Watershed-Scale Impacts of Forest Buffers on Water Quality and Runoff in Urbanizing Environment
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 132, Issue 3
Abstract
Forestry practices that are applied to buffer regions can be used as a strategy to improve water quality and flow regime in urbanizing watersheds. This study evaluates watershed-wide impacts of buffering urban forestry practices. Watershed simulation modeling is used to study the effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs) scenarios representing riparian and street buffers on water quality, quantity, and open space in rural, suburban, and urbanized environments. Results indicate that the watershed health can be improved through location-specific application of urban forestry practices. The proportion of urban forest cover reduced sediment and nutrient loading, decreased stormwater runoff, and increased groundwater recharge in urbanizing watersheds. Reduction in variability of watershed processes indicate that forest BMPs make the watershed more adaptive to handling adverse conditions, such as large storms, nonpoint source pollution, flooding, and high winds. Watersheds that are starting to get urbanized responded well to the BMP scenarios compared to more urbanized subbasins. General strategies include a focus on increasing pervious cover of the watershed with a higher priority in riparian and street buffers. Specific tree species and practical issues in forest buffering are also discussed. Policies like financial incentives and encouraging voluntary participation can be used to improve urban watersheds.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Ahern, J., and Neville, R. (1998). The mill river watershed study: Studio IV, Dept. of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass.
Alberti, M. (1999). “Modeling the urban ecosystem: a conceptual framework.” Environ. Plan. B: Plan. Des., 26(4), 26.
Booth, D. B., Hartley, D., and Jackson, R. (2002). “Forest cover, impervious-surface area, and the mitigation of stormwater impacts.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 38(3), 8356–845.
Briggs, R. D., Cormier, J., and Kimball, A. (1998). “Compliance with forestry best management practices in Maine.” Northern J. Applied Forestry, 15(2), 57–68.
Chocat, B., Krebs, P., Marsalek, J., Rauch, W., and Schilling, W. (2001). “Urban drainage redefined: from stormwater removal to integrated management.” Water Sci. Technol., 43(5), 61–68.
Dingman, S. L. (1994). Physical hydrology, Macmillan, Indianapolis, Ind.
Glick, R. H., and Chang, G. C. (1998). “Design and implementation of wetponds to control urban stormwater runoff.” Proc., ASAE Annual Int. Meeting, Orlando, Fla., ASAE, St. Joseph, Mo.
Goulden, C. H. (1956). Methods of statistical analysis, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York, 50–55.
Haith, D. H., Mandel, R., and Wu, R. S. (1996). Generalized watershed loading functions (GWLF), version 2.0, user’s manual, Dept. of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y.
Lynch, J. A., Corbett, E. S., and Sopper, W. E. (1980). “Impact of forest cover removal on water quality.” Res. Pap. 23-604, Pennsylvania State Univ. Institute for Research on Land and Water Resources, University Park, Pa.
Mcpherson, E., Nowak, D., and Rowntree, R. (1994). “Chicago’s urban forest ecosystem: Results of the Chicago urban forest climate project.” General Technical Rep. No. NE-186, USDA Forest Service.
Newson, M. D., and Calder, I. R. (1989). “Forests and water resources: Problems of prediction on a regional scale.” Forests, Weather and Climate: Proc. of a Royal Society Discussion Meeting, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, London, 283–298.
Nowak, D. J. (2000). “Impact of urban forest management on air pollution and greenhouse gases.” The Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, Md., l43–148.
Pauleit, S., and Duhme, F. (2000). “Assessing the environmental performance of land cover types for urban planning.” Landsc. Urban Plann., 52(1), 20.
Randhir, T. O. (2003). “Watershed-scale effects of urbanization on sediment export: Assessment and policy.” Water Resour. Res., 39(6), 1–13.
Savard, J. P. L., Clergeau, P., and Mennechez, G. (2000). “Biodiversity concepts and urban ecosystems.” Landsc. Urban Plann., 48(3–4), 12.
Simpson, J. R. (1998). “Urban forest impacts on regional cooling and heating energy use: Sacramento County case study.” J. Arboriculture, 24(4), 201–214.
Thompson, R., Hanna, R., Noel, J., and Piirto, D. (1999). “Valuation of tree aesthetics on small urban-interface properties.” J. Arboriculture, 25(5), 225–234.
U.S. Soil Conservation Service (USSCS). (1986). U.S. Soil Conservation Service Technical Release No. 55, 2nd Ed., USSCS, Phoenix.
Van-Wassenaer, P. J. E., Schaeffer, L., and Kenney, W. A. (2000). “Strategic planning in urban forestry: A 21st century paradigm shift for small town Canada.” Forestry Chronicle, 76(2), 241–245.
Wischmeier, W. H., and Smith, D. D. (1978). “Predicting rainfall-erosion losses—A guide to conservation planning.” Agricultural handbook, No. 537, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
Wynn, T. M., Mostaghimi, S., Frazee, J. W., McClellan, P. W., Shaffer, R. M., and Aust, W. M. (2000). “Effects of forest harvestings: Best management practices on surface water quality in the Virginia coastal plain.” Trans. ASAE, 43(4), 927–936.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 26, 2004
Accepted: Sep 14, 2005
Published online: May 1, 2006
Published in print: May 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.