CONDUCTING A LONG-TERM WATER-QUALITY MONITORING PROJECT - A CASE-STUDY ON THE MCCLOUD RIVER, CALIFORNIA

Monitoring efforts at The McCloud River Preserve, California, exemplif y an effective long-term approach to monitoring the effects of timber harvest activities an water quality. Data collection began two years b efore timber harvesting activities started (winter of 1986) and contin ued three years after the conclusion of timber harvesting (1994). A pa ired watershed method was wed to compare changes between disturbed and undisturbed watersheds in the concentration of suspended sediment, tu rbidity, and peak flows. The concentration of suspended sediment and p eak flaws increased during the period of heaviest disturbance, while t urbidity remained unchanged. In the three years following the harvest concentration of suspended sediment and peak flows returned to pre-dis turbance ranges.