Watering the Forest for the Trees: An Emerging Priority for Managing Water in Forested Landscapes

Widespread threats to forests due to drought prompt re-thinking priorities for water management on forest lands. In contrast to the widely held view that forest management should emphasize providing water for downstream uses, we argue that maintaining forest health in the face of environmental change may require conserving water on forest lands specifically to reduce drought stress on vegetation. Management strategies to accomplish this include actions to: 1) conserve, retain, and store water on the landscape, either as snow or soil water; 2) reduce losses to evaporation and runoff; 3) increase plant available water through thinning or irrigation; and 4) encourage drought-tolerant species. Hydrologic modeling reveals that specific management actions could reduce tree mortality due to drought stress. Adopting water conservation for vegetation as a priority for managing water on forest lands would represent a fundamental change in perspective and potentially involve tradeoffs with other downstream uses of water.