Watershed management contributions to land stewardship: Case studies in the Southeast

Abstract

We describe three examples of watershed management studies, at different spatial scales, that provide approaches and information useful in enhancing natural resource stewardship in the southern Appalachians. A multiple use “pilot” study, initiated 35 years ago at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, demonstrates that southern Appalachian forests can be successfully managed for water, timber, wildlife, and recreation. Added benefits of this small scale (144 ha) watershed study are the education and on-the-ground demonstration values. A demonstration project of ecosystem management, initiated in the early 1990s on a 1820 ha watershed provides an integrated, interdisciplinary ecosystem approach to research, planning, and management. Organized around themes of ecosystem restoration, forest sustainability, human and economic values, and ecosystem structure and function, the multifaceted studies are providing new knowledge and management benefits. More recently, regional scale watershed research was initiated on two river basins within a 70,000 km2 area of western North Carolina. The goal is to develop a predictive understanding of the social, economic, and environmental factors that drive land use cover changes and to evaluate the consequences of change for terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, water quality, and regional carbon cycles. E‘m’ergy, a tool for synthesizing the multiple values of watersheds, is applied to the ecosystem management study.

Parent Publication

• Land Stewardship in the 21st Century: The Contributions of Watershed Management; 2000 March 13-16; Tucson, AZ

Citation

Swank, Wayne T.; Tilley, David R. 2000. Watershed management contributions to land stewardship: Case studies in the Southeast. In: Ffolliott, Peter F.; Baker Jr., Malchus B.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Dillon, Madelyn C.; Mora, Karen L., tech. coords. Land Stewardship in the 21st Century: The Contributions of Watershed Management; 2000 March 13-16; Tucson, AZ. Proc. RMRS-P-13. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 93-108.