Cienega Ranch - Semi-desert Native Grassland Restoration Active
At the Cienega Ranch, near Willcox, Arizona, in the foothills of the Dos Cabeza Mountains, a rancher is working to restore and conserve high- quality native grasslands and critical wildlife habitat, while keeping the land as a working cattle ranch. Our objectives were to estimate the hydrological effect of water harvesting on grassland restoration and quantify how grassland conservation efforts impact recharge and water availability at the ranch.
Cienega Ranch - Semi-desert Native Grassland Restoration ACTIVE
By Western Geographic Science Center October 12, 2022
At the Cienega Ranch, near Willcox, Arizona, in the foothills of the Dos Cabeza Mountains, a rancher is working to restore and conserve high- quality native grasslands and critical wildlife habitat, while keeping the land as a working cattle ranch. Our objectives were to estimate the hydrological effect of water harvesting on grassland restoration and quantify how grassland conservation efforts impact recharge and water availability at the ranch.
Cienega Ranch
Semi-desert Native Grassland Restoration
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Visit the Cienega Ranch website to learn more about Conservation Easements of the “Grasslands Protection Initiative”.
Our main study area was the historic Cienega Draw, where cemented-rock structures, were fitted into bedrock channels to detain surface water for wetland restoration are referred to as ‘Leaky Weirs’. We instrumented and monitored three total sites, two with leaky weirs and one downstream from a series of earthen berms. Leaky Weir 1 (LW1), our 1st treatment site, is in the mainstem of Cienega Draw, with a monitoring well downstream and a spring upstream. Our 2nd treatment site (LW5) is in tributary of the Draw, adjacent to LW1, with no known spring. We also monitored a Control site on Cottonwood Draw to the southeast. Instrumentation includes water-level loggers, wildlife cameras, and crest-stage gages with logging temperature sensors. We developed a ‘3-in-1’ design, which allows us to compute infiltration rates through the collection of complimentary data, including peak stage (via cork lines), stage time series (via referenced external marks paired with camera data), and temperature time series (via ibutton sensors).
Photos: Top left: Hanna Coy led the hydrologic experimental design and data collection. Top right: Andy Bennett helped collect measurements throughout the study.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS; a.k.a. ‘drone’) were flown to acquire high-resolution imagery and to create high-resolution digital terrain models (DTM). Cross-sections, perpendicular to flow, were calculated from the digital terrain models at treatment sites and surveyed using an optical/laser level and rod.
We use hydrologic models to estimate the water budget at and around structures and compare with measurements taken in the field. Findings portray the hydrologic connection between recharge in the Dos Cabezas mountain system and groundwater in basin-fill aquifers, and the source water for the wetlands that comprised the historic Cienega Creek that can be supported by leaky weirs. We identify a large, perched aquifer in the alluvium that is being recharged via diffuse rainfall to support vegetation and grassland health …with a publication forthcoming (stay tuned)!
In the meantime, click here to see a “cellphone video tour” of the ranch, weirs and water harvesting last summer: “Cienega Ranch Best Management Practices (8/17/22)”.
Photos: Left: Plants in Rock Detention Structure refuge. Right: Winter grass moonrise over the range and water bar.
USGS Literature Cited
Coy, H., Norman, L. M., Wilson, N. R., Debenedetto, Geoffrey P., Bennett, A. F., Vogel, J., Swetnam, T., & Austin, J. T. (2019, November 8). Assessing the Water Budget around Wetland Restoration “Leaky Weirs” at the Cienega Ranch, SE Arizona, USA. Society of Ecological Restoration Southwest Conference, Tucson Arizona.
Coy, H. A., Wilson, N. R., Bennett, A. F., Hsieh, D., & Norman, L. M. (2021). Hydrologic Data Collected at Leaky Weirs, Cienega Ranch, Willcox, AZ (March 2019—October 2020). U.S. Geological Survey Data Release. https://doi.org/10.5066/P9OX6TT1
Learn more about Cienega Ranch:
- Cienega Ranch – Cienega Ranch (hylranch.com)
- Trust for Public Land and Partners Protect Additional 7,800 Acres of Critical Grasslands near Chiricahua Mountains | GilaValleyCentral.Net
- Local Rancher Working to Protect and Restore Large Sky Islands Grassland Ranch – Trust for Public Land (tpl.org)
- Cienega Ranch – New Mexico Land Conservancy (nmlandconservancy.org)
- Arizona Ranch Owner Protects Grasslands and Wildlife Habitat Through a Conservation Easement – New Mexico Land Conservancy (nmlandconservancy.org)
Aridland Water Harvesting Study
Aridland Water Harvesting Study
At the Cienega Ranch, near Willcox, Arizona, in the foothills of the Dos Cabeza Mountains, a rancher is working to restore and conserve high- quality native grasslands and critical wildlife habitat, while keeping the land as a working cattle ranch. Our objectives were to estimate the hydrological effect of water harvesting on grassland restoration and quantify how grassland conservation efforts impact recharge and water availability at the ranch.
