WILDFIRE FREQUENCY AND SEVERITY HAVE INCREASED MARKEDLY SINCE THE MID-1980S DUE IN PART TO INCREASED FUEL LOADS ELEVATED SPRING AND SUMMER TEMPERATURES AND AN EARLIER SPRING SNOWMELT. THIS SHIFT IN FIRE REGIME THREATENS THE SUSTAINED DELIVERY OF CLEAN WATER AS WILDFIRES FUNDAMENTALLY ALTER THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF FORESTED WATERSHEDS. FOR EXAMPLE STREAMWATER NUTRIENT LEVELS SPIKE AFTER A WILDFIRE AND CAN REMAIN ELEVATED FOR A DECADE OR MORE. HOWEVER THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS CONTROLLING NUTRIENT EXPORT REMAIN UNKNOWN. PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A SERIES OF COMBINED NITRATE (NO3) AND CHLORIDE (CL) TRACER INJECTIONS INDICATE THAT BURNED STREAMS HAVE LARGE STREAM-GROUNDWATER EXCHANGES BUT MINIMAL BIOLOGICAL NUTRIENT UPTAKE. I HYPOTHESIZE THAT SHIFTS IN N AND C LOADING TO STREAMS IN POST-BURN LANDSCAPES ALTER THE STOICHIOMETRIC CONSTRAINTS ON UPTAKE. THIS REDUCES N LIMITATIONS THAT ARE TYPICAL OF FORESTED ECOSYSTEMS RESULTING IN ELEVATED N EXPORT FROM BURNED WATERSHEDS. PREVIOUS RESEARCH HAS INDICATED STRONG RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN WATER QUALITY AND SIMPLE LAND-COVER METRICS SUCH A BURN SEVERITY. HOWEVER WE CURRENTLY LACK AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE LINKAGES BETWEEN LAND-COVER AND WATER QUALITY RECOVERY IN POST-FIRE LANDSCAPES. BY COUPLING FIELD MEASUREMENTS WITH TERRAIN ANALYSIS AND REMOTE SENSING I WILL: 1) EXPAND FIELD-BASED MEASUREMENTS TO ASSESS PATTERNS AT LARGER SPATIAL EXTENTS; AND 2) EVALUATE SPATIO-TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN WATER QUALITY AND LAND-COVER TO ASSESS RECOVERY TRAJECTORIES IN POST-FIRE LANDSCAPES. I WILL FIRST EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THREE VEGETATION INDICES (NDVI EVI AND SAVI) IN POST-FIRE ENVIRONMENTS AND CALCULATE VEGETATION INDICES FOR EVERY WATERSHED AFFECTED BY THE HAYMAN (2002) AND HIGH PARK (2013) FIRES. A LANDSAT TIME SERIES ANALYSIS WILL THEN BE APPLIED TO THIS DATA TO MONITOR PLANT REGENERATION OVER TIME AND EXPOSE ANY SEASONAL OR ANNUAL PATTERNS IN REVEGETATION. I WILL THEN CONDUCT A CORRELATION ANALYSIS BETWEEN THESE VALUES AND WATER QUALITY DATA TO IDENTIFY EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE TWO. USING THESE REGRESSIONS I WILL TEST THE FOLLOWING HYPOTHESIS: H1) VEGETATIVE COVER WILL INCREASE AND NUTRIENT CONCENTRATIONS WILL DECREASE WITH TIME SINCE FIRE; AND H2) WATERSHEDS WILL EXPERIENCE REDUCED NUTRIENT EXPORT IN THE SUMMER SEASONS. I WILL THEN CONDUCT A DEM ANALYSIS TO DISTINGUISH RIPARIAN AND HILLSLOPE REGIONS IN FIRE-AFFECTED WATERSHEDS AND CALCULATE VI VALUES ACCORDINGLY. I WILL DEVELOP REGRESSIONS BETWEEN VI VALUES AND NUTRIENT RETENTION DATA TO ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING HYPOTHESES: H3) AREAS WITH HIGHLY DEVELOPED RIPARIAN BUFFERS WILL HAVE LOWER NUTRIENT EXPORT; AND H4) WATERSHEDS WITH HIGH PRODUCTIVITY WILL HAVE LOWER NUTRIENT EXPORT. NASA S MISSION IS TO ENHANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF EARTH AS A SYSTEM WHILE IMPROVING OUR ABILITY TO PREDICT AND RESPOND TO NATURAL HAZARDS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. MY PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL DIRECTLY ADDRESS BOTH OBJECTIVES AS I UTILIZE VEGETATION RECOVERY TO MONITOR WATERSHED HEALTH AND FUNCTION IN FIRE-AFFECTED LANDSCAPES. IN DOING SO I WILL IDENTIFY EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LANDSCAPE CONDITION AND POST-FIRE WATER QUALITY THAT CAN THEN BE USED TO PREDICT HOW WATERSHEDS WILL RESPOND TO A CHANGING FIRE REGIME ON A SCALE THAT IS SIGNIFICANT TO NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGERS AND MUNICIPAL WATER PROVIDERS.