Hydrological and Biological Responses to Forest Practices

The Alsea Logging and Aquatic Resources Study, commissioned by the Oregon Legislature in 1959, marked the beginning of four decades of research in the Pacific Northwest devoted to understanding the impacts of forest practices on water quality, water quantity, aquatic habitat, and aquatic organism popu- tions. While earlier watershed research examined changes in runoff and erosion from various land uses, this study was the first watershed experiment to focus so heavily on aquatic habitat and organism response to forest practices. The Alsea Watershed Study, as it came to be known, extended over 15 years with seven years of pretreatment calibration measurements, a year of treatment, and seven years of post-treatment monitoring. The research was a cooperative effort with scientists from Oregon State University, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Cooperating landowners included the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, the U.S. Forest Service, and a local rancher. It was a remarkable 15-year partnership marked by excellent cooperation among the participants and outstanding coordination among the scientists, many of whom participated actively for the entire period.

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, Hydrological and Biological Responses to Forest Practices: The Alsea Watershed Study 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. Edited by John D. Stednick, a forest hydrologist responsible for the study’s reactivation, this book will be of interest to students in natural resources, land managers, policy makers, and researchers, particularly in water and fishery resources.

About the Editor: John D. Stednick is a professor of Watershed Science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO.