Incorporating water goals into forest management decisions at a local level

Silvicultural practices are important factors in determining water yield an d quality from forested watersheds. Similarly gods for water yield and qual ity significantly influence the acceptability of various silvicultural prac tices. Developed through a process of consulting experts in various subspec ialties of natural resource management, the NED1 decision support software is designed to provide a structure for project-level analysis of management alternatives based on identified goals. Using this software, one can analy ze forest conditions in the northeastern United States with respect to wate r, wildlife, timber production, visual quality, and general ecological goal s. Water quantity goals include increasing water flow, maintaining a minimu m flow, and limiting peak flow. Water quality goals include intensive water course protection, wetlands protection, riparian area management, cold-wate r fish habitat, and warm-water fish habitat. In all cases, a minimum goal o f obeying the law by following statutory best management practices (BMPs) i s implied, whether or not one selects another water goal. Given a set of go als, a user of the NED system can analyze which goals are met under alterna tive silvicultural prescriptions or other activities and resolve which goal s may or may not be compatible with each other. Published by Elsevier Scien ce B.V.