Download or read book Quantifying the Role of National Forest System Lands in Providing Surface Drinking Water Supply for the Conterminous United States written by and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service manages more than 779,000 km2 (193 million acres) of national forests and grasslands (collectively, National Forest System [NFS] lands) that play a significant role in providing clean, fresh water for local ecosystems and economies. This water is sometimes transferred hundreds of kilometers away to also serve big cities through inter-basin transfers (IBTs). The contribution of NFS lands to surface drinking water supplies for public water systems has not been assessed at the national scale while accounting for IBTs. The Forest Service Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI) model was modified to provide estimates of 2001–2015 mean annual surface water supply and the proportion of mean surface water supply originating on 172 NFS land units and other forested lands at the 12-digit hydrologic unit code scale across the conterminous United States (CONUS) while accounting for water transfer through IBTs. Predictions of the proportion of surface water supply originating on NFS and other forested lands were linked to specific downstream communities and populations, using surface drinking water intake information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Safe Drinking Water Information System database of public water systems. A new database of 594 IBTs was compiled for this study, ranging from 0.01 million m3 yr-1 to 8,900 million m3 yr-1, for a total transferred volume of 116,894 million m3 yr-1. Overall, NFS lands comprised 9.2 percent of the total CONUS land area but contributed 12.8 percent of the surface water supply. In the West, NFS lands comprised 19.2 percent of the total land area but contributed 46.3 percent of the 478.7 billion m3 yr-1 surface water supply; in the East, NFS lands comprised about 2.8 percent of the total land area and 3.8 percent (66.6 billion m3 yr-1) of the surface water supply. In total across the CONUS, NFS and other forested lands comprised 28.7 percent of the total land area but contributed 46.0 percent of the surface water supply. Approximately 45.8 million people derived >10 percent of their surface drinking water supply from NFS lands, and 22.6 million people received >50 percent of their surface drinking water supply from NFS lands. Approximately 125.5 million people, about 39 percent of the total population in the CONUS in 2017, derived >10 percent of their surface drinking water supply from NFS and other forested lands, with 83.1 million people receiving >50 percent of their surface drinking water supply from NFS and other forested lands. In addition to those populations receiving surface drinking water supply from their local public surface drinking water intakes, 12.6 million people were served by public water systems that purchased surface drinking water supply from other public water systems deriving >10 percent of their surface drinking water supply from NFS lands. This study provides a systematic accounting of NFS and other forested lands for surface drinking water supply. Our results can aid water resource and forest managers in developing integrated watershed management plans at a time when climate change, population growth, and land development threaten water supplies.
Download or read book Quantifying the Role of National Forest System Lands in Providing Surface Drinking Water Supply for the Southern United States written by Peter Caldwell and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forests and water are inextricably linked, and people are dependent on forested lands to provide clean, reliable water supplies for drinking and to support local economies. These water supplies are at risk of degradation from a growing population, continued conversion of forests to other land uses, and climate change. Given the variety of threats to surface water, it is important for forest managers to know how much of the drinking water supply originates in forests they manage and what populations and communities are served by that water. The objective of this analysis was to address this need by 1) estimating how much fresh surface water supply in the South originates from NFS lands and State and private forest lands, and 2) estimating how many people and which communities in the South depend on this fresh surface water supply. Of the 6,188 intakes, 3,143 received more than 20 percent of their water from State and private forest lands and served 29.0 million people. These results highlight the importance of southern forests in providing clean and dependable water supplies to downstream communities.
Download or read book Quantifying the role of National Forest System lands in providing surface drinking water supply for the southern United States written by Peter Caldwell and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Quantifying the Role of State and Private Forest Lands in Providing Surface Drinking Water Supply for the Southern United States written by and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forests provide the most stable and highest quality water supplies among all land uses. The Southern United States is heavily forested, and most of the forests are owned and managed by State and private entities, thus it is critical to understand the role of forest lands in providing water across the region, the fastest growing in the Nation. We quantified surface water supply originating on State and private forest (SPF) lands in the 13 Southern States at the 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code watershed scale, using the Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI) hydrologic model. Water originating on seven forest ownership types was tracked through the river network and linked to a database of surface drinking water intakes to quantify the population served by water from SPF lands across the South. We found that the area of SPF lands was 44.2 percent of the total land area and that SPF lands contributed 44.3% of the 836 billion m3 yr-1 total available surface water supply in the region. Of the 7,582 surface drinking water intakes in the study area, 6,897 (91.0 percent) received some portion of their water from SPF lands, with 4,526 (65.6 percent) receiving >20 percent of their water from SPF lands. Approximately 55.3 million people in the South and 1.8 million people outside the 13 Southern States derived some portion of their surface water supply from SPF lands. These results highlight the importance of southern State and private forests in providing drinking water to downstream communities.
