Hydrological and Biological Responses to Forest Practices

• Description

The Alsea Watershed Study, established in 1959 and reactivated in 1989 as the New Alsea Watershed Study, evaluated the effects of timber harvesting on water resources and salmonid habitat and populations in the temperate coniferous forests of the Oregon Coast Range. This was the first paired watershed experiment to focus on aquatic habitat and organism response to forest practices. Demonstrating the importance of maintaining streamside vegetation in protecting water quality and fish habitat during timber harvest operations, the study led directly to regulations in the Oregon Forest Practices Act of 1971 that required leaving streamside vegetation in harvest units. Decades of research have provided important information and lessons for watershed research and management.

Through analyses of works generated by the study, The Alsea Watershed Study: Hydrological and Biological Responses to Temperate Coniferous Forest Practices addresses the quantification of forest resource sustainability and bolsters the case for long-term monitoring at a time when managers and policy makers are searching for ways to restore the runs of salmon and steelhead to rivers and streams of the Pacific Northwest.