Coordinator:  Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz

Members:  Walter de Paula Lima / Carla Cristina Cassiano 

Financing:  CAPES - Financial assistance

The hydrological monitoring of experimental microbasins makes it possible to ascertain the relationship between land use and natural resources, for example: the relationship between forest and water. Issues such as the effect of managing fast-growing forests, such as eucalyptus, on water resources, become increasingly intense in view of the climate change scenario. Through monitoring, it is possible to establish guidelines aimed at conserving water resources, mainly in relation to maintaining a constant flow in the stream throughout the eucalyptus management cycle. Since 1991, the experimental watershed of the Tinga stream has been monitored at the EECF in Itatinga/SP, with the aim of evaluating the hydrological effects of forest plantation management. The results of this initial project provided important information on the impacts of plantations on the quantity, quality and regularity of flow in streams. However, there are still uncertainties about the hydrological effects of planned management interleaved in time and space, as well as a more conservationist road system. These questions can only be answered with the increment of the initial project. In 2013, two new experimental watersheds were selected and their monitoring started. The aim of this study is to expand monitoring at the EECFI with the addition of a fourth experimental watershed, in order to assess the effects on the quantity, flow regime and water quality of different management systems. The four watersheds will be monitored over the next few years, and this project will deliver effective long-term results. However, initial responses may provide evidence for a sustainable forestry system.