Status of climate and water resources at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument: Water year 2017

Goodrum, Greg; Gwilliam, Evan; Palacios, Laura; Raymond, Kara

Climate and hydrology are major drivers of ecosystems. They dramatically shape ecosystem structure and function, particularly in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Understanding chang-es in climate, groundwater, streamflow, and water quality is central to assessing the condition of park biota and key cultural resources. This report combines data collected on climate, springs, and surface water to provide an integrated look at climate and water conditions at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (NM) during water year 2017 (October 2016–Sep-tember 2017). Overall annual precipitation was 126% of normal in WY2017. A wet winter and strong mon-soon season made up for below-normal rainfall in the early fall and early spring. Tempera-tures tended to be warmer than normal and there were substantially fewer extremely cold days. The reconnaissance drought index indicates that WY2017 continued the recovery from a regional drought that began in 2000. Two springs are monitored at the monument. Both had surface water present and flowing when visited in WY2017. Both were wetted and showed little sign of change or disturbance. This was the first water year of data for USGS stream gauge 09430010. The U.S. Geological Survey maintains the equipment, and also collects and manages its data. The hydrograph for WY2017 was typical of the Upper Gila Basin, with peak streamflow occurring during late February to early April. The largest flow event occurred in late December. Snowmelt and late winter storms made crucial contributions to the hydrologic season. The median value for the winter season (53.2 cfs) was nearly 50% greater than the spring median value (17.0 cfs) and more than eight times the summer value (6.43 cfs). There were 240 discrete analyses of water samples collected from the West Fork Gila River index site in WY2017. Of these samples, 87 were associated with New Mexico surface-water criteria. Of those 87 samples, there was one exceedance of state standards, meaning that 98.9% of samples were compliant with state standards. The single exceedance was for total cyanide. It is suspected that the volcanic geology of the watershed is the source of this cyanide. Macroinvertebrates were collected to provide data for compliance with the New Mexico biological standards. In WY2017, the index reach scored 54.99 on the New Mexico integrat-ed biological index, putting it in the “fair” category.

Status of climate and water resources at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument: Water year 2017

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