Cienega Ranch - Semi-desert Native Grassland Restoration ACTIVE
By Western Geographic Science Center October 12, 2022
At the Cienega Ranch, near Willcox, Arizona, in the foothills of the Dos Cabeza Mountains, a rancher is working to restore and conserve high- quality native grasslands and critical wildlife habitat, while keeping the land as a working cattle ranch. Our objectives were to estimate the hydrological effect of water harvesting on grassland restoration and quantify how grassland conservation efforts impact recharge and water availability at the ranch.
Cienega Ranch
Semi-desert Native Grassland Restoration
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Visit the Cienega Ranch website to learn more about Conservation Easements of the “Grasslands Protection Initiative”.
Our main study area was the historic Cienega Draw, where cemented-rock structures, were fitted into bedrock channels to detain surface water for wetland restoration are referred to as ‘Leaky Weirs’. We instrumented and monitored three total sites, two with leaky weirs and one downstream from a series of earthen berms. Leaky Weir 1 (LW1), our 1st treatment site, is in the mainstem of Cienega Draw, with a monitoring well downstream and a spring upstream. Our 2nd treatment site (LW5) is in tributary of the Draw, adjacent to LW1, with no known spring. We also monitored a Control site on Cottonwood Draw to the southeast. Instrumentation includes water-level loggers, wildlife cameras, and crest-stage gages with logging temperature sensors. We developed a ‘3-in-1’ design, which allows us to compute infiltration rates through the collection of complimentary data, including peak stage (via cork lines), stage time series (via referenced external marks paired with camera data), and temperature time series (via ibutton sensors).
Photos: Top left: Hanna Coy led the hydrologic experimental design and data collection. Top right: Andy Bennett helped collect measurements throughout the study.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS; a.k.a. ‘drone’) were flown to acquire high-resolution imagery and to create high-resolution digital terrain models (DTM). Cross-sections, perpendicular to flow, were calculated from the digital terrain models at treatment sites and surveyed using an optical/laser level and rod.
We use hydrologic models to estimate the water budget at and around structures and compare with measurements taken in the field. Findings portray the hydrologic connection between recharge in the Dos Cabezas mountain system and groundwater in basin-fill aquifers, and the source water for the wetlands that comprised the historic Cienega Creek that can be supported by leaky weirs. We identify a large, perched aquifer in the alluvium that is being recharged via diffuse rainfall to support vegetation and grassland health …with a publication forthcoming (stay tuned)!
In the meantime, click here to see a “cellphone video tour” of the ranch, weirs and water harvesting last summer: “Cienega Ranch Best Management Practices (8/17/22)”.
Photos: Left: Plants in Rock Detention Structure refuge. Right: Winter grass moonrise over the range and water bar.
USGS Literature Cited
Coy, H., Norman, L. M., Wilson, N. R., Debenedetto, Geoffrey P., Bennett, A. F., Vogel, J., Swetnam, T., & Austin, J. T. (2019, November 8). Assessing the Water Budget around Wetland Restoration “Leaky Weirs” at the Cienega Ranch, SE Arizona, USA. Society of Ecological Restoration Southwest Conference, Tucson Arizona.
Coy, H. A., Wilson, N. R., Bennett, A. F., Hsieh, D., & Norman, L. M. (2021). Hydrologic Data Collected at Leaky Weirs, Cienega Ranch, Willcox, AZ (March 2019—October 2020). U.S. Geological Survey Data Release. https://doi.org/10.5066/P9OX6TT1
Learn more about Cienega Ranch:
- Cienega Ranch – Cienega Ranch (hylranch.com)
- Trust for Public Land and Partners Protect Additional 7,800 Acres of Critical Grasslands near Chiricahua Mountains | GilaValleyCentral.Net
- Local Rancher Working to Protect and Restore Large Sky Islands Grassland Ranch – Trust for Public Land (tpl.org)
- Cienega Ranch – New Mexico Land Conservancy (nmlandconservancy.org)
- Arizona Ranch Owner Protects Grasslands and Wildlife Habitat Through a Conservation Easement – New Mexico Land Conservancy (nmlandconservancy.org)