Forest road gravel cover and reduced sediment delivery to stream crossings paper accepted

HPcoverKris Brown’s paper on “the effect of increasing gravel cover on forest roads for reduced sediment delivery to stream crossings” was accepted this week in Hydrological Processes.

Abstract
Direct sediment inputs from forest roads at stream crossings are a major concern for water quality and aquatic habitat. Legacy road-stream crossing approaches, or the section of road leading to the stream, may have poor water and grade control upon reopening, thus increasing the potential for negative impacts to water quality. Rainfall simulation experiments were conducted on the entire running surface area associated with six reopened stream crossing approaches in the southwestern Virginia Piedmont physiographic region, USA. Event-based surface runoff and associated total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations were compared among a succession of gravel surfacing treatments that represented increasing intensities of best management practice (BMP) implementation. The three treatments were No Gravel (10-19% cover), Low Gravel (34-60% cover), and High Gravel (50-99% cover). Increased field hydraulic conductivity was associated with… read more…