Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2008

Title: Headwater Streams: Extent and Characterization
Primary Author: Robert Brooks (USDA Forest Service)
Additional Authors: Betsy Colburn (Harvard Forest)
Abstract:
The study will survey and identify the extent and characteristics, including permanency, of headwater streams in central Massachusetts forests. Stream characteristics will be related to site topography, geology, and vegetation. The goal is to assess the accuracy of using the terminus of ‘blue line’ streams on 7.5’ U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps as the basis for defining and delineating streams for regulatory purposes (e.g., “Perennial streams are those which are depicted on a USGS map with a solid blue line. Intermittent streams are those which are depicted on a USGS map with a dotted line”; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Model Ordnance for Stream Buffers ). The study will survey a randomly selected sample of blue-line stream terminus, to (1) assess the accuracy of this delineation, and, if inaccurate, (2) characterize the physical and biological attributes of the stream and riparian forest upstream of the mapped blue-line terminus.
Research Category: Watershed Ecology

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