Potential Soil Erosion of Selected Habitat Types in the High Desert Region of Central Oregon

Abstract

During the summers of 1975 and 1976, an infiltration/sedimentation study was conducted in the Bear Creek watershed of central Oregon. A Rocky Mountain infiltrometer was used to simulate high intensity rainfall over 468 sediment plots. The Bear Creek watershed was divided into seven ecological land units which were further refined into ten tentative habitat types based upon an associated table developed from vegetation and soils field data. Tractor logging in the mixed forest caused a signiflcant increase in soil loss. In nonforested units, a high natural variability in sediment production within sites tended to mask any differences that may have resulted from a management treatment. Significant differences that did occur appeared to be closely related to differences in soils and ecological condition. Beyond the identiflcation of specific sediment production potentials, this work investigated the value of the habitat type level of ecological refinement in relation to hydrologic response. Management of semiarid range watersheds is based primarily upon the harvest of natural resources and the realization of nontangible benefits from the land and its vegetation. Watershed concerns on these rangelands deal with soil stability and protection and the quantity and quality of water that is produced. Management, therefore, requires the maintenance of a vegetation and soil cover that is able to utilize and store precipitation at its maximum effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate ecological land units within the Bear Creek watershed, 65 km east of Bend, Oregon, in terms of their susceptibility to surface