The effect of variable-retention riparian buffer zones on water temperatures in small headwater streams in sub-boreal forest ecosystems of British Columbia

Abstract

Stream temperature impacts resulting from forest harvesting in riparian areas have been documented in a number of locations in North America. As part of the Stuart–Takla Fisheries–Forestry Interaction Project, we have investigated the influence of three variable-retention riparian harvesting prescriptions on temperatures in first-order streams in the interior sub-boreal forests of northern British Columbia. Prescriptions were designed to represent a range of possible harvesting options outlined by the Forest Practices Code of B.C., or associated best management practice guidelines. Five years after the completion of harvesting treatments, temperatures remained four to six degrees warmer, and diurnal temperature variation remained higher than in the control streams regardless of treatment. Initially, the high-retention treatment acted to mitigate the temperature effects of the harvesting, but 3 successive years of windthrow was antecedent to reduced canopy density and equivalent temperature impacts. We speculate that late autumn reversals in the impacts of forest harvesting also occur. Temperature impacts in this study remained within the tolerance limits of local biota. However, even modest temperature changes could alter insect production, egg incubation, fish rearing, migration timing, and susceptibility to disease, and the effects of large changes to daily temperature range are not well understood.