Changes in suspended‐sediment yields under divergent land‐cover disturbance histories: A comparison of two large watersheds, Olympic Mountains, USA

Abstract

AbstractImprovements in timber harvest practices and reductions in harvest volumes over the past half century are commonly presumed to have reduced sediment loads in many western US rivers. However, direct assessments in larger watersheds are relatively sparse. Here, we compare 2019–21 sediment concentrations against those of the late 1970s in the Bogachiel and Calawah  River watersheds, adjacent and similarly sized (~300 km2) basins in the western Olympic Mountains of Washington State. The Calawah River watershed has experienced significant land‐cover disturbance, including a large 1951 fire, extensive post‐fire salvage logging, and relatively high rates of timber harvest through the 1990s. In contrast, the Bogachiel River watershed did not burn, and experienced only modest timber harvest that largely post‐dated 1970s sediment monitoring. Channel‐width trends suggest the Calawah River was still recovering from 1950s disturbances in the late 1970s. We found that 2019–21 suspended‐sediment loads in the Calawah River were 2.3–2.6 times lower than would have been expected based on 1970s sediment rating curves, while recent loads in the Bogachiel River were a factor of 1.4 ± 1.0 lower. We consider the plausibility and possible explanations of declining concentrations in the less‐disturbed Bogachiel River. Suspended‐sediment yields in the Bogachiel River were two times higher than yields in the Calawah River, which is attributed to a combination of modestly higher precipitation, more efficient runoff generation, and more extensive and erodible Quaternary valley fills in the Bogachiel River. Regional shifts in flood hydrology have also influenced suspended‐sediment loads in both watersheds. Our results then document a significant decline in suspended‐sediment concentrations in the Calawah River over the past half century. Reduced land‐cover disturbance provides the simplest and most likely explanation for this decline, though the wide range of possible concentration changes in the Bogachiel River leaves open possibilities that other processes (human, natural, or methodologic) could be a factor.