Hydrological principles for sustainable management of forest ecosystems

Abstract

Forested landscapes around the world are changing as a result of human activities, including forest management, fire suppression, mountaintop mining, conversion of natural forests to plantations, and climate change (Brockerhoff et al., 2008; Cyr et al., 2009; Johnston et al., 2010; Miller et al., 2009; Kelly et al., 2010; Palmer et al., 2010). Forests provide some of the cleanest and most plentiful freshwater supplies, sustaining many downstream communities. Given the ongoing changes in forests, forest management needs to be forward looking, flexible, responsive to ongoing changes, place-based relative to land use and the types of forest management systems and prescriptions applicable at a particular location, and open to the application of a more diverse range of management options and prescriptions (Williamson et al., 2009) to ensure sustained supplies of high-quality water.

Citation

Creed, Irena F.; Sass, Gabor Z.; Buttle, Jim M.; Jones, Julia A. 2011. Hydrological principles for sustainable management of forest ecosystems. Hydrological Processes. 25: 2152–2160.