BishtRef
Articles Journals Publishers Authors Subjects Most Cited New Papers Year Stats Open Access
journal article Oct 22, 2019

Effects of forestry on summertime low flows and physical fish habitat in snowmelt‐dominant headwater catchments of the Pacific Northwest

Stefan Gronsdahl R. Dan Moore ORCID Jordan Rosenfeld Rich McCleary Rita Winkler
Hydrological Processes Vol. 33 No. 25 pp. 3152-3168 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1002/hyp.13580
Abstract
AbstractPeriods of summertime low flows are often critical for fish. This study quantified the impacts of forest clear‐cutting on summertime low flows and fish habitat and how they evolved through time in two snowmelt‐dominant headwater catchments in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. A paired‐catchment analysis was applied to July–September water yield, the number of days each year with flow less than 10% of mean annual discharge, and daily streamflow for each calendar day. The postharvest time series were divided into treatment periods of approximately 6–10 years, which were analysed independently to evaluate how the effects of forestry changed through time. An instream flow assessment using a physical habitat simulation‐style approach was used to relate streamflow to the availability of physical habitat for resident rainbow trout. About two decades after the onset of logging and as the extent of logging increased to approximately 50% of the catchments, reductions in daily summertime low flows became more significant for the July–September yield (43%) and for the analysis by calendar day (11–68%). Reductions in summertime low flows were most pronounced in the catchment with the longest postharvest time series. On the basis of the temporal patterns of response, we hypothesize that the delayed reductions in late‐summer flow represent the combined effects of a persistent advance in snowmelt timing in combination with at least a partial recovery of transpiration and interception loss from the regenerating forests. These results indicate that asymptotic hydrological recovery as time progresses following logging is not suitable for understanding the impacts of forest harvesting on summertime low flows. Additionally, these reductions in streamflow corresponded to persistent decreases in modelled fish habitat availability that typically ranged from 20% to 50% during the summer low‐flow period in one of the catchments, suggesting that forest harvest may have substantial delayed effects on rearing salmonids in headwater streams.
Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References
61
[3]
Bovee K. D. Lamb B. L. Bartholow J. M. Stalnaker C. B. Taylor J. &Henrikson J.(1998).Stream habitat analysis using the instream flow incremental methodology. U.S. Geological Survey Report USGS/BRD‐1998‐0004 131 pp.
[17]
Hubbart J. A. "Timber harvest impacts on water yield in the continental/maritime hydroclimatic region of the United States" Forest Science (2007) 10.1093/forestscience/53.2.169
[20]
Johnston N. T.&Slaney P. A.(1996).Fish habitat assessment procedures. Watershed Restoration Technical Circular No. 8 97 pp.
[21]
Jowett I. Payne T. &Milhous R.(2016).System for environmental flow analysis ‐ Software manual Version 1.3 206 pp.
[26]
Lewis A. Hatfield T. Chilibeck B. &Roberts C.(2004).Assessment methods for aquatic habitat and instream flow characteristics in support of applications to dam divert or extract water from streams in British Columbia. Prepared for Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection and Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management 103 pp.
[27]
Revealing the impact of forest exotic plantations on water yield in large scale watersheds in South-Central Chile

C. Little, A. Lara, J. McPhee et al.

Journal of Hydrology 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.06.011
[35]
Payne T. R. (2003)
[46]
Scott D. F. "Forestry and streamflow reductions in South Africa: A reference system for assessing extent and distribution" Water SA (1998)
[47]
Swanson R. H. (1986)

Showing 50 of 61 references

Metrics
46
Citations
61
References
Details
Published
Oct 22, 2019
Vol/Issue
33(25)
Pages
3152-3168
License
View
Authors
S
Stefan Gronsdahl

Department of Geography University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada

R
R. Dan Moore

Department of Geography University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada

J
Jordan Rosenfeld

Applied Aquatic Research Unit University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada

R
Rich McCleary

Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Kamloops British Columbia Canada

R
Rita Winkler

Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Kamloops British Columbia Canada

Funding
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Cite This Article
Stefan Gronsdahl, R. Dan Moore, Jordan Rosenfeld, et al. (2019). Effects of forestry on summertime low flows and physical fish habitat in snowmelt‐dominant headwater catchments of the Pacific Northwest. Hydrological Processes, 33(25), 3152-3168. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13580
Related

You May Also Like

The future of distributed models: Model calibration and uncertainty prediction

Keith Beven, Andrew Binley · 1992

3,462 citations

Digital terrain modelling: A review of hydrological, geomorphological, and biological applications

I. D. Moore, R. B. Grayson · 1991

2,733 citations

The influence of autocorrelation on the ability to detect trend in hydrological series

Sheng Yue, Paul Pilon · 2002

1,742 citations

Global river hydrography and network routing: baseline data and new approaches to study the world's large river systems

Bernhard Lehner, Günther Grill · 2013

1,603 citations

Scale issues in hydrological modelling: A review

G. Blöschl, M. Sivapalan · 1995

1,392 citations