Welcome to the Landsward institute

Through the Landsward Institute (formerly the Ecological Monitoring & Assessment Program), Northern Arizona University and land stewards of the Colorado Plateau have established an innovative framework for use-inspired research, data collection and dissemination for the natural and social sciences.

Scientists, faculty, students and land-managers work together to advance our understanding of how to sustain healthy ecosystems and minimize human impacts. Their research landscape is one of the largest ecological study sites in the world, comprising vast lands, varied topographies and diverse life zones.

What is new at the Landsward Institute?

• NEW Four Corners Sustainable Futures
• NEW Cultural and Social Attitudes in Arizona
• NEW New Ranch Land Economy
• Wind for Schools
• We sponsor Earthnotes
• Newly published book "What has Passed and What Remains"
• Greenfund partnership including the Green Guide
• Havasu Creek Watershed Scoping Project

More information about the Landward Institute

Over six years ago, the Ecological Monitoring & Assessment (EMA) Program emerged from an innovative partnership between Babbitt Ranches and Northern Arizona University.  The partnership united the resources of a research and educational institution with an intimate knowledge of the land brought by a multi-generational ranching family. The EMA Program has worked to create a new model for sustainable, use-inspired land stewardship on the Colorado Plateau.

The program has evolved since those early years and found its unique niche among the environmental research entities working in this region.  The organization embraces collaborative stewardship and works to bridge the resources of the university with regional resource managers.  To better reflect the program’s unique mission, we have become the Landsward Institute. Landsward brings the knowledge of its past to create a better future that continues to unite students, faculty and staff with the resource managers on the Colorado Plateau and in the Southwest.