| Description |
Due to climate change concerns, governments and consumers are demanding higher environmental accountability for transportation fuels, particularly as related to carbon emissions. Wood-based energy markets have been proposed as a means to ensure sustainable forests, enhance energy security, promote environmental quality, and realize social benefits. Biomass crops may offset fossil fuels and reduce CO2 contributions to greenhouse gases while improving soil and water quality. Key issues among stakeholders include soil and water quality and loss of biodiversity as collecting small-diameter woody biomass may significantly alter post-timber harvesting landscapes. Little is known about how land use changes impact the entire ecological function of the watershed. The objectives of this study were to explore the potential of differences between land use changes and see if the water balance of the watershed would also change. This will help us understand the environmental impacts of different forms of biomass removal in the production of jet fuel. The start of holistic land management strategies focused on hydrologic implications of the entire food web has begun. Hydrologic measurements were collected from 28 one acre plots subject to different land treatments, analyzed, and compared to a site-specific water balance model UNSAT-H to evaluate if changes in biomass removal influence the subsurface hydrology. Results showed a correlation between compacted soils exhibiting more evaporation when compared to noncompacted sites. A correlation of less drainage to the water table correlates to a higher clay content value; this correlation did not exist, and was therefore not statistically significant. Since the soils had such unique characteristics at each plot, parameterization and extrapolation of the UNSAT-H model for the whole Pacific Northwest is not possible solely using the data of this LTSP site. |
