Water Stewardship Information Sources

Citation Hudson, R. 2000. Snowpack recovery in regenerating coastal British Columbia clearcuts. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30(4):548-556.
Organization FLNRO
URL http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/x00-030
Abstract/Description or Keywords A study was undertaken to define curves of snowpack recovery for coastal B.C. forests. The study was conducted using repeated snow course sampling techniques under regenerating stands with a range of canopy heights, and old growth. Measurements were made over five seasons from 1992-1993 to 1996-1997. For each season, recovery factors due to both peak accumulation and post-peak ablation rate were calculated for the regenerating stands. These factors were calculated using linear interpolation between extremes defined by the peak accumulation or ablation rate of old growth and clear-cut equivalent plots. An asymptotic exponential model was found to provide a reasonable fit to the data of recovery as a function of either canopy height or canopy density. The results suggest that there is a hydrologic recovery threshold at a level where the tallest trees in the stand are at a height roughly equal to the mean peak snow depth for open sites. Recovery proceeds rapidly; at a height of 4 m or canopy density of 20%, expected recovery is about 50%. At a height of 8 m, or a canopy density of 45%, expected recovery is about 75%, and by the time the trees have reached a height of 20 m, or more than 95% canopy density, the stand approaches full recovery. These results demonstrate how clear-cut harvesting and subsequent regeneration affect snow accumulation and ablation at the site level, but do not address the important issue of how those changes affect streamflow at the watershed scale.
Information Type article
Regional Watershed sunshine coast
Sub-watershed if known Gray Creek
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Project status complete
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