Forests and Water(sheds)
PAPR 3531
John Beebe
November 22, 2013
Forest Land Ownership
• Public lands (state/federal)
– Michigan: 6 state forests (2nd in U.S.)
• Private timberland owners
• Commercial/industrial forests
– Forest product companies (P&P/saw mills)
restructuring (i:~2003)
– Timberland Investment Management
Organizations (TIMOs)
Forestry and Water
•
•
Water quality protection (CWA)
1. Wildlife considerations -- aquatic & terrestrial
2. Forest roads/drainage
3. Riparian management
Sustainable forestry
–
Forest certification (SFI, FSC)
• Other: Biomass energy (biofuels), Carbon accounting,
Invasive plant spp./herbicides, Forest productivity and
inventory (FIA), Fire management, Recreation, . . .
Water quality protection
4. Federal CWA – Total Max. Daily Loads (TMDLs)
5. State NPDES Permitting / BMP guidelines
6. Forest/Land management considerations
– silvicultural activities: harvest type, pre/post-BMPs
– rutting/soil disturbance sedimentation
– nutrients, herbicides & pesticides water runoff
– equipment & transportation (roads) . . .
7. Managing headwaters, wetlands, vernal pools
8. Protection for stream biota and aquatic life . . .
Wildlife considerations
• Sediment streams (low DO?) aquatic biota
– site preparation
– harvest impacts
– BMP guidelines
• Terrestrial wildlife – spp. dependencies
– stand types & size class (e.g., old growth)
– harvest tract boundaries
– forest fragmentation
– landscape-level considerations (e.g., dist. to water)
Wildlife considerations (aquatic)
• Endangered Species Act (ESA)
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS.gov)
• habitat designations (e.g., population segments/area units)
• spatial, but also temporal requirement (e.g., streamflow)
• T&E spp. and proposed listings
•
•
•
•
Gulf Sturgeon (fish passage/habitat)
Altamaha Spinymussel (critical habitat)
Coho Salmon (fish passage/habitat)
Atlantic Sturgeon (habitat)
• Common habitat requirements
• streamflow
• temperature & pH
• nutrients
Forest roads/drainage
• 9th Circuit Court decision (Oregon)
• Water-related considerations
1.
2.
3.
4.
ditches & culverts (#/placement)
road locations (wetlands)
road surface type & crossings
road access & timing (seasonal?)
• various models (SEDMODL, CULSED) and decision
support systems
Riparian management
• Rip. Zone (RMZ/SMZ)
common buffers: 50’, 100’, 300’
factors: terrain/slope, wb-type, veg.
• BMP guidelines
Sustainable Forestry
and Certification
Sustainable forestry
• Sustainable Forest Practices
–
–
–
–
Forest health, productivity and biodiversity
Protection and maintenance of water resources
Aesthetics and recreational benefits
Adherence to BMPs (self-regulating, but w/audits)
• Forest land management & fiber sourcing
– Harvest cycles for maintaining tree species
– Wood procurement/inventory, yield vs. demand ($)
– Logging yards (e.g., haulers, dust control, water
management)
• Certification (SFI/FSC)
...increasingly, consumer-driven...
Forest Certification
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)
– developed by industry
– North America
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
– NGOs, market-driven
– World wide
Next up: Watershed Modeling . . .
• Source Types (PS/NPS)
– How do these impact permit discussions?
• Hydrography 101
– National Hydrography Dataset (NHD)
– Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)
– Value-added Attributes (VAA)
• Better Assessment Science . . . (BASINS4)
Watershed Modeling
PAPR 3530
John Beebe
December 6, 2010
Watershed Data
• Hydrologic Units
– HUC system (USGS) WBD (NRCS/interagency)
– e.g., 8-digit hydrologic Unit Code: 04 05 00 03
Watershed Definitions
Name
Level
Digit
Region
1
Basin
3
6
Watershed
5
10
Subregion
Subbasin
Subwatershed
2
4
6
2
4
8
12
HUCs
21
222
352
2,149
22,000
160,000
Hydrologic Units