Facts:

• The USDA Forest Service research clearly establishes that cutting trees does not cause flooding.  The main contributor to 90% of large flood events in excessive amounts of rainfall over a short period of time.
• As rainfall enters the soil, it is subject to either retention storage or temporary storage.  Retention storage refers to water held in the soil and is a characteristic of the soil that does not change
• After the retention storage capacity is satisfied, additional water entering the soil is only temporarily delayed.  The temporary storage capacity is determined by the volume of large pores in the upper soil layers.
• Cutting trees, even clearcutting, does not immediately change the water-handling capacity of a forest floor.
• During the dormant season (fall and winter), stream flow from an uncut forest differs very little from a cut forest.
• During the growing season (spring and summer) water is removed from the soil and released into the atmosphere (transpired) as a result of photosynthesis.  This created additional storage potential in the soil.
• During the period between a heavy timber harvest and the emergence of new growth, less water is transpired from the site and consequently there is less temporary soil storage capacity.  Numerous studies show that the impact is short lived, very small and related to timing of peak storm flows rather than total volume.
• In harvested forests, the regrowth of trees and other vegetation normally occupies the soil long before the stabilizing influences of the previous forest have disappeared.