Abstract
Forests and water are closely related to each other. Thus, forest management is crucial for the sustainable clean water supply. Forest thinning is one of the fundamental forest management practices, as it can change runoff by controlling the density of trees. In this study, the effect of forest thinning on long-term runoff changes was evaluated, based on the long-term rainfall-runoff data of a coniferous plantation forest catchment in Korea. From the double mass curve and Pettitt’s test, a statistically significant increase in runoff rates was identified. A simple linear regression model of the double mass curve can successfully quantify the net effect of forest thinning on the runoff increase. Furthermore, it was also confirmed that forest thinning does not significantly increase the risk of flooding. About ten years after forest thinning, crown closure rates of the coniferous plantation forest reached a level similar to the pre-thinning period, and runoff rates returned to the pre-thinning level, due to forest growth. As a result of this study, a proposed direction for Korea’s forest policy for water resource management is presented for the future.
Highlights
Forests have a large number of functions in terms of ecological and hydrological aspects, which can give ecosystem stability, mitigate hydrological risks, such as floods and soil erosion, and supply fresh water to living things
With the exception of the last four years (2014~2017), when an unusual drought occurred in Korea, the annual rainfall in both Gwangneung coniferous plantation (GCP) and Gwangneung natural deciduous (GND) forest catchments continuously increased depending on the effects of climate change
From the baseflow separation analysis, we find that the quickflow ratio was reduced and baseflow ratio (BFI) was increased after the forest thinning in the GCP forest catchment
Summary
Forests have a large number of functions in terms of ecological and hydrological aspects, which can give ecosystem stability, mitigate hydrological risks, such as floods and soil erosion, and supply fresh water to living things. One of these functions, providing fresh water, is important because the demand for clean water is currently increasing as the quality of life improves and the population grows [1]. Many countries obtain significant amounts of their drinking water from forests, because forests normally supply high-quality water for people continuously throughout the year [2,3,4]. Forests and water are closely related, and many countries have been working on forest management for clean water
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