{"id":422,"date":"2021-12-01T22:13:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T22:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/?p=422"},"modified":"2021-12-01T23:28:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T23:28:28","slug":"new-book-reviews-oregon-forest-management-water-quality-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/2021\/12\/01\/new-book-reviews-oregon-forest-management-water-quality-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"New book reviews Oregon forest management, water quality issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 2021. Kym Pokorny<\/a>, Public Service Communications Specialist. Story Source: Jon Souder<\/a>, Watershed Management Specialist <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CORVALLIS, Ore. \u2013 From source to tap, much of Oregon\u2019s water passes through its forests. Along the way quality can be compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forests \u2013 from family outfits to multi-national operations \u2013 play a vital role in Oregon\u2019s water system. Activities like logging make a difference in the quality and quantity of the state\u2019s water supply, according to Jon Souder, Oregon State University Extension Service watershed management specialist and assistant professor in the College of Forestry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Souder is the editor of Tress to Tap: How Forest Practices Affect Oregon\u2019s Municipal Water<\/a>, a comprehensive new book exploring how forest management impacts Oregon\u2019s water. Three years in the making, the science-based publication is meant to help forest managers, municipal water utilities, conservation groups, government agencies and the public work together to better evaluate and regulate how forests are used in regard to water usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s increasing concern about our drinking water,\u201d Souder said. \u201cIn writing this book, our goal was to get people together and provide a book rooted in science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help address water quality concerns, the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) approached the College of Forestry in 2018 with a request to complete a science review of the most recent studies on the issue. Souder agreed and formed a steering committee to work with him that included forest managers and conservation groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOFRI does public surveys on how people feel about forest management,\u201d Souder said. \u201cThe public is saying the part of forest management they are most concerned about is drinking water quality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first part of the Trees to Tap book describes results from a survey of the state\u2019s 156 water utilities conducted by Emily Jane Davis, an Extension specialist in forest ecosystems and society and associate professor in the OSU College of Forestry. This research included three case studies to determine how the utilities work with people who own and manage the watersheds that provide water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forestry management practices have markedly improved in the decades since the Clean Water Act was amended with sweeping changes in 1972. Still, a residue of concern remains. Those concerns were on top of the steering committee\u2019s review priorities as they looked at changes in water quality, sedimentation of rivers and streams, herbicide toxicity and wildfire risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Clean Water Act amendment, there is still reason for concern, Souder said. For one thing, as trees are cut and replanted, young trees take up more water that could be going to communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs trees regrow, they use a lot of water, more than older plants, he said. \u201cAs they grow fast and dense, there\u2019s a period from age 7 to 50 when they are taking more water. You can see that in a reduction of summer flow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herbicides continue to cause controversy, Souder said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany members of the public are concerned about aerial herbicide applications,\u201d Souder said. \u201cThey want to know if the spray gets into the water and how far it goes and how long does it last. We reviewed agency reports and records of complaints. We looked at what is the magnitude of chemical use and what is the likelihood it will get into drinking supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results showed that contemporary practices have a minimal risk to the drinking water supply. The typical chemicals used in forest management tend to be water soluble and break down quickly so don\u2019t go downstream very far, Souder said. None of the concentrations they saw violated human health standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final part of the study focused on sediment and turbidity or the number of particles floating in water that are difficult to treat for drinking water. Legacy forest roads still cause problems, though new roads mitigate erosion with adequate designs and drainage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForest managers are looking for science to help them manage better,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019re training them in Extension. We help by getting new scientific knowledge into the hands of forest managers. Science is creating a foundation for policy and the policy process that turns into regulations and laws.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 2021. Kym Pokorny, Public Service Communications Specialist. Story Source: Jon Souder, Watershed Management Specialist CORVALLIS, Ore. \u2013 From source to tap, much of Oregon\u2019s water passes through its forests. Along the way quality can be compromised. Forests \u2013 from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10521,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/southcoastfieldforest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}