Forestry Best Management Practices and Water Quality in the Piedmont and Ridge-And-Valley Provinces
- Published:
- July 7, 1997
- Originator:
- Chesapeake Bay Program
Ecological functions of forests include provision of a clean and continuous water supply, soil stabilization and sediment retention, nutrient and carbon storage, production of wood products, moderation of woodland stream temperatures, provision of energy in pt for streams, and maintenance of wildlife and gisheries habitat (Spurr and Barnes 1980). All of these functions are interralted to determine local evironment quality. Nutrient and sediment retention by forests are also of primary importance in landscape and regional nenvironmental quality because of the ability of forests to act as filters of nutrient runoff from other land uses, thereby reducing cumylative effects within larhe watersheds that feed coastal and estuarine ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay. The central role that forests play in regional environmental quality dictates a regional perspective on forests ecosystems function and management.