Hydrologic Effects of Deforesting Two Mountain Watersheds in West Virginia

The upper half of one watershed and the lower half of another were deforested and maintained barren from 1965 to 1967. Forest on the remaining halves was cut in 1968. Water yield increases from both watersheds averaged almost 6 inches during the half deforested stage and rose to over 10 inches after complete deforestation. The duration of the flows greatly increased on both watersheds. Other hydrologic effects (instantaneous peak flows, stream temperature, specific conductance, and turbidity) were greater on the lower half deforested watershed. These results show again that forest cutting causes substantial increases in streamflow, but, more important, they provide some landmark values on hydrologic effects of complete deforestation.