forestry

Planting and maintaining tree cover in near-stream areas can have multiple benefits including erosion and nutrient leaching control. They will also slow the stream velocity during high flow flood events and may have beneficial effects on stream temperature. Maintaining treed forest buffers during clearcutting can help minimizing the adverse effects of forestry on water quality and may have additional biodiversity benefits.
- Based on Stella definitions, adapted by NWRM project experts and validated by the European Commission

There is some evidence that planting trees on some Mediterranean hillslopes can assist in cloud formation and precipitation. The forests assist in "trapping" rising air and condensing atmospheric water vapour. This work has been pursued by Milan Milan, amongst others.
- Based on Stella definitions, adapted by NWRM project experts and validated by the European Commission

Afforestation of reservoir catchments can have multiple benefits. It can reduce sediment inputs from the catchment, lengthening the life of the reservoir, and may also have beneficial effects on water quality in some cases when peatlands are afforested. Afforestation can reduce peak flows and help to maintain base flows. The benefits of afforestation must be balanced against the potential for increased evapotranspiration from a rapidly growing forest.
- Based on Stella definitions, adapted by NWRM project experts and validated by the European Commission

Ditch blocking in managed peatland forests can be used to slow water and trap sediment after forest harvesting. The ditches can be made of wood logs or gabions, for example.
- Elaborated by NWRM project experts and validated by the European Commission

Basins and ponds store surface run-off.ﾠ Detention basins are free from water in dry weather flow conditions but ponds (e.g., retention ponds, flood storage reservoirs, shallow impoundments) contain water in dry weather, and are designed to hold more when it rains.
- Based on Stella definitions, adapted by NWRM project experts and validated by the European Commission

Much of the evapotranspiration from forests falls elsewhere as rain, Ellison et al. (2012), amongst others, have shown that this large scale water pump can be a significant component of the annual precipitation in many continental areas. That is to say, many continental areas would receive a lot less rain if it were not for the mositure returned to the atmosphere by actively growing forests.

A gabion (from Italian gabbione meaning "big cage"; from Italian gabbia and Latin cavea meaning "cage") is a cage, cylinder, or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building, and military applications.

Forest harvesting can cause severe disruptions to the hydrologic cycle. Clearcut areas are often subject to localized flooding due to reductions in evapotranspiration caused by removal of trees. Roads and other infrastructure needed to support forest harvesting can also be significant sources of sediment to surface waters. However, negative effects can be minimized when forest harvesting is performed in a water-sensitive manner and measures are taken to maintain the natural hydrological functioning of the landscape.

A biophysical parameter is a measurable characteristic that can help in defining a particular system. It can cover individual substances, groups of substances or be defined by its measurement method like turbidity or the mesurement of oxygen consumption like BOD5 or COD. It is generally expressed by a value and its unit.

The design and material used in forest road building may have strong impact on erosion risk and water quality in streams. Bridges or culverts used at stream crossings must be properly designed to minimise negative impacts on the aquatic environment. Poorly designed or poorly constructed stream crossings can lead to increased sediment mobilisation, changes in flow patterns and even flooding upstream if insufficient water is transported.

Properly designed stream crossings permit the free movement of fish and aquatic invertebrates and will not restrict peak flows. Ensuring that stream crossings do not restrict peak flows will help to reduce localised flooding and can ultimately be more cost effective as they will not need to be rebuilt following high flow events.