THE PHYSICAL EFFECT OF LOGGING ON SALMON STREAMS 
A Summary Report Covering a 5-year Calibration 
Period on Four Streams in Southeast Alaska 
by 
George A. James, Forester 
Alaska Forest Research Center 
SUMMARY 
The principal and most valuable industry of Alaska has been the salmon 
fisheries. Future development of Southeast Alaska, however, will depend 
on an increasing utilization of its important forest resource. The 
fisheries resource and the timber resource are intimately related. 
Reliable answers are therefore needed as to whether large-scale pulp- 
timber logging is harmful to the spawning facilities of salmon streams. 
The Alaska Forest Research Center began a program of research in 1949 
to relate logging practices by Forest Service standards to changes in 
the large-scale physical factors of the stream environment.14/ The study 
is divided into two parts: (1) collection of quantitative information 
on type and extent of physical change which takes place in these streams 
prior to logging, and (2) quantitative change following logging. Four 
streams, located in the Kasaan Bay area, Prince of Wales Island, were 
selected for long-term study. Two of the study watersheds will be 
logged; two will not be logged. Measurements are being made of such 
factors as climate, streamflow, storms and associated runoff, base flow, 
water temperature, stream channel change, sedimentation, and others. 
Rate and characteristics of streamflow influence both the physical and 
the biotic elements of the stream. This phase of the study will deter- 
mine the effect of timber harvest on stream runoff. Basic data col- 
lected include a continuous record of stream height, discharge velocity 
associated with stream height, snow and ice conditions, analysis of 
storm flow, and ground-water depletion. Data are presented showing mean 
monthly stream height, mean monthly discharge, the relationship between 
rainfall and runoff, analysis of flood peaks, ratio of maximum to 
minimum stream discharge, and ground-water depletion. 
1/ The author is indebted to several foresters who helped in the 
establishment of this study, notably L. W. Zach. R. M. Godman, and 
J. L. Hall. Special acknowledgment is made to R. E. Marsh and 
R. I. Mayo, Water Resources Division, U. S. Geological Survey, for 
help in various technical phases; to E. G. Dunford of the Pacific 
Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, and Wm. L. Sheridan 
of the Fisheries Research Institute, University of Washington, for 
review of the manuscript. 
