Sara Goeking: Linkages Between Forests, Snowpack, And Streamflow In Western Coniferous Forests

A Wildland Resources Department Seminar with Sara Goeking, US Forest Service scientist and USU PhD candidate

Goeking and David Tarboton (Director, Utah Water Research Lab), reviewed 78 recent studies of streamflow and snowpack response to forest disturbances, and reassessed the question: Does water yield or snowpack increase after forest disturbance? The review included studies examining either stand-replacing (severe wildfire, harvest) or nonstand-replacing (drought, insects, low-severity wildfire) disturbances. Although many studies observed post-disturbance increases in water yield, as expected, in some cases water yield did not change or even decreased.