Publication

Commercial forestry operations potentially exert various influences on water quality, with impacts varying depending on the type of forestry operations and their interactions with local environmental conditions. Although the relative impacts of commercial forest activities to water are relatively small (compared to other land-uses), localised impacts on water quality can be significant and the existing literature highlights a critical gap in the connection between water quality and forest management, especially with regards to interactions between multiple environmental parameters and forestry activities. This project aimed to assess suitability of existing models in predicting these impacts. This study noted that although existing models are valuable for assessing forestry impacts, many do not fully integrate water quality considerations and forestry activities as inputs. The project findings highlight a gap in data availability as well as modelling efforts to couple water quality dynamics with forestry operations.