Lee MacDonald - Homepage

Dr. MacDonald is a watershed scientist specializing in how land use and vegetation changes affect runoff, erosion, sediment yields, and stream channels, particularly in forested areas. My initial focus was on runoff processes, hydrologic change, and wetland hydrology, but over the last twenty years I have increasingly studied erosion issues because human activities can cause massive increases in erosion and sedimentation rates, with resulting downstream effects. More specifically, much of my focus has been on the hydrologic and geomorphic effects of wild and prescribed fires, unpaved roads, and timber harvest. Key themes also include how the effects of land use and other changes vary with spatial scale, putting shorter-term anthropogenic changes into a broader temporal context, cumulative watershed effects, and how climate change can further exacerbate the effects of land use. As professor emeritus I limit my teaching to guest lectures and various other presentations, but I continue to be involved with research in the U.S. and overseas relating to post-fire runoff and erosion, erosion rates from timber harvest, and unpaved road runoff and erosion.