Class Year

2022

Document Type

Student Research Paper

Date of Creation

Spring 2022

Department 1

Environmental Studies

Abstract

Logging can affect freshwater streams around logging sites, even years after the logging has occurred. In this study, we looked into how sustainable logging in Michaux State Forest (in Adams County, Pennsylvania) has affected two streams within the state park: Mountain Creek and Birch Run. Six sites were selected along each stream, with three upstream and three downstream from the logging area. We hypothesized that the water quality would be lower at the stream sites downstream from the logged areas as compared to the upstream sites. At each site, water samples were collected, including pH, water temperature, and turbidity, as were freshwater macroinvertebrates. Turbidity was low, indicating good stream quality at all sites, but pH was also low, indicating poor stream quality. Coarse woody debris (CWD) was examined at each site, as it can impact stream quality by creating extra particulate matter, but counts of CWD were low. Diversity of freshwater macroinvertebrates was relatively high, with most of the collected taxa showing good water quality, though a few indicated poor water quality. The Hilsenhoff Index and the EPT Index, both based on the presence or absence of specific macroinvertebrate taxa, indicated good water quality for all locations. This study determined that future research should be conducted on logging impacts on stream quality in Michaux State forest, as there were several indicators that the stream waters could be low quality, even if the majority of the indicators showed good water quality.

Comments

Written for ES 400: Environmental Studies Senior Seminar

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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