Water Stewardship Information Sources
| ID | 1871 |
|---|---|
| Citation | Uunila, L and Guy, B. n.d. Towards an understanding of the potential hydrologic impacts of mountain pine beetle in interior British Columbia. |
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| URL | http://www.waterbucket.ca/okw/sites/wbcokw/documents/media/19.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | The magnitude of the current mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak in British Columbia's interior pine forests is the largest on record in North America. Between 1999 and 2005 MPB affected 10 million ha and killed roughly 411 million m3 or about 35% of the 1.2 billion m3 of mature pine volume in the province. By 2013, total cumulative pine mortality is projected to peak at about 80%. In many interior watersheds, beetle-killed pine covers well over 50% of their drainage areas; in some cases this figure approaches 100%. Such large-scale disturbance has the potential to affect the hydrologic regime of a watershed, including both surface water and groundwater resources. Until recently, however, research on this topic has been limited, so a considerable knowledge gap exists. Although this gap will likely be filled over time through existing initiatives, our limited understanding of the topic represents a significant hurdle to present-day forest managers, who are responsible for balancing the pressures for expedited salvage harvesting of beetle-killed trees with the need to protect watershed values. |
| Information Type | article |
| Regional Watershed | Thompson, Okanagan, Shuswap; Nicola; Similkameen |
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| Project status | complete |
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