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Journal of Environmental Hydrology
ISSN 1058-3912 |
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Electronic Journal of the International Association for
Environmental Hydrology
JEH Volume 19 (2011), Paper 11 Posted April 30, 2011 EVALUATING THE HYDROLOGIC EFFECTS OF FOREST HARVESTING AND REGROWTH USING A SIMPLE RAINFALL-RUNOFF MODEL
Nicolas Zegre ABSTRACT Much of what is known about the effects of forest management on catchment-scale hydrology comes from the paired watershed study approach. However, it is often impractical or impossible to establish suitable control watersheds with respect to time, land ownership, expense, and timber market pressure. As an alternative, a simple rainfall-runoff model is used to explore the hydrologic response of a watershed to forest harvesting, herbicide treatments, and natural regrowth. The model is applied and tested to a managed watershed at the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia. Long-term daily precipitation, air temperature, and streamflow records were used to generate 14 models that successfully represented hydrologic responses over fifty years of landcover changes. The model parameter governing transpiration losses changed following harvesting and herbicide application. Parameters that govern the rate of recession of water from the watershed exhibited little change. This study shows the utility of rainfall-runoff models to discern the effects of forest management on watershed hydrology and can be a useful tool for resource managers where paired watershed studies are not possible. Reference: Zegre, N. 2011. Evaluating the hydrologic effects of forest harvesting and regrowth using a simple rainfall-runoff model. Journal of Environmental Hydrology, Vol. 19, Paper 11. CONTACT: Nicolas Zegre Division of Forestry & Natural Resources West Virginia University 322 Percival Hall Morgantown, WV 26506, USA E-mail: nicolas.zegre@mail.wvu.edu |
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