Long-Term Objectives:

1. To conduct long-term field studies to examine the impacts of different water management and SilVicultural treatments on the hydrology and water quality of drained pine plantations.

2. To develop or modify, test, and validate DRAINMOD based models for their application in predicting and evaluating hydrology and water quality for the forested watersheds under these treatments.

3.. To apply the results of field scale research (both data and models) to assess cumulative impacts of alternative land uses and management practices on hydrology and water quality at the outlet of large coastal watersheds.

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Short-Term Objectives:

1. To measure and analyze the effects of water management treatment imposed for maximizing tree growth on hydrology, and nutrient and sediment loading rates from forested poorly drained watersheds.

2. To measure and analyze the effects of water management treatment imposed for minimizing off site impacts on the hydrology, and nutrient and sediment loading rates.

3. To utilize field data to further modify and validate DRAINMOD based models to predict and evaluate the effects of management practices on hydrology and water quality at the field outlet of drained pine plantations.

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Accomplishments:

A field scale forestry version of DRAINMOD model was developed and tested using six years of data from a heavily instrumented 17-year old drained loblolly pine plantation site in Carteret county, N.C. The model was successfully tested with six years of data under conventional and controlled drainage treatments on these watersheds. A watershed scale model developed by linking the field scale model with an existing channel routing model was successfully tested with 5 years of data from a medium scale drained pocosin watershed.

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Future Research:

Field and modeling research will be continued to study the impacts of clear-cutting on the hydrology and water quality in these drained forested watersheds. A new controlled drainage treatment utilizing a weir with a restrictive orifice to lower and extend outflow rates will also be tested. Field measurements will be conducted over a 3-year period to include effects of weather variability. Results from this study will be used in conjunction with large watershed scale models to evaluate the cumulative impacts of best management practices in coastal areas of NC.

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