Completed
Topics
Forest hydrology, the study of how water flows through forests, can help illuminate the connections between forests and water, but it must advance if it is to deal with today's complexities, including climate change, wildfires, and changing patterns of development and ownership. This report identifies actions that scientists, forest and water managers, and citizens can take to help sustain water resources from forests.
Featured publication
Consensus
·2008
Of all the outputs of forests, water may be the most important. Streamflow from forests provides two-thirds of the nation's clean water supply. Removing forest cover accelerates the rate that precipitation becomes streamflow; therefore, in some areas, cutting trees causes a temporary increase in th...
View details
Description
This study will examine the impacts of forest management on watershed processes, with a particular focus on hydrologic characteristics, such as surface runoff, overland flow, forest water temperature and chemistry, groundwater recharge, and sediment dynamics. The study will have a technical focus on hydrologic forest functions, with awareness that forest hydrologic aspects can provide valuable informatin for forestry practioners' research.This study will examine the impacts of forest hydrology, such as surface runoff, groundwater recharge, and sediment dynamics. The report will reflect on the state of knowledge, relevant policy implications, and research needs that would advance understanding of connections among hydrology, science, and land management and policy in forested landscapes. The study will address the following primary questions: 1. What is the state of knowledge of forest hydrology? 2. What are information and research needs regarding forest hydrology in forested lands under federal management? Topics could include: sediment-related watershed processes, surface and groundwater hydrology; biological and ecological aspects; and extrapolation of small-scale study results to large-scale management practices. 3. What are the new issues that need to be addressed to ensure clean and plentiful water? Topics could include: extreme weather events, climate change, fire, and invasive species.4. How well are forest hydrologic impacts understood over short- and long-temporal scales and small- and large-spatial scales?In its report, the committee may also address specific issues related to forest hydrology, such as:A. Runoff, snow melt, sediment load, groundwater recharge, water quality, and flood peakflows and timingB. Forest species composition (including invasive species), succession, fire, disease, climate, extreme weather eventsC. Linkages to forest management and land use policyThe project is sponsored by the Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation and the USDA Forest Service.The approximate start date for the project is September 23, 2005.A report will be issued at the end of the project in approximately 24 months.Update 1-7-08: the expected release date of the report is March 31, 2008.
Contributors
Committee
Chair
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Conflict of Interest Disclosure
In accordance with Section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Academy shall make its best efforts to ensure that “no individual appointed to serve on {a} committee has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the functions to the performed, unless such conflict is promptly and publicly disclosed and the Academy determines that the conflict is unavoidable.” We have concluded that for the committee to accomplish the task for which it has been established, its membership must include, among others: at least one professional who brings large land holdings management and research expertise and current practical experience from the private sector of the forest product industry.
To meet the need for this experience and expertise, Mr. George H. Weyerhaeuser, Jr. is being proposed for appointment to the committee even though we conclude that he has a conflict of interest because he is an employee (Senior Vice President, Technology) of The Weyerhaeuser Company and it is possible that the committee’s findings and recommendations could affect economic interests of the private forest products industry.
As his biography indicates, Mr. Weyerhaeuser, Jr. brings invaluable expertise and experience to the committee. There are several levels to Weyerhaeuser’s expertise and perspectives that enable this committee to fulfill its statement of task, including eight years of overseeing research activities and nearly 20 years in general management of The Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the largest, research-oriented forest product companies in the world. In addition to his official duties at Weyerhaeuser, Mr. Weyerhaeuser has a demonstrated breadth of knowledge in a wide range of forest-related issues, such as energy conservation, sustainable forest management, and climate change in both the United States and Canada.
After an extensive search, we have been unable to find other individuals with the breath of management and research expertise and current practical experience in the private, large-land-holdings sector of the forest products industry who would not be similarly conflicted. Therefore, we conclude that this conflict is unavoidable.
Sponsors
Department of Interior
Staff
Lauren Alexander
Lead
Major units and sub-units
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Lead
Water Science and Technology Board
Lead