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| Our Wonderful
Watersheds |
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OUR
WONDERFUL WATERSHEDS
Discovering the link between good forestry and clean
water
By Daniel Berger
We’re all familiar with the term "watershed" - many
of us use it all the time - but what, exactly, does it mean, and why
should we care about them? Watersheds are everywhere. Every square inch of
land is part of one, even parking lots and city blocks. Watersheds divide the
landscape by the areas they drain and fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, leaving
no square inch of land unaccounted for. Our country is made up of a handful
of large watersheds (the Columbia, the Mississippi, the Colorado to name
a few) and hundreds of smaller examples nested inside of them. It is
these smaller ones that define the regions and landscapes in which we all live
and recreate.
Caring for our watersheds in the 21st century is a daunting task. They are
large and complicated natural systems that include forests, wetlands, rivers
and lakes. They also cross state, county and municipal lines and overlap
private and public land, meaning that many different people are in charge
of managing each one. On top of that, our watersheds face several challenges,
including increased pressure from recreation, erosion that washes soil into
streams and rivers, and development that encroaches on wildlife habitat and
undeveloped forests.
Our watersheds provide us with clean water to drink, water for irrigation and
industrial uses, habitat for wild animals and plenty of room to play. More
than 3,400 cities rely on National Forests for their municipal water. So
how do we go about the charge to balance all of this, especially when many
of these needs are competing? By working together, and
with care.
Trees are the key to healthy watersheds
Of our 192 million acres of National Forest land, only about 10 percent is
riparian areas or wetlands. Yet these parts often see the highest human use
and are susceptible to damage because they are the most productive and biologically
rich areas. Water is plentiful, soil is deeper and more fertile, and there
is abundant forage and food for wildlife. Also, creeks and streams are often
the easiest routes for roads, trails and animal travel.
When we change the vegetation or pollute the soil, air or water anywhere within
a watershed, but especially on or adjacent to the waterways, the characteristics
of that watershed are affected in numerous ways. For instance, forests that
were excessively logged and that have not grown back in accord with natural
functions are susceptible
to invasive species of plants or animals. In some areas, where vegetation cover
isn't
thick enough to secure soil, rains wash dirt and sediments into the waterways,
choking aquatic habitat and limiting the biological potential of some areas.
As well, areas that have grown back thicker than average may also be more prone
to hotter-than-normal
wildfires.
Historically, we've known that healthy forests were necessary for clean
and secure supplies of safe drinking water. But it took the creation of the
forest reserves in 1891 to officially recognize the fact. In 1897, the Organic
Administrative Act strengthened that idea by stating that the forest reserves
were set aside to protect and enhance water supplies, reduce flooding, secure
water flow, protect the forests from fires and provide a continuous supply
of timber. In 1905, the forest reserves were renamed National Forests,
at which time the modern day Forest Service was born. For the past century,
maintaining and restoring watersheds for clean water, and more recently for
ensuring healthy ecosystems, has been a major concern of the Forest Service;
today, the agency remains bound to that task by law, tradition and science.
Indeed, according to many, that may be the most important thing the agency
does.
"Sixty-six percent of our country gets its drinking water from forested
areas," said Jim Sedell, director of the Forest Service's Pacific
Southwest Research Station. "In the next 20 to 30 years, our white hat
issue is going to be water, especially water for cities. And forestry is going
to play a huge role in that."
Given the reality of air pollution and fire suppression (two issues that
affect watersheds in different ways) we're going to have to do
a good job of actively managing our forests to get good water supplies, Sedell
explained. To actively manage, he noted, we need to look at what kinds of forests
we want and then go through the time and labor-intensive measures to achieve
those goals. Thinning overgrown forests, controlled burning of forests loaded
with excessive wood prone to fire, removing select trees and replanting denuded
areas with native plants are all part of restoring dynamic forests.
It's impossible without partners
You can't talk about watershed restoration on National Forests anymore
without also addressing partnerships. But that wasn't always the case.
For years, the Forest Service determined what was best for National Forest
lands while other land owners and managers decided how they should manage their
own land. Little or no regard was given for the larger concept of watersheds,
which, remember, often cross political boundaries. Since the early '90s, and
in some places earlier, the Forest Service has been heavily involved in helping
with large-scale watershed restoration projects, notably on the Chesapeake
Bay. In 1999, the Forest Service initiated a new program called the Large Scale
Watershed Restoration Project (see Mosaic fall '03) that helped communities
and regions deal with larger watershed issues as a whole. According to the
project's 2002 annual report, "The Forest Service has now realized
that solutions to watershed issues require working collectively across mixed
ownership within a watershed."
Today, partnerships are a vital part of how the Forest Service cares for our
watersheds. Partnerships allow work to be done across the watershed and to
be directed by a host of stakeholders."We've had our own
way of doing business," said
Karen Bennett, watershed program manager for
the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon, "but
we have learned so much working with our partners in the Pacific Northwest."
Bennett is a Forest Service soil scientist who is taking a holistic approach
to restoring watersheds that characteristically overlap public and private
land. She looks at roads, streams, vegetation cover and past and present land
uses to determine which areas need the most immediate attention and which of
the best-known techniques should be tried.
"Working with communities and partners brings in a whole social perspective that
land use in the past wasn't necessarily wrong," Bennet said. "It
was just based on a different set of social values. Our partners have taught
us to honor what happened in the past, not bash it. And they've taught us
there needs to be compromise and more give and take." |
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