Abstract
The effects on hydrological processes of the application of the landscape level measures included in the sustainable forestry initiative (SFI) program were analyzed through simulation. A landscape scenario where limitation of harvesting units’ size, imposition of a green-up interval, and establishment of streamside management zones (SMZ) were simulated was compared with a reference scenario where no SFI rules were followed. An intensively managed forested landscape located in East Texas, USA, was used as the study area. The HARVEST landscape model was used to simulate landscape pattern and a modified version of the APEX model was used to simulate hydrological processes. Water and sediment yields were generally small within the observation period and most of the runoff and erosion observed occurred during intense storm events. Water and sediment yield at the subarea level and water yield at the watershed level were similar in both scenarios. However, sediment yield at the watershed level was higher in the non-SFI scenario. The differences were due to the reduction in channel erosion resulting from the presence of SMZs. The effect of buffer zones in terms of sediment deposition was not different between scenarios, which can be attributed to the level slopes of the study area. Landscape measures of the SFI program, namely buffer zones, seem important in reducing channel degradation, particularly during major storm events, in intensively managed forest landscapes in East Texas.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AF&PA, 2003, ‘Sustainable Forestry Initiative: A Good Sign Somebody Cares’, Eighth Annual Progress Report, AF&PA, Washington D.C.
Azevedo, J. C., Wu, X. B., Messina, M. G., and Fisher, R. F., 2003, ‘Development of a methodology for the assessment of sustainability in intensively managed forested landscapes in East Texas’, Submitted.
Bagnold, R. A., 1977, ‘Bed-load transport by natural rivers’, Water Resour. Res. 13(2), 303–312.
Baldwin, Jr., V. C., Peterson, K. D., Clark, III, A., Ferguson, R. B., Strub, M. R. and Bower, D. R., 2000, ‘The effects of spacing and thinning on stand and tree characteristics of 38 year-old Loblolly Pine’, For. Ecol. Manage. 137(1/3), 91–102.
Beasley, R. S. and Granillo, A. B., 1983, ‘Sediment Losses from Forest Practices in the Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas’, in E. P. Jones, Jr. (ed), Proceedings of the Second Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Station Conference, USDA for. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–47, pp. 461–467.
Beasley, R. S. and Granillo, A. B., 1988, ‘Sediment and water yields from managed forests on flat Coastal Plain soils’, Water Resour. Bull. 24(2), 361–366.
Beasley, R.S., Granillo, A.B. and Zilmer, V., 1986, ‘Sediment losses from forest management: mechanical vs. chemical site preparation after clearcutting’, J. Environ. Qual. 15, 413–416.
Blackburn, W. H., Wood, J. C. and DeHaven, M. G.,1986, ‘Stormflow and sediment losses from site-prepared forestland in East Texas’, Water Resour. Res. 22, 776–784.
Blackburn, W. H., Knight, R. W., Wood, J. C. and Pearson, H. A., 1990, ‘Stormflow and sediment loss from intensively managed forest watersheds in East Texas’, Water Resour. Bull. 26(3), 465–477.
Carling, P. A., Irvine, B. J., Hill, A. and Wood, M., 2001, ‘Reducing sediment inputs to Scottish streams: A review of the efficacy of soil conservation practices in upland forestry’, Sci. Total. Environ. 265(1–3), 209–227.
Chang, M., Roth, II, F. A. and Hunt, Jr., E. V., 1982, ‘Sediment production under various forest-site conditions’, in D. E. Walling (ed), Recent Developments in the Explanation and Prediction of Erosion and Sediment Yield, Proceedings of the Exeter Symposium, Publcation No. 137, International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Wallingford, England, pp.13–22.
Di Luzio, M, Srinivasan, R., Arnold, J. G. and Neitsch, S. L., 2002, ‘ArcView Interface for Swat2000 - User’s Guide’, Report TR-93, Texas Water Resources Institute, College Station, TX.
Grace, J. M., III, 2002, ‘Effectiveness of vegetation in erosion control from forest road sideslopes’, Transactions of the ASAE 45(3), 681–685.
Gresham, C. A. and Williams, T. M., 2002, ‘Biomass, nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation in 4-year-old intensively managed loblolly pine and sweetgum plantations’, in W. Kenneth (ed), Proceedings of the Eleventh Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference, US For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-48, pp. 3–6.
Gustafson, E. J. and Crow, T. R., 1999, ‘HARVEST: Linking timber harvesting strategies to landscape patterns’, in D. J. Mladenoff and W. L. Baker (eds), Spatial Modeling of Forest Landscape Change: Approaches and Applications, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 309–332.
