title: The role of biogeochemical hotspots, landscape heterogeneity, and hydrological connectivity for minimizing forestry effects on water quality.
abstract: Protecting water quality in forested regions is increasingly important as pressures from land-use, long-range transport of air pollutants, and climate change intensify. Maintaining forest industry without jeopardizing sustainability of surface water quality therefore requires new tools and approaches. Here, we show how forest management can be optimized by incorporating landscape sensitivity and hydrological connectivity into a framework that promotes the protection of water quality. We discuss how this approach can be operationalized into a hydromapping tool to support forestry operations that minimize water quality impacts. We specifically focus on how hydromapping can be used to support three fundamental aspects of land management planning including how to (i) locate areas where different forestry practices can be conducted with minimal water quality impact; (ii) guide the off-road driving of forestry machines to minimize soil damage; and (iii) optimize the design of riparian buffer zones. While this work has a boreal perspective, these concepts and approaches have broad-scale applicability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden. hjalmar.laudon@slu.se.
authors.forename: Hjalmar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laudon
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada. lenka.kuglerova@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuglerová
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. ryan.sponseller@umu.se.
authors.forename: Ryan A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sponseller
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden. martyn.futter@slu.se.
authors.forename: Martyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Futter
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden. annika.nordin@slu.se.
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nordin
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden. kevin.bishop@geo.uu.se.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden. tomas.lundmark@slu.se.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lundmark
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden. gustaf.egnell@slu.se.
authors.forename: Gustaf
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Egnell
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden. anneli.agren@slu.se.
authors.forename: Anneli M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ågren
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D058735:Environmental Policy; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods*; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry; D013548:Sweden; D060753:Water Quality
keywords: Biogeochemical hotspots; Hydrological connectivity; Landscape heterogeneity; Minimizing forestry effects; Water quality