Slash treatment greatly reduces sediment yield from a rapidly eroding pinon-juniper woodland
Hastings BK, Smith FM, Jacobs BF. Slash treatment greatly reduces sediment yield from a rapidly eroding pinon-juniper woodland. Journal of Environmental Quality
The semi-arid pinon-juniper woodlands of Bandelier NM are experiencing accelerated erosion. Earlier studies suggest that causes of this rapidly eroding woodland are related to unprecedented rapid transition of ponderosa pine savanna to pino-juniper woodland as a result of cumulative historical effects of overgrazing, fire suppression, and a severe drought in the 1950's. To study the effectiveness of slash treatment in reducing erosion in degraded pinon-juniper woodlands, we utilized sediment check dams to quantify sediment yield from 12-paired microwatersheds (300-1100 m2) within an existing paired watershed study. Six of the 12 microwatersheds were located in a 41-ha (treatment) watershed with scattered slash treatment, and the other 6 microwatersheds were located in an adjacent 35-ha untreated (control) watershed. The primary purpose of our research was to quantify the rates of sediment yield between the treated and control microwatersheds. Sediment yield was measured from 15 individual storms during the months of June-September (2000-2001). Mean seasonal sediment yield was reduced 2 orders of magnitude in response to the slash treatment.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Hastings, Brian; Smith, Freeman; Jacobs, Brian
- Units
- BAND
- Keywords
- erosion-soil loss, FIRE, forest thinning, Juniper, pinyon pine, Plant Studies