USGS-Science for a Changing World

Historic and Prehistoric Land Use, and Water Quality in the Arid Region of Hopi Buttes, Navajo and Hopi Reservations, Arizona

A Geo-Ecological-based Interagency Workshop
September 1-3, 2000
The Navajo and Hopi people live within an arid and ecologically sensitive region of the southwest, considered one of the most severely desertified in North America. Rapid population growth among this largest group of native people, coupled with potential climate variability, will increasingly stress the carrying capacity of lands upon which they are utterly dependant for their livelihood. This workshop will bring together collaborators from many different scientific backgrounds to discuss this issue, and related work proposed for the Hopi Buttes region of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations.

Research in the Hopi Buttes region will be used to provide information for effective community-based land use planning, by establishing the relative effects of land use, climate change and climate variability, and communicating this information to the public through science education. Separate aspects of the Hopi Buttes ecosystem, discussed by workshop participants include bedrock geology, hydrogeology, surficial processes, water quality and plant ecology, as well as the history of human habitation. Proposed work will be aimed at deciphering the history of land-use impacts and outlining geologic conditions for areas with suitable groundwater, and involves participation of Hopi and Navajo tribal members.

Workshop Objectives:

  • To establish avenues for public education, communication and awareness

  • Communication of implications of past land-use, vs. climate variability for the evaluation of land-use impacts, and the importance of climate variability in future planning efforts

  • Outline water quality issues and potential geologic relationships to water with high arsenic and uranium

  • Organization of research efforts on land-use history at Hopi Buttes

  • Communication with tribal land-use planners and water resource managers to focus Hopi Buttes research on the needs of tribal communities

List of Key Attendees

For More Information, Contact:
Margaret Hiza Redsteer
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980
Box 25046 Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225
Email: mhiza@usgs.gov

U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
This page is <http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/info/sw/hopibuttes/index.html>
Maintained by Randy Schumann
Last Modified Tuesday, 11-Jul-2000 22:55:47 MDT