PARENT SESSION
Symposium #10: Every Last Drop: Ecology, Conservation, and Restoration of North American Springs Ecosystems.

Organized by: LE Stevens and VJ Meretsky
Tuesday, August 6. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Turquoise Ballroom, TCC.

Springs and humans: an anthropological and historical view of ecosystem management.

FAIRLEY, HELEN^*,1, NABHAN, GARY², HAYNES, C.³, ¹ Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, Flagstaff, AZ, USA² Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA³ University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721

ABSTRACT- Springs have been used by humans for millennia as places for hunting, gathering, farming, and dwelling. We describe human use of springs over the past 10,000 yr in North America. Archeological investigations of paleospring mounds indicate that the earliest humans in North America used springs as hunting and processing sites for megafaunal prey. Although considerable evidence demonstrates that American Indians after A.D. 600 used springs, relatively few dwellings are located at springs. Several recent studies indicate that Native American land use is often supportive of long-term maintenance of springs landforms and species diversity. Our comparison of Native American use and protection of Quitovac Spring in northern Sonora, Mexico, with National Park Service protection of Quitobaquito Spring in Organ Pipe National Monument indicates that numerous plant and bird species have been lost at the fully protected site, but are supported at the Native American managed spring. We describe the history of European human use of springs, studies that reveal common, widespread ecosystem elimination through ground water withdrawal, modification of spring sources, and elimination of vegetation and wildlife. Human use intensity has increased in the past century, and most North American springs ecosystems are at risk.

KEY WORDS: springs, ecosystem management, anthropology, historical ecology