Poster Presentation Society for Freshwater Science 2026 Annual Meeting

Ten Years of Timber Harvest Effects on Stream Intermittency in Southwest Washington (135950)

Welles Bretherton 1 , Bill Ehinger 1
  1. Washington State Department of Ecology, Olympia, WA, United States

Streams classified as non-fish-bearing perennial (Np) streams in Washington include dry channels that may occur downstream of the highest point of perennial flow. During the low-flow summer months these dry sections can disconnect areas of surface flow from other flowing reaches. To understand the spatial and temporal shifts of the dry reaches in Np streams, we used data collected as part of a larger study by Ehinger and colleagues (2021). This wetted extent survey measured the length of every dry reach in 11 non-fish-bearing watersheds, located in southwest Washington, for 10 years (2013-2020, 2024-2025). In 2014 and 2015, a clearcut timber harvest treatment was implemented at 8 of the 11 basins (3 were left as unharvested references). We used a generalized linear mixed model to test treatment effects on the proportion of the stream network that retained surface flow. We saw an increase in the Proportion of Wetted Channel (PWC) in the first two years after harvest and a return to baseline conditions by year three which continued through year six. A ten-year follow-up survey was conducted in 2024 and 2025. This resulted in substantial declines in the PWC at the treatment sites, with little change in the surface flow patterns of the reference basins.

  1. Ehinger, W., Bretherton, W., Estrella, S., Stewart, G., Schuett-Hames, D., & Nelson, S. (2021). Effectiveness of Forest Practices Buffer Prescriptions on Perennial Non-fish-bearing Streams on Marine Sedimentary Lithologies in Western Washington. Washington State Forest Practices Adaptive Management Program, Washington Department of Natural Resources, Olympia, WA.