Nitrogen export from a watershed subjected to partial salvage logging

ScientificWorldJournal. 2001 Nov 1:1 Suppl 2:440-8. doi: 10.1100/tsw.2001.290.

Abstract

Logging has been shown to induce nitrogen (N) leaching. We hypothesized that logging a watershed that previously exhibited forest decline symptoms would place additional stress on the ecosystem and result in greater N loss, compared to harvesting vigorous forests. We conducted a 10-year (1988 to 1998) assessment of N export from the Baldwin Creek watershed in southwestern Pennsylvania that was partially clearcut to salvage dead and dying northern red oak. N export from the watershed increased significantly following salvage logging operations and did not completely return to prelogging levels by the end of the study period. The largest annual NO3-N export of 13 kg/ha was observed during the first year after harvesting, an increase of approximately 10 kg/ha. Compared to data from other Appalachian Mountain watersheds in North Carolina, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, calculated N loss for Baldwin Creek was considerably greater. Longer periods of reduced N uptake due to slow revegetation of salvage logged areas, coupled with increased amounts of N available to leaching, could have accounted for the large N losses observed for Baldwin Creek. Salvage logging of dead and dying trees from forested watersheds in this region appears to have the potential to result in much larger N losses than previously reported for harvest of healthy stands.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Ecosystem*
  • Forestry / statistics & numerical data*
  • Fresh Water* / chemistry
  • Nitrates / analysis
  • Nitrogen* / analysis
  • Nitrogen* / metabolism
  • Pennsylvania
  • Soil / analysis
  • Trees* / chemistry
  • Trees* / metabolism

Substances

  • Nitrates
  • Soil
  • Nitrogen