Download or read book Quantifying the Role of State and Private Forest Lands in Providing Surface Drinking Water Supply for the Southern United States written by Ning Liu and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trees at Work written by Forest Service (U.S.) and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2017 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide showcases the increasing interest in ecosystem services, discusses the motivations for valuations of FES (forest ecosystem services) at the State level, and places this work in the context of economic accounting. Readers may be interested in this report to expand their understanding of approaches used and value forest ecosystem services. However, the intended target audience for this report is State forestry officials charged with requesting, selecting, guiding, and evaluating the results of FES assessments in their states. Foresters, construction officials utilizing forest based products, educators, instructors and students in the fields of environmental science and forestry, environmentalists, and investors in the forest products category may also be interested in this work. Check out our Environment & Nature resources collection here:https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/environment-nature Trees & Forests collection here:https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/environment-nature Water Management collection here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/water-management
Download or read book What the National Forests Mean to the Water User written by United States. Forest Service and published by . This book was released on 1919 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water and the Forest Service written by U.s. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public concern about adequate supplies of clean water led to the establishment in 1891 of federally protected forest reserves. The Forest Service Natural Resources Agenda is refocusing the agency on its original purpose. Forests are key to clean water. About 80 percent of the Nation's scarce freshwater resources originate on forests, which cover about one-third of the Nation's land area. The forested land absorbs rain, refills underground aquifers, cools and cleanses water, slows storm runoff, reduces flooding, sustains watershed stability and resilience, and provides critical habitat for fish and wildlife. In addition to these ecological services, forests provide abundant water-based recreation and other benefits that improve the quality of life. Use and development of the water resources of the United States underwent major changes during the 19th century in response to the growing demands of a population that had increased nearly 20-fold since the founding of the country. Westward expansion, and navigable rivers, canals, and harbors for transportation transformed the Nation's economy. As the Nation experienced this period of massive development, major problems emerged from overuse and poor management of its water resources: Urban water supplies were a major source of disease; The capacity of many lakes and streams to assimilate wastes was exceeded; The survival of people living in arid or flood-prone areas depended on unpredictable precipitation patterns. The 1897 Organic Administrative Act said these forest reserves were to protect and enhance water supplies, reduce flooding, secure favorable conditions of water flow, protect the forest from fires and depredations, and provide a continuous supply of timber By 1915, national forests in the West had been established in much the form they retain today. These national forests, which included 162 million acres in 1915, were essentially carved out of the public domain. At that time, few Federal forests were designated in the East because of the lack of public domain. Public demands for eastern national forests resulted in passage of the 1911 Weeks Act, authorizing the acquisition of Federal lands to protect the watersheds of navigable streams. From 1911 to 1945, about 24 million acres of depleted farmsteads, stumpfields, and burned woodlands were incorporated into the eastern part of the National Forest System. This report focuses on the role of forests in water supply—including quantity, quality, timing of release, flood reductions and low flow augmentation, economic value of water from national forest lands, and economic benefits of tree cover for stormwater reduction in urban areas.
Download or read book Water the Forest Service written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book National Forests on the Edge written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Pilot Study of Drinking Water Systems in the U S Forest Service System written by United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Water Supply Division and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Private Forests Housing Growth and America s Water Supply written by Miranda H. Mockrin and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America's private forests provide a vast array of public goods and services, including abundant, clean surface water. Forest loss and development can affect water quality and quantity when forests are removed and impervious surfaces, such as paved roads, spread across the landscape. We rank watersheds across the conterminous United States according to the contributions of private forest land to surface drinking water and by threats to surface water from increased housing density. Private forest land contributions to drinking water are greatest in the East but are also important in Western watersheds. Development pressures on these contributions are concentrated in the Eastern United States but are also found in the North-Central region, parts of the West and Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest; nationwide, more than 55 million acres of rural private forest land are projected to experience a substantial increase in housing density from 2000 to 2030. Planners, communities, and private landowners can use a range of strategies to maintain freshwater ecosystems, including designing housing and roads to minimize impacts on water quality, managing home sites to protect water resources, and using payment schemes and management partnerships to invest in forest stewardship on public and private lands.
Download or read book Drinking Water from Forests and Grasslands written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Development Program for the National Forests written by United States. Forest Service and published by . This book was released on 1961 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Your Water Supply and Forests written by United States. Department of Agriculture and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Report on Progress in Establishing National Forests written by United States. National Forest Reservation Commission and published by . This book was released on 1961 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bypass Flows on National Forest Lands written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Resources. Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: