promotion to Senior Scientist (ST) - the highest level that a federal...

Read Article
Dr. Jill Baron New Director of North American Nitrogen Center

Dr. Jill Baron New Director of North American Nitrogen Center

U.S. Geological Survey senior scientist Dr. Jill Baron has been named the new Director of the North American Nitrogen Center, one of five globally...

Read Article
Was this page helpful?