Evaluating the impacts of logging activities on erosion and suspended sediment transport in the Caspar Creek watersheds

Abstract

Suspended sediment has been sampled at both the North and South Fork weirs of Caspar Creek in northwestern California since 1963, and at 13 tributary locations in the North Fork since 1986. The North Fork gaging station (NFC) was used as a control to evaluate the effects of logging in the South Fork, in the 1970's, on annual sediment loads. In the most conservative treatment of the data, suspended loads increased by 212 percent over the total predicted for a 6-yr period commencing with the onset of logging. When the roles of the watersheds were reversed and the same analysis repeated to evaluate harvesting in the North Fork under California Forest Practice Rules in the 1990's, no significant increase was found at NFC in either annual suspended or bed load.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the conference on coastal watersheds: the Caspar Creek story. May 6, 1998, Ukiah, California

Citation

Lewis, Jack. 1998. Evaluating the impacts of logging activities on erosion and suspended sediment transport in the Caspar Creek watersheds. In: Ziemer, Robert R., technical coordinator. Proceedings of the conference on coastal watersheds: the Caspar Creek story, 6 May 1998; Ukiah, California. General Tech. Rep. PSW GTR-168. Albany, California: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 55-69