Esopus Creek, Catskill Mountains, New York. Protecting Water Resources from and through Forest...
-
Upload
aldous-mcdaniel -
Category
Documents
-
view
217 -
download
3
Transcript of Esopus Creek, Catskill Mountains, New York. Protecting Water Resources from and through Forest...
Esopus Creek, Catskill Mountains, New York
Protecting Water Resources Protecting Water Resources fromfrom and and through through Forest Management …AgainForest Management …Again
Thom Kyker-Snowman, C.F. Natural Resource SpecialistMassachusetts DCR-Division of Water Supply Protection
Paul K. Barten, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Forest ResourcesUniversity of Massachusetts-Amherst
One Forest Under Two Flags CIF/SAF 2004 Edmonton, Alberta
Overview
• Management options
• From the forest to the faucet in Boston
• What’s wrong with this forest?
• Silviculture to enhance watershed forests
• Deer and regeneration
• The connections between forests and water
• Questions
Management Options
1. Business as usual
• timber production with conservative BMPs [CMPs]
2. Watershed Forest Management
• changing forest structure to enhance vigor and diversity
• resistance to and resilience following natural disturbance
• water …first, other products and values …second
3. Do nothing …designate as a ”wilderness” area
• Boston and 40 communities; 2,500,000 people
• Unfiltered supply
• DWSP Mandate: …pure water for future generations
• Deliver ≥ 250,000,000 gallons/day …in perpetuity
• 100,000 acres ~$1 million stumpage, $100 million water
The critical first barrier
Boston’s Water Supply
The Protection Forest: What’s wrong with this picture?
• What’s right? Forest…all other land covers degrade water.
• But, mature, even-aged overstory– Capacity for nutrient uptake by
older forests is limited– Susceptibility to catastrophic wind
(‘38 data – 50-70% damage) lower resistance
• Underdeveloped understory and midstory– Slower recovery from disturbance– Lower nutrient assimilation lower resilience
Hurricane of ‘38
July
MA microburst 1988
Regional Forest Disturbances in the New England
Ice storm 1998
HWA
Gypsy moth
Remember where this forest has been.
fast forward 70 to 100 years
eliminate Wolves, American chestnut, hemlock?
add exotic insects and diseases, invasive plants, and atmospheric deposition
brace for new challenges
1720 1840 1930
The Harvard Forest Models
Not just young, aggrading forests everywhere…
Multiple age classes/layers (The conversion of even-aged stands to uneven-aged structure in Southern NE (Kelty et al. 2003 NJAF))
Overstory (maturing)• regulates microclimate• seed source• large woody debris
Midstory (aggrading)• assimilates nutrients• accumulates biomass• resistant to wind damage
Regeneration (ready reserve)• least susceptible to disturbance
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
% d
istu
rbed
Unmanaged
Managed
1635 1788 1815 1938
• Increase frequency to decrease amplitude of disturbance• Effect of disturbance …quantity, quality, timing of flow
Diversifying Forest Structure: Finding the Balance
Source: Satterlund and Adams, 1992. Wildland watershed management.
25% removal
Regeneration (shoot the deer!)
• No hunting access (1936 – 1990)• Controlled hunt (1991 – present)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
1989 1993 1994 1995 1996
Mea
n S
tem
s/ac
re
OTH
OAK
MAP
HEM
WP
Div. of Water Supply Protection Forest Management
• 80,000 acres under management
• 8 field foresters
• 8-10 MMBF/year sawtimber, 4,500 cords fuelwood, and 7,000 tons of pulpwood
• Stumpage ~$1 million
• First public land in North America to be Green Certified
……this all sounds vaguely familiarthis all sounds vaguely familiar
~900BC~900BC …accurate concept of hydrologic cycle in China…accurate concept of hydrologic cycle in China
~400BC~400BC …Plato’s observations about land degradation …Plato’s observations about land degradation
13421342 …first …first “protection forest”“protection forest” established in Switzerland established in Switzerland (322 established by 1777)(322 established by 1777)
George Perkins Marsh, 1864 …”Man and Nature”
““With the disappearance of the forest all is changed.With the disappearance of the forest all is changed.””
Sustainable forestry is [still] the antidote to exploitive logging.
Gifford Pinchot, 1903 …”A Primer of Forestry
““A forest, large or small, may render its service in many A forest, large or small, may render its service in many ways. It may reach its highest usefulness by standing as a ways. It may reach its highest usefulness by standing as a safeguard against floods, winds, snow slides, moving sands, or safeguard against floods, winds, snow slides, moving sands, or especially against the dearth of water in streams.especially against the dearth of water in streams.””
Raphael Zon, 1911 …”Forests and Water in Light of Scientific Investigation
““A national policy which, though considering the direct A national policy which, though considering the direct value of forests as a source of timber, fails to take full account value of forests as a source of timber, fails to take full account also of their influence upon erosion, the flow of streams, and also of their influence upon erosion, the flow of streams, and climate, climate, may easily endanger the well-being of the whole may easily endanger the well-being of the whole people.people.””
Hon. Joseph G. Cannon(R-Illinois) (1836-1926)
First elected in 1873
Speaker of the House1903-1911
Weeks Act debate of 1911
“Not one cent for scenery.”
of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt:
”He had no more respect for the Constitution than a tomcat has for a marriage license.”
Policy Statement National Association of State ForestersJackson, MississippiSeptember 29, 2004 (last Wednesday)
“The Connection Between Forests and Water”
“Water, in all its uses and permutations, is by far the most valuable commodity that comes from the forest land that we manage, assist others to manage, and/or regulate.”
The Ashokan Reservoir from Slide Mountain, New York