Forest_Roads_And_Their_Effect_On_Water_Quality

Forest Roads And Their Effect On Water Quality Roads are often necessary to perform certain tasks in the forests. When roads are made, they often pose the problem of erosion, and damage to nearby water sources. The two articles I read on this topic were both from the August 1999 issue of the Journal of Forestry. Both discuss the different techniques and methods for trying to limit the amount of silt that contaminates roads due to disturbance. The first article, “What We Know- and don’t know- about Water Quality at Stream Crossings,” discusses the different methods used to cross streams, and which method causes the most long term, and short term damage to water supplies. Forest road crossings have become a concern, because they are places where disturbance and water run off cause silt to get into streams and water sources. The three main methods discussed in detail in this article for crossing a stream are: fording, using culverts, and either a temporary or permanent bridge. The method with the most impact, according to this article, was the practice of river fording. This method causes inordinate amounts of downstream silt because every time a vehicle fords a crossing, some contaminates are added to the water, article, stream, because, silt, roads, crossings, streams, method, impact, forest, sediment, points, might, methods, damage, culverts, causes, cause, according, two, term, temporary, sources, road, problems, problem, permanent, often, necessary, momentum, limit, know, it’s, issue