Utility of biological monitoring for detection of timber harvest effects on streams and evaluation of Best Management Practices: a review

• Published in: Journal of the North American Benthological Society Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 634 - 646
• Main Authors: Fortino, Kenneth, Hershey, Anne E, Goodman, Keli J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-09-2004
• Subjects: biological monitoring; BRIDGES; Environmental assessment; Forest litter; Forest resources; Logging; multimetric; Predictive modeling; Sediments; Streams; Taxa; Timber; timber harvest; Vegetation
• ISSN: 0887-3593; 1937-237X
• DOI: 10.1899/0887-3593%282004%29023%3C0634%3AUOBMFD%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Best Management Practice (BMP) guidelines have been developed to reduce the negative impacts of timber harvest on streams. BMPs are widely implemented, but the effectiveness of timber harvest BMPs has not been evaluated using modern biological monitoring techniques. Most current biological monitoring is based on 1 of 2 main approaches: multimetric monitoring or predictive modeling. These approaches differ considerably, and their respective merits and failings have been debated extensively in the literature. Our review evaluated the ability of these biological monitoring approaches to detect timber harvest effects and to assess the effectiveness of BMPs. Both techniques detect impairment via changes in macroinvertebrate community structure, despite their differences in approach. Most of the negative effects of timber harvest result in changes in the macroinvertebrate community, so we have concluded that both techniques should be effective for the evaluation of timber harvest and BMPs.