Clean water and family forest management: some emerging issues

Abstract

Demand for clean water for a variety of uses will increase. Watersheds are where we live, grow crops and create various forms of industry. As the Pacific Northwest's human population expands, competition for water and the ecological goods and services that water provides will grow more intense. With this in mind it is helpful to review emerging issues that are of interest to small woodland owners: climate change, wildfires and invasive species. That climate is changing is beyond scientific dispute, even though the causes of change may continue to be publicly debated. With climate change the frequency and severity of wildfires will also change, as will the patterns of invasion of new plants and animals into the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. Each of these factors can cause significant changes in water quality and quantity, but their specific impacts in the context of forest management, and what can be done about them, are incompletely known. This article examines each issue from a scientific standpoint and considers how new findings can be incorporated into family forest management strategies.

Citation

Bisson, Peter A. 2011. Clean water and family forest management: some emerging issues. Northwest Woodlands. (Summer): 12-15.