Gravel galore: Impacts of clear-cut logging on salmon and their habitats

Abstract

Timber harvest may have both direct and indirect effects on salmon, and with a few exceptions those effects result in lowered survival of salmon in their stream habitats compared with unlogged forest (Hicks et al. 1991b). Some impacts may be seen immediately or shortly after logging, whereas others can take decades to be expressed. Central to analyzing these effects is the context of the freshwater environment in which salmon are spawned and reared, and the life histories of the salmon species. This chapter will examine the effects of timber harvest on the freshwater habitat and life stages of salmon. It will also investigate the hypothesis that the salmon species least affected by timber harvest are those with the least reliance on stream habitats.