Pacific Southwest

Title: Effects of forest harvesting on large organic debris in coastal streams

Author: "Surfleet, Christopher G.; Ziemer, Robert R."

Date: 1996

Source: "In: LeBlanc, John, ed., Conference on Coast Redwood Forest Ecology and Management, 18-20 June 1996, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California; 134-136."

Description: "Abstract - Large organic debris (LOD) was inventoried in two coastal streams to assess the impacts of forest harvesting on LOD recruitment in 90-year-old, second-growth redwood and fir stands on the Jackson Demonstration State Forest in northern California. One stream, North Fork of Caspar Creek, drained a 508-ha watershed that had been 60% clear-cut, with riparian buffer strips left, four years earlier. The second stream, South Fork of Caspar Creek, drains a 424-ha catchment that 60% of the timber volume had been selectively harvested and the stream cleared of LOD twenty-five years earlier. Results from these two study reaches were compared to a LOD study in the North Fork prior to logging. LOD levels increased following harvest because residual trees were left adjacent to the stream or in streamside buffer strips. Windthrow of fir provided the largest input of LOD in these second-growth redwood and fir stands due to the stand age and structure of the residual trees adjacent to the stream. Residual old-growth LOD pieces still play a major role in streams running through a mixed second-growth redwood and fir stand, this important element of stream LOD will continue to decline and must be compensated for in the future. Stream clearing can significantly reduce LOD levels for more than twenty-five years."

Keywords: "PSW4351, Caspar Creek, forest harvesting impacts, organic debris, coastal streams, coast Redwood, stream channel, watershed"

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Citation

"Surfleet, Christopher G.; Ziemer, Robert R."  1996.  Effects of forest harvesting on large organic debris in coastal streams.   "In: LeBlanc, John, ed., Conference on Coast Redwood Forest Ecology and Management, 18-20 June 1996, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California; 134-136.".