Grant, Gordon E.; Swanson, Frederick J. 1995. Watershed analysis on the public lands: where are we now and where should we be going? In: Harris, Richard R.; Kattelmann, Rick; Kerner, Hannah; Woled, Jeff, eds. Watersheds '94: respect, rethink, restore: proceedings of the fifth biennial watershed management conference; 1994 November 16-18; Ashland, OR. University of California Water Resources Center Report 86. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management: Cooperative Extension Forestry: 49-53.
Watershed analysis (WA) for public landswas originally riPsigned as a formal process to addressa specific problem - fitting regional conservationstrategies to a given landscape. It represents amechanism for conducting ecosystem-scale analysesbefore planning and calculation of commodity outputs.Legally mandated on public forest lands throughout thePacific Northwest, it is struggling to define its roleagainst a backdrop of continued uncertainty andcontention about the direction of Federal forestmanagement. Current objectives for WA range fromusing analyses to (1) identify best managementpractices to mitigate or reduce cumulative effects, (2)develop conservation strategies for critical species, or(3) design landscapes based on ecosystem dynamicsinterpreted from the historical or natural variation inpast ecosystem conditions. Efficiently and effectivelyconducting WA requires that priorities among theseobjectives be established, but no well defined forum isproviding clear policy direction. In spire of theseuncertainties, future WAs will be successful if they arebetter integrated with planning, used to formulate andevaluate a range of alternatives, address bothterrestrial and aquatic systems and their interactionssimultaneously, and move toward using ecologicprinciples, such as recognizing the importance ofdisturbance regimes as underlying principles forlandscape design.
Key words: watershed analysis, ecosystem managementINTRODUCTION