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Modeling forest management impacts on aquatic systems
Citation:
Halama, J., Bob McKane, A. Brookes, K. Djang, B. Barnhart, AND P. Pettus. Modeling forest management impacts on aquatic systems. EPA Region 10 Forest Team, NA, WA, January 28, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
CPHEA/PESD ORISE Fellow Jonathan Halama will present an invited webinar - Modeling forest management impacts on aquatic systems – for the EPA Region 10 Forest Team on January 28th. The objective is to summarize for discussion purposes the use of PESD’s VELMA ecohydrology model for quantifying effects of different forest management practices on steam temperature, a topic of regional concern for salmon recovery planning in Pacific Northwest watersheds. Preliminary results demonstrate VELMA’s new ability for simulating observed long‐term daily stream temperature dynamics, both during winter thermal lows and summer thermal peaks. This webinar supports Region 10 Forest Team goals to provide a forum for Federal, tribal, state and local agencies to work collaboratively to share information, tools and resources; and to use high quality science, modeling, and staff expertise to inform forest management issues throughout the Pacific Northwest region (WA, OR, ID, AK).
Description:
This invited webinar will be presented to the EPA Region 10 Forest Team on January 28, 2020. We provide an overview of a set of forest and stream management modeling tools to support community-based forest management and salmon-recovery planning in Pacific Northwest (PNW) watersheds. As an example, we describe how these tools have been tested within several monitored sub catchments within the HJ Andrews Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network. In addition, fabricated watershed forest disturbances demonstrate how this modeling approach could be leveraged to test outcomes of future forest management prior to action. These tools are designed to help inform plans for restoring hydrological and ecological processes critical to salmon recovery, and more broadly, to the functioning of entire watersheds and the ecosystem services they provide for local stakeholders. This webinar focuses on the application of an EPA watershed simulator – Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA) – coupled with the shade\irradiance model Penumbra to quantify the effects of alternative forest management on key salmon habitat and water quality and quantity variables, such as water temperature, peak and low flows. Model results illustrate VELMA and Penumbra can be utilized to predict stream temperature, and how VELMA forest disturbance patterns can be modeled to estimate the effect of land management on stream temperature prior to actual action. Such a tool could be instrumental in providing a balance between future forest management and stream habitat health, a topic of regional concern for salmon recovery planning in PNW watersheds.