COLLECTING LONG-TERM HYDROLOGIC DATA IN THE HURON-MANSITEE NATIONAL FOREST FOR PREDICTING ECOSYSTEM SUSTAINABILITY AND DETECTING CHANGE DUE TO RESTORATION, RESOURCE EXTRACTION, AND CLIMATE CHANGE

A field-based monitoring and research effort, in cooperation with the US Forest Service in the Huron-Manistee National Forest, Michigan, is designed to provide long-term data in advance of planned land-use modification, potential resource extraction, and predicted climate change. Long-term data are prerequisite for detecting and documenting any changes within an ecosystem. Two distinct field investigations provide continuous groundwater level data at the site of a preliminary proposal for commercial groundwater extraction for bottled water and the site of a designed ecosystem restoration targeting nearly 3000 acres of existing pine plantation and oak forest. Natural savannas were replaced by plantation forest after failed agriculture during the early 1900's and fire suppression throughout recent history. The proposed land-use conversions will restore historically natural savanna ecosystems. Both sites are along the White River, a Michigan State Natural River and candidate National Wild and Scenic River. The White River is dominantly groundwater fed, and supports ecologically and economically important trout populations and salmon migrations. No historical data exist for the nature of groundwater and surface water interactions within this shallow groundwater dependent ecosystem. At the site of proposed groundwater extraction, the monitoring effort is targeted at characterizing the dynamic nature of shallow groundwater and it's role in sustaining critical ecological flows in the White River. At the restoration site, groundwater wells were installed in advance of clearing and conversion in three areas slated for red pine thinning, oak savanna creation, and pine savanna creation. As a result of forest canopy reduction, interpretation of continuous groundwater records might quantify how the hypothesized increase in yield impacts streamflow and temperatures, aquatic habitats, and channel characteristics. Both sites may be positioned to capture potential effects to the local water cycle from longer-term climate change. Continuously recorded groundwater level data, along with further expansion of monitoring networks, will help to identify the impacts of the ecosystem conversion, resource extraction, and climate change on groundwater recharge, seasonal variability, and discharge to streams.