Forest Harvesting of a Rocky Mountain Headwater Catchment: Assessing the Impacts on Runoff and Sediment Transport Into and Through Riparian Buffers

Abstract:

Mitigating forest harvesting impacts by retaining a vegetated riparian buffer along headwater streams is a widely implemented best management practice. However, there is still debate over current retention practices and their effectiveness at regulating runoff, erosion, and sediment transport from harvested areas to streams. Forested, headwater catchments on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains (49°37′ N, 114°40′ W) were harvested in winter 2015. Fixed-width (30 m) riparian buffers were retained based on the regional operating ground rules for all of the identified and mapped hydrologic features. Modified Gerlach troughs (total n=40) were installed along the cutblock-buffer interface, 10 m into the vegetated buffer, and in unharvested control sites to collect runoff and sediment. Site characteristics, including surface soil moisture, slope, vegetation cover, soil type, litter depth, and upslope accumulated area will be used to describe differences in runoff volumes and sediment concentrations between sites. Rainfall simulations are also being used to quantify and compare the initiation of runoff, runoff volumes, and sediment concentrations under high intensity precipitation events in cutblocks, at the cutblock-buffer interface, and within vegetated buffers. Broad objectives of this ongoing study are to identify spatio-temporal hotspots of runoff and sediment transport from cutblocks into and through riparian buffers.