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Rights Statements InC/1.0 , Open Access
Journal article
The influence of forest health and protection treatments on erosion and stream sedimentation in forested watersheds of Eastern Oregon and Washington
Vol.75, pp.128-140
2001
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/989
Abstract
A variety of Forest Health and Protection treatments have been proposed to reduce long-term risks to forests from wildfire, insects, and disease. This review examines the potential effects of these treatments on sediment production in watersheds of eastern Oregon and Washington, USA, channel forming processes, riparian vegetation, and risks posed to riparian zones. Wildfires can affect upland erosion; however, erosion from prescribed fires burning the same area should be much smaller. Dense riparian vegetation might help regulate the amount of sediment that reaches streams, but this effect would be strongly dependent on the geomorphic setting. Forest pathogens are not expected to cause accelerated erosion and stream sedimentation directly, but indirect effects might be substantial if they lead to increased wildfire. The largest risk of accelerated erosion is expected from ground-disturbing activities during fuels reduction treatments, such as construction of roads and firebreaks or salvage logging or thinning. Intense grazing has changed composition and cover of riparian vegetation, leading to bank erosion, and in many places, widening or incision of stream channels. Improved grazing prescriptions can result in major changes to riparian vegetation, but response of channel morphology will most likely be slow. Most of the studies reviewed were conducted at the site or small-watershed scale. Consequently, conclusions at these scales are generally well supported by the available literature. The cumulative effects of forest health and protection treatments imposed across a large region are difficult to assess, however. Given the current state of knowledge, dramatically changing forest land use practices across eastern Oregon and Washington-including the widespread use of prescribed fires, salvage logging, and mechanical fuel treatments-is a long-term, landscape-scale experiment, the cumulative effects of which are unknown.
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Details
- Title
- The influence of forest health and protection treatments on erosion and stream sedimentation in forested watersheds of Eastern Oregon and Washington
- Creators
- Steven M. Wondzell (Author)
- Publication Details
- Vol.75, pp.128-140
- Academic Unit
- Northwest Science
- Publisher
- WSU Press
- Identifiers
- 99900501658801842
- Copyright
- In copyright ; openAccess ; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ ; http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article