HYDROLOGIC IMPACTS OF A LARGE‐SCALE MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE (<i>DENDROCTONUS PONDEROSAE</i> HOPKINS) EPIDEMIC1

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Jack Creek watershed, a 133 km 2 (51.5 mi 2 ) drainage in southwestern Montana, was impacted by a mountain pine beetle ( Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) epidemic in 1975–1977 which killed an estimated 35 percent of its total timber. Analyses of USGS streamflow data for four years prior to and five years after mortality suggest a 15 percent post‐epidemic increase in annual water yield, a two‐to three‐week advance in the annual hydrograph, a 10 percent increase in low flows and little increase of peak runoff.