Effects of Disturbance on Forested Catchments
Many of the research questions we ask focus on understanding the effects of disturbances on forested watersheds, particularly the impacts of forest management, fire, and climate change on streamflow, sediment transport, stream temperature, and aquatic ecology. In doing so, we also consider the natural variability and intrinsic characteristics of the landscape. We rely on observations and experiments, often using data long term data collected over multiple decades.
Fire and hydrologic function
Focused on understanding the effects of wildfire on ecosystems. The motivation became clear after two-thirds of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest burned in September 2020 with the Holiday Farm Fire and in August 2023 with the Lookout Fire. Since then, we have secured funding from the Volkswagen Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
See here.
Streamflow and Sediment
Our research framework examines how forest management, roads, floods, and geomorphic processes interact over decades to shape watershed hydrology and channel response. Long‑term studies in the Oregon Cascades and Coast Range show that clearcutting, road construction, and past landslides alter flow routing, sediment delivery, large wood dynamics, and channel form, with effects that depend strongly on underlying geomorphic zones and disturbance history. Analyses of 50–70 years of paired‑watershed and basin‑scale records reveal that hydrologic responses—such as changes in quickflow, delayed flow, and seasonal streamflow patterns—and geomorphic adjustments to floods are driven more by the cumulative legacy of management and prior events than by individual storm magnitudes. Even decades after logging, planted forest regrowth, altered transpiration, reduced snowpack, and road‑related connectivity continue to influence streamflow, while channel change reflects interactions among lithology, sediment supply, and wood movement. Together, these findings demonstrate that watershed response is path‑dependent and that understanding forest–stream interactions requires long‑term, integrated observation across hydrologic, geomorphic, and management processes.
37. *Goodman, A. C., Segura, C., Jones, J. A., & Swanson, F. J. (2022). Seventy years of watershed response to floods and changing forestry practices in western Oregon, USA. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, n/a. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5537
34. *Crampe, E. A., Segura, C., & Jones, J. A. (2021). Fifty years of runoff response to conversion of old-growth forest to planted forest in the H. J. Andrews Forest, Oregon, USA. Hydrological Processes, 35, e14168. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14168.
28. Segura, C., Bladon, K. D., Hatten, J. A., Jones, J. A., Hale, V. C., & Ice, G. G. (2020). Long-term effects of forest harvesting on summer low flow deficits in the Coast Range of Oregon. Journal of Hydrology, 585, 124749. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124749. Press relese here.
Stream Temperature
The impacts of human activities such has harvesting and other land uses on water quality have been an environmental concern for many years. One of the primary concerns is the potential for land use activities to produce increases in stream temperature. Water temperature is one of the primary water quality constituents recognized as the dominant causes of impairment in streams throughout the Pacific Northwest. See here.