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The impact of clearcut logging on the watersheds of the Discovery Islands
Water is essential for life. Humans can go a month without food, but only three days without water. Life gathers around water and open water attracts and supports wildlife and fish. On Quadra Island alone there are over 70 lakes of various sizes, with a complex network of creeks connecting them with wetlands and, eventually, the sea.
The ecological integrity of these life-giving systems are threatened by logging that strips all vegetation from the land, allowing unregulated flow of rainwater across the bare and disturbed forest floor, allowing precious forest soil to run into creeks. The increase in sediment load affects the ability of life to flourish in and around creeks. The silting up of spaces in gravel beds, for example, limits a streams capacity for rearing salmon smolts.
This project is mapping the watersheds