Forest Hydrology and Catchment Management

For the last three centuries forests have been recognised as providing the best water catchments and valued for their sustained output of high quality water. The last century has seen the development of scientific knowledge on the hydrology of forests. In Australia, work which was commenced fifty years ago has come to fruition and is providing new information on the water yields of our forests and the factors that affect these forest values. The book particularly focusses on the issues of small streams. These often un-named “foot soldiers” of the hydrologic world are in an intimate relationship with their forest cover. Issues of catchment definition, slope processes storing rainfall and producing runoff, flow variation with time, and annual water yield are covered. Recent results studies looking at the water yield of plantations and native forest are presented, sometimes with surprising results. Large rivers also have a role in forest hydrology since many major forests of the world depend on flooding from these for their survival. The section on flooding forests draws particularly on Australian experience in the River Murray but the issues of river regulation, competition for water