Natural and anthropogenic controls over suspended sediments within a mountainous Appalachian watershed: implications for watershed restoration

The upper Elk River (620 km2), located in mountainous east-central West Virginia, is one of the premier cold-water fisheries in the eastern United States. However, sediment run-off from both forestry and non-forestry-related disturbance has the potential to threaten the quality of wild trout populations. General linear models were used to link spatial and temporal variation in total suspended solid (TSS) concentrations throughout the watershed to natural (i.e. landform and geology) and anthropogenic (forest management practices, other land-use disturbance [residential and commercial development, agriculture, and recreation], census roads) landscape attributes. In addition, through a unique paired sampling design, we tested the hypothesis that increasing levels of disturbance (i.e. forest management and other land use activities) within a watershed would result in a proportional increase in TSS concentrations. Spatial variation in TSS concentration was found to primarily be explained by land-use disturbanc...