The Alarming Consequences of Clear-Cutting
Researchers from UBC reveal that clear-cutting forests significantly boosts flood risk. In specific watersheds, they observed that floods became up to 18 times more frequent and over twice as severe after such logging practices. These staggering effects can persist for more than four decades. This research highlights how terrain features, such as the direction of slopes, play a crucial role in flood behavior.
Conventional flood models often overlook these critical dynamics, leading to a potential underestimation of flood risks. As climate change accelerates extreme weather events, understanding these relationships becomes increasingly vital. The findings suggest a need for revised modeling approaches to better predict flooding scenarios and manage forest resources responsibly.
