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The Impact Of Historic Logging On Woody Debris Distribution And Stream Morphology In The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina-Tennessee, Christopher M. Morris

Masters Theses

In the early 1900s, large sections of the Great Smoky Mountains were intensively logged. Since then, most locations have been allowed to naturally become forest-covered again, resulting in areas of secondary growth and old growth forest. To determine whether differences in large woody debris (LWD) loading and channel morphology persist today, I measured LWD, channel widths and depths, and channel bed sediments of streams in old and secondary growth forest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. LWD pieces in streams in old growth had larger mean diameters and lengths compared to LWD in streams in secondary growth forest. Streams …