Incorporating hydrologic dynamics into buffer strip design on the sub-humid Boreal Plain of Alberta |
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| Authors: | IF Creed GZ Sass MB Wolniewicz KJ Devito |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada;2. Department of Geography, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada;3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G8, Canada |
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| Abstract: | The status quo in forestry practice is to leave standard width buffers around water bodies in order to prevent the excess transport of sediments and nutrients from terrestrial to aquatic systems. This practice does not seem to be effective in the sub-humid boreal forest where climatic and physiographic variability produces complex hydrologic pathways not well protected by standard width buffers. We developed a remote sensing technique that forms a hydrologic basis for buffer strip design. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery was used to map, both inundated and saturated areas (herein called wet areas) amenable for surface transport of nutrients and sediments on a low relief landscape in northern Alberta, Canada. Wet areas coverage of the Moose Lake drainage basin showed a semi-logarithmic relationship with daily discharge (r2 = 0.72, p < 0.001, n = 18). This relationship was used to define a flow–duration curve for wet areas that could be used as an aspatial assessment of what proportion of a drainage basin should be protected. A probability map of wet areas formation was calculated from the database of 18 images. We demonstrated how the probability map may be used to design adaptive buffer strips for the mitigation of increased nutrient loading to boreal lakes following timber harvesting. |
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| Keywords: | Wet areas Boreal forest Hydrology Buffer strip Remote sensing Probability RADARSAT Forest management Boreal Plain Wetland |
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