Suspended sediment production potential on undisturbed forest land

John M. Fowler; Earl O. Heady

ABSTRACT:

The 614 million acres of undisturbed forest land in the contiguous United States contribute more than 100 million tons of suspended sediment to the nation's public waterways each year. The rates of suspended sediment production on undisturbed forest land serve as benchmarks against which the effects of intensified silvicultural activity on annual rates of suspended sediment production can be assessed. Nonpoint pollution from undisturbed forest land varies widely, ranging from .001–.009 tons per acre per year in scattered producing areas to as much as 3.3 tons per acre per year on isolated forests in southern and Pacific Coast areas. Coupling forested acres with the rate of sediment production per acre indicates that the Northwest and Southeast have the heaviest suspended sediment rates in the contiguous United States.

Footnotes

John M. Fowler is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, 88003, and Earl O. Heady is director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011. Journal Paper No. J-9220, Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station.
Copyright 1981 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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