Pamela Edwards
Title: Research Hydrologist
Unit: Ecological and Economic Sustainability of the Appalachian Forest in an Era of Globalization
Previous Unit: Sustainable Forest Ecosystems in the Central Appalachians
Address: Northern Research Station
P.O. Box 404
Parsons, WV 26287
Phone: 304-478-2000, ext. 129
E-mail: Contact Pamela Edwards
Jump to Publications
Education
- Ph.D. Forest Soils, North Carolina State University
- M.S. Forest Hydrology, The Pennsylvania State University
- B.S. Forest Science, The Pennsylvania State University
Civic & Professional Affiliations
- American Water Resources Association
- Adjunct Associate Professor of Forest Hydrology, The Pennsylvania State University
- Adjunct Assistant Professor of Forest Hydrology, Southern Illinois University
- Adjunct Assistant Professor of Forestry, West Virginia University
- Adjunct Faculty Member, Marshall University
Current Research
- I am working collaboratively with the Monongahela National Forest, Southern Illinois University, and West Virginia University to quantify sediment delivery to streams in undisturbed and managed forested watersheds and to define the hillslope controls of sediment delivery. This study has been going on since 1999. We have identified problems with road construction and harvesting practices that exacerbate erosion and in-stream sedimentation. From this information, I am focusing on developing new approaches and best management practices to reduce soil loss and in-stream sedimentation.
- Over the past several years, I have worked with a team to develop a protocol for States to use to monitor the effectiveness of forestry best management practices. More recently, I have begun working with a team of primarily Forest Service personnel to develop a national approach to monitor BMP implementation and effectiveness on Agency lands for activities including but not limited to: roads, recreation sites, facilities, ATV use, mining and gas well sites, and grazing and range uses.
- I am examining storm hydrograph responses from precipitations event on six watersheds over a 50-year period to identify how stormflow (both volume and timing parameters) is affected by forest harvesting at different intensities, road construction, and large-scale applications of herbicides.
- I am working with a nongovernmental organization, the Cacapon Institute, and State agencies to design and test the effectiveness of small, inexpensive in-stream log structures to increase moisture storage in streambanks and floodplain pasture soils in the South Branch of the Potomac Watershed. We are trying to simulate the effects that beaver dams once had on the landscape.
- I am examining the effects of artificial watershed acidification on soil water and stream water chemistry, particularly stormflow chemistry. This study has several cooperators and has been on-going since 1989. It is one of only two whole watershed acidification studies in the United States, examining biogeochemical processes that are expected to result from soil acidification of Northeastern forests by acid deposition.
Why is This Important
- Sediment is the single most important stream and river pollutant nationwide and worldwide. While there is substantial literature documenting that roads, landings, and other areas of exposed soil are the primary sources of in-stream sediment in forests, there are essentially no studies that have quantified sediment delivery from the hillside to streams in undisturbed and managed forested watersheds. This is one of the most needed pieces of information for forest managers, because not all sediment eroded from a road will reach a stream, but ultimately sediment that reaches the stream is the portion of that is of most concern in terms of stream health. Furthermore, estimates of natural geologic erosion are being determined with this study, so increases from forest management activities can be put into perspective relative to background levels.
- The need to employ BMPs in forestry operations is derived from direction in the Clean Water Act. Forestry has a silvicultural exception from formal permitting requirements as long as BMPs are employed. Additionally, the National Forest Management Act requires monitoring on National Forest lands to ensure that resource health is not negatively affected by management activities. However, the lack of consistent, repeatable monitoring approaches has made it difficult for both States and the Forest Service to document BMP implementation and effectiveness. The State-oriented and Forest Service monitoring protocols will allow better accountability to the public and more consistent feedback for adaptive management of natural resources.
- During the last decade, there have been multiple catastrophic flood events in Eastern watersheds that also recently underwent a variety of management activities, including logging, roading, mining, and development. Communities in these watersheds have voiced concern that logging and mining have contributed to and exacerbated flooding. Typically, modeling has been used to determine the degree of flow augmentation of each, but many of these models were not developed for forests and/or they have not been validated for forested watersheds. Therefore, quantifying if/how and the degree to which stormflow hydrology is altered by forestry is extremely important.
Future Research
Working with Regions 8 and 9 to study: 1) the efficacy and economic value of terrestrial liming to promote forest regeneration following harvesting in watersheds that have strongly acidified soils, 2) the effects on soil and soil solution chemistry in the uplands and near-stream areas, and 3) the effects on stream water chemistry (both baseflow and stormflow).
Examine changes to headwater stream channel morphology that result from frequent repeated burning for fuels reduction purposes and savannah creation in the East.
Defining biophysical attributes that can be used to identify the transition areas from perennial to intermittent stream channels, intermittent to ephemeral channels, and ephemeral channels to inactive swale positions.
Identifying bankfull flows in intermittent channels in small subwatersheds (< 100 ac) that have long streamflow records, and then identifying the recurrence interval associated with bankfull in these small stream systems.