Hargreaves, G. H. and Samani, Z. A., 1985, ‘Reference crop evapotranspiration from temperature’, Appl. Engr. Agric. 1, 96–99.
Hebert, M. T. and Jack, S. B., 1997, ‘Leaf area index and site water balance of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) across a precipitation gradient in East Texas’, Forest Ecol. Manage. 105, 273–282.
Ice, G. G., Stuart, G. W., Waide, J. B., Irland, L. C. and Ellefson, P. V., 1997, ‘25 years of the Clean Water Act: How clean are forest practices?,’ J. Forestry 95(7), 9–13.
Marion, D. A. and Ursic, S. J., 1993, ‘Sediment production in forests of the Coastal Plain, Piedmont and Interior Highlands’, in Terrene Institute (ed), Technical Workshop on Sediments; Proceedings of the EPA/Forest Service Workshop, Terrene Institute, Corvallis, OR, pp. 19–27.
McClurkin, D. C., Duffy, P. D. and Nelson, N. S., 1987, ‘Changes in forest floor and water-quality following thinning and clearcutting of 20-year-old pine’, J. Environ. Qual. 16(3), 237–241.
Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, 2003, ‘Background information for improved pan-european indicators for sustainable forest management’, Vienna, Austria. [http://www.lu-vienna.at/livingforestsummit/secure/k-tools/phplib/MedienDatenbankView.inc.php?id=123].
Montréal Process Working Group, 1999, ‘Criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests’, The Montréal Process, 2nd (edn), December, 1999. [http://www.mpci.org/rep-pub/1999/ci_e.html].
Pope, P. E. and Graney, D. L., 1979, ‘Family differences influence the aboveground biomass of loblolly pine plantations’, USDA For. Serv. Research Paper SO-155.
Saleh, A., Williams, J. R., Wood, J. C., Hauck, L. and Blackburn, W. H., 2002, Application of APEX for forestry, in Proceedings of the 2002 Conference on Total Maximum Daily Load (TDML): Environmental Regulations, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph, MI, pp. 595–605.
Texas Forest Service, 2000, ‘Forestry best management practices’, Texas Forestry Association.
Ursic, S. J., 1991a, ‘Hydrologic effects of two methods of harvesting mature southern pine’, Water Resour. Bull. 27(2), 303–315.
Ursic, S. J., 1991b, ‘Hydrologic effects of clearcutting and stripcutting loblolly-pine in the coastal-plain’, Water Resour. Bull. 27(6), 925–937.
Ursic, S. J., 1986, ‘Sediment and forestry practices in the South’, in Proceedings of the Fourth Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference, Subcommittee on Sedimentation of the Interagency Advisory Committee on Water Data, Las Vegas, Nevada, pp. 2:28–37.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 1972, National Engineering Handbook, Hydrology Section 4, Chapters 4–10.
Williams, J. R., 1990, ‘The erosion-productivity impact calculator (EPIC) model: A case history,’ Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 329, 421–428.
Williams, J. R., 1995, ‘The EPIC model, in V. P. Singh (ed), Computer Models of Watershed Hydrology, Water Resources Publications, Highlands Ranch, CO, pp. 909–1000.
Williams, J. R., Jones, C. A. and Dyke, P. T., 1984, ‘A modeling approach to determining the relationship between erosion and soil productivity’, Transactions of the ASAE 27, 129–144.
Williams, J. R., Arnold, J. G. and Srinivasan, R., 2000, ‘The APEX model. BRC’, Report No. 00-06, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Blackland Research Center, Temple, TX.
Williams, J. R., Arnold, J. G., Srinivasan, R. and Ramanarayanan, T. S., 1998, ‘APEX: A new tool for predicting the effects of climate changes and CO2 changes on erosion and water quality’, in J. Boardman and D. Favis-Mortlock (eds), Modeling Soil Erosion by Water, Springer-Verlag, NATO-ASI Global Change Series 1–55, Heidelberg, pp. 441–449.
Wynn, T. M., Mostaghimi, S., Frazee, J. W., McClellan, P. W., Shaffer R. M. and Aust, W. M., 2000, ‘Effects of forest harvesting best management practices on surface water quality in the Virginia coastal plain’, Transactions of the ASAE 43(4), 927–936.
Yoho, N. S., 1980, ‘Forest management and sediment production in the South-A review’, South. J. Appl. Forestry. 4, 27–36.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Azevedo, J.C., Williams, J.R., Messina, M.G. et al. Impacts of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Landscape Level Measures on Hydrological Processes. Water Resour Manage 19, 95–110 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-005-1503-5
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-005-1503-5