The Rural Voice, 2006-03, Page 45Woodlot
Management
Trees help keep
water clean
Steve Bowers
is a forester
and forest
owner, a
member of
the Huron -
Perth
Chapter of
the Ontario
Woodlot
Association
and
Stewardship
Co-ordinator with the Huron
Stewardship Council.
Last week I attended the annual
Ontario Forestry Association confer-
ence near Alliston. The theme of the
conference was Woods and Waters
— Exploring the Relationships.
One of the speakers was Jack
Imhoff, National Biologist for Trout
Unlimited Canada. His presentation
dealt with the essential role forests
play in the health and productivity of
our aquatic environments.
Obviously, representing Trout
Unlimited, his focus was on fisheries;
however, one of his first comments
was, "Without healthy forests, we
cannot have healthy water."
Imhoff first looked at forests and
their impacts on water resources at a
broader, landscape level. He said
that prior to settlement, up to 55 per
cent of precipitation onto our then
primarily forested landscape, was
discharged into the atmosphere by
evaporation and transpiration. Less
that 10 per cent was discharged
through surface runoff and the
remainder was absorbed into the
ground, recharging groundwater
resources.
With our present day cleared
landscape those figures have changed
substantially, in fact they've almost
reversed. Depending on the amount
of forest cover left, 55 per cent or
more of precipitation may now
discharge as surface runoff, with
corresponding decreases in both
groundwater recharge and evapo-
transpiration. Without forest cover,
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Telephone: (519) 291-2236
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• reforestation of erodible or idle land
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MARCH 2006 41