​The Sierra-Nevada, Cascade and other mountain ranges are the heart of our state's watershed system. The lakes, rivers, streams and seasonal watercourses are the veins. These watersheds supply the majority of the state's water. Without the canopy cover and root systems that mature trees provide, rainwater runs off the barren land of a clearcut, instead of replenishing the groundwater.

Snow melts earlier in the season causing the soil to dry out earlier, exposing the trees and other plants to more stress from the hotter, drier conditions, and decreasing the water supply when it is needed most.

"Review of Study: Inspection of Sierra Pacific Industries’ Ponderosa Post-Fire Sediment Study" by Tom Myers, PhD   here

". . .the topsoil on earth is incredibly thin and yet it supports hundreds of millions of different species that live in the very top 6 inches.
This thin skin that has given us life is greatly threatened.  As we lose biodiversity, especially with fungi, we begin to unravel
​the very food networks that have given rise to us."

Paul Stamets, "Mycelium Running"​

Our project began in December of 2009.  We have collected over 17,000 samples as of 2023.
We sample 10-13 sites weekly throughout the year. (2 sites dry out in the summer.)
​We measure turbidity, pH, and soil and water temperature.

Our data is uploaded to the California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN)

 Following are some examples of what we find regarding water turbidity and temperature:

High water temperatures                               kill aquatic life.

Streams near clear cuts are full of sedimentation due to lack of vegetation
​on surrounding slopes and the many miles of logging roads.

Water & Soil

For comparison, below is water in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State
​Park during a rainstorm (this forest has never been cut):

Water becomes cloudy due to sediment in the water.

​Sediment, aka turbidity, is measured in NTUs. Below 5 NTUs is considered clean, above 5 NTUs is an exceedance.

​The photo above is upstream of logging. It measured 6.4 NTU.                                      The photo below is the same day downstream of logging, with  a 30.2 NTU reading, nearly 80% higher than the uncut site.

"...we are circling in a continuous stream of land, water, and life, and every part of it is critical to the fertility and health of the whole. Central to that flow of energy and life is the hydrologic cycle."

... Jerry Dennis​

Battle Creek is one of the largest tributaries of the Sacramento River.
The water that flows from the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds supply the Delta.
96% of California's population either lives in the Delta watershed or uses water from the Delta watershed.

The headwaters of the rivers that start in the mountain ranges sustain life in California.​

Logging more will not increase water:The High Costs and Low Benefits of Attempting to Increase Water Yield by Forest Removal in the Sierra Nevada, by Jonathan Rhodes and Christopher Frissell here

Our Citizen's Water Monitoring Project​

The following picture is of Rock Creek in 2011, a tributary of Battle Creek.
​Many clearcuts were done near this creek in 2008.

Clearcutting depletes the forest's ability to maintain watersheds. A functioning forest inhales carbon and exhales oxygen and creates topsoil.
Its root system stabilizes the soil, while the tree canopy allows water to percolate slowly through the soil to maintain the water cycle and
​protect clean water.  While wood products store a small amount of carbon, they perform none of these other functions.​

The salvage logging after the 2012 Ponderosa Fire intensified the sediment effects significantly.
​Rock Creek in 2014 below.

Holding a handful of sediment from the edge of north fork Battle Creek in 2021. Impacts are still present from 2012 logging and fire  upstream.

 battlecreekalliance@gmail.com

Rock Creek Rd.  Manton,  CA 96059