Peak flow responses to clear-cutting and roads in small and large basins, western Cascades, Oregon

This study quantified long-term changes in streamflows associated with clearcutting and road construction and examined alternative hydrologic mechanisms to explain stream hydrograph changes in the Cascades Range, western Oregon. We examined differences in paired peak discharges for 150 to 375 storm events for five basin pairs, using 34-year records from two pairs of 60-to-101-ha experimental basins in the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest, and 50-to-55-year records from three pairs of adjacent basins ranging from 60 to 600 km(2). Forest harvesting has increased peak discharges by as much as 50% in small basins and 100% in large basins over the past 50 years. These increases are attributable to changes both in flow routing due to roads and in water balance due to treatment effects and vegetation succession.