Research in Watershed 

 Management 



Around 1930, the Southern 

 Forest Experiment Station 

 undertook a limited program 

 of research on methods of 

 controlling floods and soil 

 erosion by establishing 

 forest cover on eroding 

 areas. These investigations 

 were centered in northern 

 Mississippi, where massive 

 gully erosion and siltation 

 of rich farmlands provided 

 spectacular examples of 

 damage to land and people. 

 Under the leadership of 

 H.G. Meginnis in association 

 with W.M. Broadfoot, G.H. 

 Lentz, and J.D. Sinclair, 

 experimental work was 

 begun with erosion and 

 runoff plots and the planting 

 of pine to maintain soil 

 cover (Meginnis 1935). 



This highly successful 

 research, and later studies 

 in the Piedmont area of the 

 Carolinas, where soil ero- 

 sion also was severe, plus 

 related studies by the Soil 

 Conservation Service and 

 the Agricultural Research 

 Service, have provided a 

 sound technical basis for 

 extensive planting and land 

 management programs to 

 control destructive erosion 

 in forest areas. Related 

 studies on soil moisture by 



R. Zahner and D.C. 

 McClurkin, for example, 

 also helped explain relation- 

 ships between soil water 

 and timber growth. 



Growing concern over 

 protection of the environ- 

 ment, accompanied by 

 such events as passage of 

 the Water Pollution Control 

 Act of 1 972 and subsequent 

 amendments, also led in 

 the 1970's to expanded 

 research on nonpoint pollu- 

 tion from forest areas. These 

 investigations have included 

 evaluations of the impacts 

 of alternative forms of land 

 management on municipal 

 watersheds and effects of 

 herbicides, pesticides, and 

 fertilizers on water quality. 



In pine flatwoods, for exam- 

 ple, studies of timber har- 

 vesting showed negligible 

 effects on movement of 

 stream sediments, some 

 temporary increases in 

 water yields and peak flows, 

 and significant removal of 

 nutrients only with window- 

 ing of residual material 

 (Swindel and others 1983). 

 Measures to control unwant- 

 ed vegetation resulted in 

 some increases in water 

 yields and speed of runoff, 



60 



