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VI PRINCIPLES FOR WATERSHED HEALTH ASSESSMENTS AND MANAGEMENT 



NCASI, through a group of industry watershed experts, has been 

 working on a set of guidelines for watershed analysis to determine 

 the health of watersheds and identify watershed management needs 

 (15,16). These guidelines include: 



(1) Identify the important hydrologic and geomorphic processes of 

 concern. 



(2) Describe the relationships between environmental damage and 

 beneficial uses by evaluating the physical processes linking 

 on-site disturbances to downstream effects. 



(3) Provide a measure of the sensitivity of beneficial uses to 

 management (thresholds will be included where appropriate) . 



(4) Describe effects of land management relative to background 

 conditions and develop methods to assess recovery factors. 



(5) Utilize methods that are understandable, reproducible and 

 practical, and supported by available resource information. 



(6) Provide evaluations of cumulative watershed effects that are 

 based on measured physical or biological effects rather than 

 indirect indicators of change, thus allowing assessment of 

 accuracy in actively managed watersheds. 



(7) Describe the uncertainty caused by technical knowledge gaps. 



Watershed assessments needs to recognize the important 

 processes of concern to achieve maximum management flexibility. A 

 sediment budget contracted by the Forest Service in the Grouse 

 Creek Watershed of California indicated that tractor yarded harvest 

 units were creating lOx the sediment as cable yarded units. The 

 "cumulative effects model" for this area was based on peak flow 

 concerns related to soil compaction, but most experts felt sediment 

 production was the major issue. By requiring cable yarding on 

 steep terrains, harvest levels could be increased with less 

 sediment delivery to the stream channel. By focusing on the 

 important processes, management practices can be designed to 

 protect or improve watershed health. A watershed assessment is not 

 adequate if it can not account for how, where, and when an 

 activities is conducted as well as how much activity is carried out 

 or if it can not address the risks to beneficial stream uses. 



VII SUMMARY 



I have worked on or visited numerous watersheds in the Western 

 United States over the past 20 years. I've worked on the Mokelumne 

 River in California whets poor road construction and yarding in the 

 1960 's diverted streams. Those impacts have either stabilized 

 naturally or are being addressed during the current cutting cycle. 



