The Trask Watershed Study is a multi-disciplinary, long-term research project designed to evaluate the impacts of forest harvest on public and private lands to aquatic ecosystems within the harvest areas, as well as downstream. The study began in 2006 and multiple headwater basins in the Trask were clearcut harvested in 2012. Forested riparian buffers along small non-fish bearing streams were retained on public land, but not on private land. The results from this experimental study are providing resource managers with expanded understanding of both direct and indirect effects of forest management on aquatic ecosystems.
The objectives of the Trask River Watershed Study are to:
- Quantify effects of forest harvest on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of small headwater streams
- Examine extent to which harvest in headwaters influences the physical, chemical and biological characteristics in downstream fish reaches
- Increase understanding of the major processes influencing aquatic ecosystems through forest-stream interactions
Acknowledgements:
Researchers thank the landowners and managers (Weyerhaeuser, Oregon Department of Forestry and Bureau of Land Management). Research funding was provided by Oregon State University, ODF, Weyerhaeuser, BLM, USGS, OFIC, OFRI, USFS PNW, ODEQ, NCASI, Capital Forests, and OWEB.