PART VII — WATER RESOURCES, FORESTRY, AND AGRICULTURE 



to produce secondary products such 

 as compressed-sawdust fireplace logs. 



Recreation Activity and Develop- 

 ment — Outdoor recreation activity 

 and developments in forest areas are 

 increasing many-fold each year and 

 are contributing to water-quality 

 problems. Some of the forest wilder- 

 ness areas are now badly overused, 

 and lack of sanitation facilities and 

 overuse by horse pack trains as well 

 as human trampling are locally lower- 

 ing water quality. A major problem 

 in many forest areas results from in- 

 creasing use by four-wheel-drive ve- 

 hicles and trail motorcycles which 

 increase erosion and add to sediment 

 problems in streams. Recreation de- 

 velopments in the forest ranging from 

 camp and picnic grounds and summer 

 homes to large ski areas are fre- 

 quently poorly designed or poorly 

 maintained from the standpoint of 

 sanitation; they, too, are contributing 

 to water-quality degradation. 



Other Forest Uses — Special uses 

 of forest land — such as grazing by 

 domestic livestock, mining opera- 

 tions, and summer colonies or com- 

 munes of people living on forest 

 areas — may contribute special prob- 

 lems in water quality. In general, 

 grazing by domestic livestock is de- 

 creasing on forest lands; conse- 

 quently, from this standpoint an 

 improvement in water quality can be 

 expected. In mining operations in- 

 volving large-scale land, subsurface 

 disturbance, and road construction, 



water-quality problems increase, 

 sometimes markedly, both from the 

 standpoint of erosion and attendant 

 sediment production and in mineral 

 content of both surface and ground 

 water. 



Steps Needed to Improve 

 Water Quality 



While the quality of water derived 

 from forest lands is in general supe- 

 rior to that from other types of land- 

 scapes or land uses, there is degrada- 

 tion in many areas. Action is needed 

 to protect water quality where it is 

 good and to improve that which is 

 being downgraded. 



Water-Quality Standards — By fed- 

 eral legislation each state has had to 

 set water-quality standards. Unfor- 

 tunately, in many areas the standards 

 set for some streams are higher than 

 natural, or "pristine," water. For vari- 

 ous reasons, many states lack back- 

 ground data on natural water quality. 

 If realistic standards are to be set and 

 observed, some additional monitoring 

 of forested water-source areas is 

 needed. 



Application of Available Knowl- 

 edge — In many instances, degrada- 

 tion of water quality is due to lack 

 of application of principles already 

 known to us. More rigid require- 

 ments can be written into timber sale 

 and road construction and mainte- 

 nance contracts and then enforced. 



Where sanitation facilities are inade- 

 quate around recreation sites or sum- 

 mer homes, forced improvement or 

 closure can improve water quality. 

 Closure or zoning of forest areas to 

 specialized uses such as four-wheel- 

 drive vehicles can be helpful. Re- 

 duced use of sensitive wilderness 

 areas or elimination of horse traffic 

 in such areas is likewise an available 

 tool. 



Neio Research — In many in- 

 stances, remedial measures will be 

 conditioned by the availability of new 

 research information. Examples in- 

 clude: What is the human carrying 

 capacity in parks and forest recrea- 

 tion areas with respect to water 

 quality? What type of chemicals, and 

 in what concentrations, can be used to 

 control insects, diseases, and weed 

 species without impairment of water 

 quality? What type and pattern of 

 forest harvesting can be safely ap- 

 plied? At what seasons of the year 

 should we restrict forest use to pro- 

 tect water quality? What type of 

 mineral extraction activity is permis- 

 sible and what kinds of safeguards 

 are necessary? How can forest areas 

 be used safely and beneficially in 

 solid waste disposal — wastes from 

 the forest itself (slash) and from in- 

 dustries and municipalities? What is 

 the impact of watershed management 

 activity to increase water yields on 

 the water-quality regime? What are 

 the relationships between wildlife 

 use and domestic grazing and water 

 quality? 



214 



