Year of publication 1993

Over the last century, federal land within the range of the northern spotted owl has become increasingly important for ensuring the existence of high quality aquatic resources. Privately held forest lands have been developed into farms, urban areas, transportation corridors, and industrial forests. Conversion of native forest to tree farms and agriculture decreases the capacity of these lands to supply high quality aquatic resources. Thus, society's reliance on federal forest lands to sustain aquatic resources continues to grow. USDA developed a set of options for management of aquatic and riparian ecosystems based on scientific understanding of the functional links between stream and wetland ecosystems and adjacent terrestrial vegetation. Streamside forests, for example, profoundly influence habitat structure and food resources of stream systems for lateral distances exceeding a tree height for many functions. Tree height distance away from the stream is a meaningful indicator of an area that is crucial for providing aquatic habitat components, including wood recruitment and degree of shade.