Welcome to the WRC Paired Watershed 2013 Conference

Join us on April 18, 2013 in Corvallis, Oregon at the LaSells Stewart Center on the Oregon State University campus.

A WRC Paired Watershed Conference: Key Findings on the Environmental Impact of Contemporary Forest Practices.

Over the past several decades, changes in forest protection rules were implemented; and the annual harvest in Oregon was reduced, at least in part, in response to the impact of forest management activities on fisheries and water quality. Despite these changes, listings of salmon as endangered or threatened and issues regarding water quality continue to be a source of concern that the intensity of contemporary forest practices is not environmentally sustainable. Policy makers that promulgate forest practice rules and land managers that prescribe management practices for federal and state forest land require quantitative, state-of-the-art information regarding the environmental impact of contemporary forest practices. The Watersheds Research Cooperative (WRC) under the administration of the College of Forestry at Oregon State University was chartered to help provide such information.

Cutting edge research on the environmental impact of contemporary forest practices is carried out in three paired watershed studies in western Oregon under the auspices of the WRC. These paired watershed studies are

1. The Trask Paired Watershed Study in northwest Oregon

2. The Alsea Paired Watershed Study Revisited in central coastal Oregon

3. The Hinkle Creek Paired Watershed Study in southwest Oregon

The Hinkle Creek Paired Watershed Study was initiated in 2001 and ceased formal data collection in 2011. The Trask and Alsea Paired Watershed Studies joined the WRC in 2006 and are ongoing studies. Treatments were installed in both studies in recent years, and post-treatment data collection will continue until 2015.

The purpose of this conference is to report on the results and progress of the research being carried out in these paired watershed studies. The presentations will cover key findings of the research that has been completed, some final results, preliminary results, current status, and the future direction of the paired watershed studies. Papers presented at this conference will become a special issue of the journal Forest Science.