Thinning of forests, generally undertaken to reduce dangers from wildfire and restore the forest to a more natural state, also can create more mountain runoff to mitigate drought effects in the central Sierra Nevada region that relies on snowpack. In fact, researchers from the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno found that the quantity of additional water produced by thinned forests can be so significant that it might provide further incentive for forest managers to undertake prescribed burning or tree-removal using heavy equipment and hand crews with chainsaws. Water yields from thinned forests can be increased by 8% to 14% during drought years, found the study undertaken by Adrian Harpold … and recently published in Water Resources Research.

Other forest and water news:

• Phys.org: Forest loss to farms and cities linked to declining drinking water quality​