Soil erosion and management activities on forested slopes

Abstract

Some of the most productive forests in the Western United States grow on marginally stable mountainous slopes, where disturbance increases the likelihood of erosion. Much of the public's concern about, and, consequently, most of the research on, erosion from these forested areas is related more to the degradation of stream resources by eroded material than to the loss of soil and nutrients from hillslopes. Erosion from these upper watersheds is a composite of surface, channel, and mass erosion processes. The relative importance of each process is determined by interactions among climate, soil, geology, topography, and vegetation and is the subject of much of the current research on erosion. A change in any of these elements can increase or decrease the rate of erosion

Keywords

PSW4351, soil erosion, hillslopes, sediment, watershe

Citation

Ziemer, Robert R. 1986. Soil erosion and management activities on forested slopes. In: Research For Tomorrow, 1986 Yearbook of Agriculture. Washington, D.C. pp. 247-249.