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Abstract
Fuel management practices in the Rocky Mountain region may include prescribed fire, timber harvesting (patch cuts, thinning, high-grading, or selective logging), mechanical treatments (mulching, chipping or chunking), chemical treatments, or grazing to reduce undesirable species (Chapter 4). The application of any of these treatments has the potential to affect water quality. Understanding the effects of land use practices on hydrologic processes is of primary importance when assessing water quality effects. Unlike agriculture where there are often many activities each year, fuel managements practices occur once every year to once over several decades. Fuel management activities should be implemented with best management practices (BMPs) to minimize or prevent water quality changes or nonpoint source pollution.
Parent Publication
Citation
Stednick, John D. 2010. Effects of fuel management practices on water quality. In: Elliot, William J.; Miller, Ina Sue; Audin, Lisa, eds. Cumulative watershed effects of fuel management in the western United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-231. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 149-163.
