Pacific Southwest

Title: Effects of woody debris on anadromous salmonid habitat, Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska

Author: Lisle, Thomas E.

Date: 1986

Source: North American Journal of Fisheries Management 6: 538-550.

Description: Abstract - The effects of woody debris on anadromous salmonid habitat in eight streams on Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska, were investigated by comparing low-gradient (1-9%) first- or second-order streams flowing through either spruce-hemlock forests or 6-10-year-old clearcuts, and by observing changes after debris was selectively removed from clear-cut reaches. Woody debris decreased the rate of shallowing as discharge decreased, thus helping to preserve living space for fish during critical low-flow periods. Debris dams were more frequent in clear-cut streams (14.9/100 m), which contained more debris, than in forested streams (4.2/100 m). As a result, total residual pool length (length when pools are filled with water but there is no flow) and length of channel with residual depth greater than 14 cm-the depth range occupied by 84% of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)-were greater in clear-cut streams than in forested streams.

Keywords: PSW4351, anadromous salmonid, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, streams, clearcuts, debris dams, woody debris, morphology, riparian zone, pools

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Citation

Lisle, Thomas E.  1986.  Effects of woody debris on anadromous salmonid habitat, Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska.   North American Journal of Fisheries Management 6: 538-550..