| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
Mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) have killed a large portion of canopy-forming pine trees across more than 14 million ha in the Interior of British Columbia (BC Ministry of Forests and Range 2008). This raises hydrologic concerns because research shows an intense beetle infestation can increase spring floods (e.g., Bethlahmy 1975, and as summarized by Uunilla et al. 2006). In order to capture economic value and re-establish healthy forests, the province’s Chief Forester has also approved accelerated harvesting of beetle-killed stands (BC Ministry of Forests and Range 2004). A large part of the Interior is therefore undergoing severe forest disturbance by a combination of beetles and logging. A severe beetle infestation, however, initiates a very different sequence of changes in stand structure than that which usually occurs after clearcutting. The effects of these two disturbance types on snow hydrology are therefore expected to differ for a period of decades. A better quantitative understanding of these differences would allow hydrologists to make more reliable predictions about the stand- and watershed-level effects of salvaging versus retaining beetlekilled pine stands. Forest managers and hydrologists are particularly interested in knowing the potential effects of different post-infestation watershed conditions on flood magnitudes (e.g., Forest Practices Board 2007; Snetsinger 2007). |
