University of Utah

The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, is the flagship institution of higher learning in Utah. Founded in 1850, it serves over 31,000 students from across the U.S. and the world. With over 72 major subjects at the undergraduate level and more than 90 major fields of study at the graduate level, including law and medicine, the university prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. Known for its proximity to seven world-class ski resorts within 40 minutes of campus, the U encourages an active, holistic lifestyle, innovation and collaborative thinking to engage students, faculty and business leaders. Research at the University of Utah will measure the impacts of forest residuals removal on the forest ecology. Specifically, efforts from this NARA affiliate will measure runoff, nutrient export and sediment erosion from test plots with varying levels of harvest treatments. The effects on microbial communities will also be measured. These measurements will be used to construct predictive water quality and quantity models used to evaluate watershed-scale regional impacts from harvesting forest residuals for use as feedstock for biofuel and co-product production.