news - 2018
Wildfire affects water

Nice little article about wildfire effects on water and some of the research from the Forest Ecohydrology and Watershed Science lab in the Fall 2018 issue of Focus: The Magazine of the OSU College of Forestry. Honored to be included in the issue dedicated to the memory of Dean Thomas Maness.

Water sustainability and watershed storage

Commentary led by Jeff McDonnell (Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan) published in Nature Sustainability. "As long-term watershed studies continue to expand around the world, it is important that they include strategies for stored water characterization. Indeed, this is starting to occur. Knowing how and when stored water is routed through the forest watershed is an important step towards interpreting and synthesizing the many factors operating in forest watersheds that produce variable outcomes. This will aid policy guidance and ultimately inform sustainable forest management strategies."

Commentary on global wildfire and clean water

Collaborators, Dennis Hallema (USDA Forest Service) and Francois-Nicolas Robinne (Global Water Futures), commentary entitled 'Reframing the challenge of global wildfire threats to clean water' was recently published in the AGU publication Earth's Future.


2018 CoF FES Awards

Congratulations, once again, to Karla Jarecke as she was awarded the 2018 PhD Student Achievement Award from the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society. This award recognizes Karla's outstanding achievements as a doctoral student, exemplified in part by her enterprising approach to scientific research, her enthusiasm for inclusive and effective scientific communication, and her contributions to the College of Forestry community as a mentor, collaborator, and volunteer.


Congratulations Karla!

We were very happy to hear that outstanding PhD student Karla Jarecke received both the University Graduate Laurels Block Grant and an Oregon Lottery Scholarship for the 2018-2019 academic year. Congratulations, to such a deserving student!

Large wildfires increase streamflow

Science Daily: Large wildfires cause increases in stream flow that can last for years or even decades, according to a new analysis of 30 years of data from across the continental United States.

Burned forests impact water supplies

Our manuscript, led by Dennis Hallema, in collaboration with folks from the US Forest Service was published in the journal Nature Communications. In short, we synthesized longer-term records of wildfire, climate, and river flow for 168 locations across the U.S. Annual streamflow increased substantially whenever burned area exceeded ~19% of the catchment area. However, the interannual variabilty of precipitation in the years following fire can either enhance or mask the hydrologic response.


Congratulations Kira!

The FEWS Lab was very pleased to see Kira Puntenney-Desmond succesfully defend her M.Sc., which was focused on runoff and sediment transport following forest harvesting on the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Special thanks to Dr. Uldis Silins and the Southern Rockies Watershed Project crew.

Rethinking wildfire and forest watershed management

Letter published in the journal Science on the need to reconsider how we have been managing forests and wildfires. We need to improve forest resiliency to also protect water resources for healthy aquatic ecosystems and human populations downstream.

Buffer strips cool streams, but geology rules

News release on our research on the downstream propagation of temperature after contemporary forest harvesting in the Oregon Coast Range.

Global wildfire-water risks

New paper, led by Francois Robinne, in collaboration with folks from the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science, provides a spatial evalution of the global wildfire-water risk is now published at Science of the Total Environment.

New stream temperature manuscript published

Our new manuscript using research from 29 sites across 14 years on 'A multi-catchment analysis of headwater and downstream temperature effects from contemporary forest harvesting' was just published in Hydrological Processes. Still more work to be done in this field!

Alsea Watershed Study Revisited

We revisited a classic paired watershed study, the Alsea, which was originally harvested in 1966. A new study investigated the effects of contemporary forest management practices on suspended sediment and facilitated a unique comparison with historical practices. Findings from this work were published in Forest Ecology and Management in a manuscript led by Jeff Hatten.