Water is the single most important commodity produced from California's
forests. In addition to providing irrigation and power, and serving domestic
and industrial uses, water provides habitat for commercial and sport fishery
and the basis for a multi-million-dollar recreation industry.
Maintaining healthy watersheds is a top priority for the Forest Service, which
has the maintenance of water quality as one of its original legislative mandates.
Long-term maintenance of water quality requires healthy forests, but certain land
management activities may adversly affect water quality.
An important role of Station scientists is to consider cumulative effects
resulting from such activities and to provide a level of understanding from
which sound land management and restoration decisions can be made.
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Collaborative Projects
CALFED - This product was developed by the Pacific Southwest Research Station, in cooperation with the Lassen National Forest, to introduce the CALFED watershed improvement program on the Lassen National Forest. The analysis and restoration program was initiated to expand and accelerate the Forest's efforts to protect and improve habitat for some of the last naturally reproducing populations of steelhead and spring-run Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River system. The program includes work in five watersheds, Antelope, Battle, Butte, Deer and Mill Creeks, all tributary to the Sacramento River.
Major Research Initiatives:
Caspar Creek Watershed Study: Since 1962,
researchers have been studying the nature of hydrologic, erosion, and sedimentation
impacts of logging operations on northern California watersheds. The Caspar Creek
Experimental Watershed Study, located on the Jackson Demonstration State Forest
near Fort Bragg, California, is a cooperative venture of the Redwood Sciences
Laboratory and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Turbidity Threshold Sampling Study:
Turbidity threshold sampling
is an automated procedure for measuring turbidity and sampling suspended sediment.
The data logger program employs turbidity to govern sample collection during
each transport event. The Turbidity Threshold Sampling method is currently
operating at 30 gaging sites in northern California, and at two sites in Arizona.
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