Featured Publications
- Bold, Kevin; Edwards, Pamela; Williard, Karl. 2007. A case study of an erosion control practice: the broad-based dip
- Wang, Jingxin; LeDoux, Chris B.; Edwards, Pam. 2007. Changes in soil bulk density resulting from construction and conventional cable skidding using preplanned skid trails
- Adams, Mary Beth; Kochenderfer, James N.; Edwards, Pamela J. 2007. The Fernow Watershed Acidification Study: ecosystem acidification, nitrogen saturation and base cation leaching
- Ryder, Roger; Edwards, Pamela. 2006. A regional protocol for evaluating the effectiveness of forestry best management practices at controlling erosion and sedimentation
- Stuart, Gordon W.; Edwards, Pamela J. 2006. Concepts about forests and water
Additional
Online Publications
- Edwards, Pamela J.; Williard, Karl W. J. 2006. Declines in soil-water nitrate in nitrogen-saturated watersheds
- Schuler, Thomas M.; Ford, W. Mark; Adams, Mary Beth; Kochenderfer, James N.; Edwards, Pamela J. 2006. Large area comparisons of forest management practices in West Virginia (1951-present)
- Edwards, Pamela; Wood, Frederica; Little, Michael; Vila, Peter. 2006. Two-dimensional hydrologic modeling to evaluate aquatic habitat conditions
- Ryder, Roger; Edwards, Pamela J. 2005. Development of a Repeatable Regional Protocol for Performance-Based Monitoring of Forestry Best Management Practices
- Schuler, Thomas M.; Adams, Mary Beth; Ford, W. Mark; Kochenderfer, James N.; Edwards, Pamela J. 2005. Large Area Comparisons of Forest Management Practices (1951 - Present)
- Wang, Jingxin; LeDoux, Chris B.; Edwards, Pam; Jones, Mark. 2005. Soil bulk density changes caused by mechanized harvesting: A case study in central Appalachia
- Adams, M.B.; Edwards, P.J.; Kochenderfer, J.N.; Wood, F. 2004. Fifty years of watershed research on the Fernow Experimental Forest, WV: effects of forest management and air pollution on hardwood forests
- Edwards, Pamela J.; Evans, Gregory L. 2004. Giving greater consideration to cross-drainage discharge from forest roads
- Williard, Karl W.J.; DeWalle, David R.; Edwards, Pamela J.; Sharpe, Peter J. 2004. Impacts of Historic Fire, Stand Age, and Nitrogen Saturation Status on Soil Nitrogen Cycling in Mid-Appalachian Forested Watersheds
- Edwards, Pamela; Huber, Cindy; Wood, Frederica. 2004. Ozone exposures and implications for vegetation in rural areas of the central Appalachian Mountains, U.S.A.
- Edwards, Pamela J.; Williard, Karl W.J.; Kochenderfer, James N. 2004. Sampling considerations for establishment of baseline loadings from forested watersheds for TMDL application
- Williard, Karl W. J.; DeWalle, David R.; Edwards, Pamela J. 2003. Assessing the extent of nitrogen saturation in northern West Virginia forested watersheds: a survey of stream nitrate concentrations
- DeWalle, David R.; Tepp, Jeffrey S.; Swistock, Bryan R.; Edwards, Pamela J.; Sharpe, William E.; Adams, Mary Beth; Kochenderfer, James N. 2003. Dendrochemical response to soil fertilization
- Edwards, Pamela J.; Wood, Frederica; Kochenderfer, James N. 2002. Baseflow and peakflow chemical responses to experimental applications of ammonium sulphate to forested watersheds in north-central West Virginia, USA
- Edwards, Pamela J.; Kochenderfer, James N.; Coble, Dean W.; Adams, Mary Beth. 2002. Soil leachate responses during 10 years of induced whole-watershed acidification
- Edwards, Pamela J.; Stuart, Gordon W. 2002. State survey of silviculture nonpoint source programs: a comparison of the 2000 northeastern and national results
- Wooten, Alexander C.; Preer, James; Edwards, Pamela J. 1999. Geologic and tributary influences on the chemistry of a headwater stream
- Dubey, T.; Stephenson, S. L.; Edwards, P. J. 1995. Dimilin effects on leaf-decomposing aquatic fungi on the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia
- Adams, M. B.; Kochenderfer, J. N.; Angradi, T. R.; Edwards, P. J. 1995. Nutrient budgets of two watersheds on the Fernow Experimental Forest
- DeWalle, D. R.; Edwards, P. J.; Swistock, B. R.; Drimmie, R. J.; Aravena, R. 1995. Seasonal isotope hydrology of Appalachian forest catchments
- Pickens, Callie J.; Sharpe, William E.; Edwards, Pamela J. 1995. The effects of doubling annual N and S deposition on foliage and soil chemistry and growth of Japanese larch (Larix leptolepis Sieb. and Zucc.) in north central West Virginia
- DeWalle, David R.; Tepp, Jeffrey S.; Pickens, Callie J.; Edwards, Pamela J.; Sharpe, William E. 1995. Tree-ring chemistry response in black cherry to ammonium sulfate fertilization at two West Virginia sites
- Adams, Mary Beth; Kochenderfer, James N.; Wood, Frederica; Angradi, Ted R.; Edwards, Pamela. 1994. Forty years of hydrometeorological data from the Fernow Experiment Forest, West Virginia
- Edwards, Pamela J.; Wood, Frederica. 1993. Field and laboratory quality assurance/quality control protocols and accomplishments for the Fernow Experiment Forest watershed acidification study.
- Kochenderfer, James N.; Edwards, Pamela J. 1990. Design and construction of a low-cost stream-monitoring shelter
Last Modified:
11/19/2008