SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG BOREAL RIPARIAN TREES, LITTERFALL AND SOIL-EROSION POTENTIAL WITH REFERENCE TO BUFFER STRIP MANAGEMENT AND COLDWATER FISHERIES

Litter cover is known to protect ground surfaces from raindrop impact and therefore reduces soil erosion. Significant differences were found to exist in the abundance, composition and size of trees, in their li tter production rates, and in the resulting potential for soil erosion of the foreshore (0-20 m from shorelines) compared with the backshore (20-50 m upslope) regions of riparian zones around four boreal lakes located in northwestern Ontario, Canada. These findings support a glob al pattern wherein litter production adjacent to waterbodies is often considerably reduced compared with that characteristic of upland fores ts. This study therefore raises questions of the presumed effectivenes s of existing forestry guidelines concerning widths of protective buff er strips around boreal, coldwater lakes in Ontario, which are present ly based on an erroneous assumption of uniform tree cover and litterfa ll throughout riparian zones.