Abstract
In forest landscape restoration, one of the key objectives is to improve the water conservation capacity of the deforested land. A rapid, accurate assessment of the effects of the restoration measures on the water conservation capacity of targeted forests can help forest managers to identify the best practices for forest restoration. However, the traditional assessment tools of forest water conservation function lack a description of forest growth, and are featured by complex computation, which fails to evaluate the effects of forest restoration on the regional forest water conservation capacity in an efficient way. To address this issue, through combining the forest restoration evaluation model (equivalent recovery area, ERA), classic forest water storage capacity estimation (total water storage capacity), this study has taken advantage of ENVI/IDL, ArcGIS Engine/C#.Net to develop the Forest and Water Assessment Tool (FWAT) for assessing the changes of the regional forest landscape and the associated forest water conservation capacity in various forest restoration scenarios. This tool has been successfully applied in the Upper Zagunao watershed, a large forested watershed in the Upper Yangtze River basin. According to the assessment, the forest water conservation capacity of the study watershed consistently increased from about 1580.76 t/hm2 in 2010 to a projected 2014.34 t/hm2 by natural restoration, and 2124.18 t/hm2 by artificial restoration by 2030. The artificial restoration measures yield a better effect on forest water conservation function than natural restoration. By 2030, the forest water conservation capacity of artificial restoration scenario is expected to be about 7% higher than that of natural restoration scenario. The FWAT as an efficient tool to assess the effects of forest restoration measures on regional forest water conservation capacity can provide scientific support for the design of forest restoration and management strategies worldwide.
Highlights
To address the issues above, we innovatively developed the equivalent recovery area (ERA) model for the quantification of forest changes under various forest restoration scenarios based on the concept of equivalent clear-cut area (ECA)
Forest changes caused by forest restoration measures were simulated and predicted by use of the forest change simulation and prediction module of Forest and Water Assessment Tool (FWAT)
The layout of forest restoration measures in the Upper Zagunao watershed was implemented according to the data of DEM, precipitation, land cover, and tree species and parameters of forest restoration measures (Table 2 and Figure A2)
Summary
We developed the Forest and Water Assessment Tool (FWAT), a GIS-based tool combining the forest restoration model (ERA) and a classic forest water conservation capacity quantification method (total water storage capacity) to evaluate the forest restoration effects on spatialtemporal changes of forest landscapes and their associated forest water conservation capacity in the Upper Zagunao watershed. (1) to generate a forest restoration prediction model (equivalent recovery area, ERA); (2) to develop the Forest and Water Assessment Tool (FWAT) to evaluate and predict forest and water conservation capacity at a regional scale; (3) to provide an example of the application of the FWAT in the Upper Zagunao watershed. Forests 2021, 12, 1291 generate a forest restoration prediction model (equivalent recovery area, ERA); (2) to develop the Forest and Water Assessment Tool (FWAT) to evaluate and predict forest and water conservation capacity at a regional scale; (3) to provide an example of the application of the FWAT in the Upper Zagunao watershed. The best forest restoration measures to improve regional forest water conservation capacity
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