Good Logging Practices Reduce Sedimentation in Central Idaho

Abstract

Abstract From the inception of a study of cutting ponderosa pine on 16 small watersheds in the Boise Basin Experimental Forest, sedimentation was checked reasonably well because of careful advance planning, close supervision of logging, and application of intensive measures for controlling erosion promptly after harvest. Sediment that reached the stream channels originated primarily on haul roads. Proximity of a road to a stream affected the frequency with which sediment flows reached that stream. Sediment reached channel bottoms through undisturbed buffer strips averaging 8 feet wide, but did not reach them if the strips were more than 30 feet wide. After 3 years, movement of sediment "en route" had almost balted.