Water Stewardship Information Sources

Citation Feller, MC. 2005. Forest harvesting and streamwater inorganic chemistry in western North America: A review. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 41:785-811.
Organization UBC
URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2005.tb03771.x/abstract
Abstract/Description or Keywords aquatic ecology;biogeochemistry;forest harvesting;nutrients;stream water chemistry;water quality
ABSTRACT:
The solution chemistry of forested streams primarily in western North America is explained by considering the major factors that influence this chemistry — geological weathering; atmospheric precipitation and climate; precipitation acidity; terrestrial biological processes; physical/chemical reactions in the soil; and physical, chemical, and biological processes within streams. Due to the complexity of all these processes and their varying importance for different chemicals, stream water chemistry has exhibited considerable geographic and temporal variation and is difficult to model accurately. The impacts of forest harvesting on stream water chemistry were reviewed by considering the effects of harvesting on each of the important factors controlling this chemistry, as well as other factors influencing these impacts - extent of the watershed harvested, presence of buffer strips between streams and harvested areas, nature of post-harvesting site preparation, revegetation rate following harvesting, pre-harvesting soil fertility, and soil buffering capacity. These effects have sometimes reinforced one another but have sometimes been counterbalancing or slight so that harvesting impacts on stream water chemistry have been highly variable. Eight major knowledge gaps were identified, two of which — a scarcity of detailed stream chemical budgets and knowledge of longitudinal variation in stream chemistry — relate to undisturbed streams, while the remainder relate to forest harvesting effects.
Information Type article
Regional Watershed Province
Sub-watershed if known
Aquifer #
Comments
Project status complete
Contact Name Michael Feller
Contact Email [email protected]