Development of riparian perspectives in the wet Pacific Northwest since the 1970s [Chapter 2]

Abstract

Streams and riparian zones have been fertile ground for ecosystem science and a battleground for forest policy and management in the wet Pacific Northwest west of the crest of the Cascade Range for many decades. Competing, high-value resources of salmon and big Douglas-fir timber and their iconic places in cultures of the region sharpened the clash of values. Landslides from forestry operations and roads and elevated water temperature in streams where forest cover had been removed were points of physical connection between steep slope forestry and cold-water fishes. Logging slash from harvest operations had dammed streams and depleted dissolved oxygen, leading fisheries agencies and advocates to call for removal of wood from streams in the 1950s and 1960s.

Parent Publication

• Riparian research and management: Past, present, future: Volume 1

Citation

Swanson, Frederick J.; Gregory, Stanley V. 2018. Development of riparian perspectives in the wet Pacific Northwest since the 1970s [Chapter 2]. In: Johnson, R. Roy; Carothers, Steven W.; Finch, Deborah M.; Kingsley, Kenneth J.; Stanley, John T., tech. eds. 2018. Riparian research and management: Past, present, future: Volume 1. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-377. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 25-31. doi: http://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-GTR-377-CHAP2.