Fredriksen, R. L. 1971. Comparative chemical water quality--natural and disturbed streams following logging and slash burning. In: Proceedings of a symposium on forest land uses and stream environment; 1970 October 19-21; Corvallis, OR. Corvallis, OR: Continuing Education Publications, Oregon State University: 125-137.
The loss of nutrients from an old-growth Douglas-fir forest was measured in the streams of experimentalwatersheds. Following timber harvest and slash burning, loss of nutrients cations increased 1.6 to 3.0 times theloss from the undisturbed watershed. A surge of nutrients that followed broadcast burning containedconcentrations of ammonia and manganese that exceeded Federal water quality standards for a period of 12days. Annual nitrogen loss following burning averaged 4.6 pounds per acre; 53 percent of this was organicnitrogen contained in sediment. Inorganic nitrogen, dissolved in the stream, made up the remaining part. Annualloss of nitrogen from the undisturbed forest was very small—.16 pound per acre.