Print PageThe National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. (NCASI) has served the forest products industry since 1943. Originally named the National Council for Stream Improvement of the Pulp, Paper & Paper Board Industries, Inc., NCASI’s environmental research has broadened from a focus on reducing pollution loads to a wide range of ecological issues. Here we summarize three key research efforts by NCASI and their findings.
NCASI’s Long-Term Receiving Water Study (LTRWS) is a multi-year effort to examine aquatic biota and environmental responses to exposure to pulp mill effluent discharges relative to upstream sites in four US watersheds. This decades-long study assesses warm and cold water streams with effluent fractions ranging from 0.2 to 33% of receiving water discharges. Study findings have shown no effluent-related habitat changes and few changes in measured water quality parameters in all streams; with no detectable changes in periphyton, macroinvertebrates, or fish in three streams. One stream showed downstream differences in 2/16 fish metrics and 1/7 macroinvertebrate metrics used to assess aquatic communities. The robust dataset highlights the need for long-term studies in natural systems where spatial and temporal variability is high.
Two paired watershed studies provide examples of forest watershed research. The Alto Watershed Study in Texas returned to the site of an earlier study of the effects of alternative mechanical site preparation methods on water quality. The study was conducted at the same sites but included the application of Best Management Practices (BMPs). Sediment impacts were reduced nearly tenfold with BMPs. The Alsea Watershed Study Revisited in Oregon returns to a watershed harvested in 1966 without special stream protection. This same watershed, harvested in 2009 with BMPs, is showing few of the dramatic changes in water temperature and dissolved oxygen seen in the original study. Fish and macroinvertebrate monitoring is allowing an assessment of aquatic community responses to contemporary forest practices and a new understanding of the natural dynamics of these headwater streams.
Forest wildlife research by NCASI in the forests of the West and East includes studies on species such as the cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea), spotted owl (Strix occidentalis), and elk (Cervus elaphus). NCASI also participates in research addressing biodiversity responses to biomass harvesting treatments, use of forest herbicides, green tree retention, and other management practices. This research demonstrates opportunities to accommodate wildlife in managed forests while also meeting other landowner objectives.
