Research Interests:
My general research interests include:
•
Forest hydrology
•
Understanding hydrologic and water quality responses to land
use change
•
Watershed management
•
Runoff generation processes
•
Tracer hydrology
The goal of my current research is to further our process-oriented
understanding of how forest harvesting affects the hydrologic
regime in Oregon Coast Range headwater catchments. Hydrologic
effects of forest harvesting are traditionally assessed using
the paired-catchment approach. However, this approach only measures
the response to treatment and little information is gathered
regarding how, when, and where the response is generated.
My research goes beyond the paired-catchment approach to gain
additional insight to how forest harvesting influences catchment-scale
hydrologic processes. Specifically, I am interested in understanding
how forest vegetation interacts with subsurface water stores
and when and where these interactions are most important to streamflow
generation. I am also exploring scaling relationships that may
help extrapolate findings from our small research catchments
to larger, landscape scales where management decisions are relevant.
By focusing on causes rather than effects, we hope to advance
our ability to predict hydrologic response to potential landscape
management scenarios outside of the research setting (i.e. ungauged
catchments).
Professional Activities:
- OSU College of Forestry- Forestry Graduate
Fellowship 2005-2006
- American
Geophysical Union- member since 2006
- Co-organizer,
Alsea Watershed Study Revisited field tours, 2006-2010
- Society of American Foresters- member
since 2003
- 2003-2005:
Staff Scientist, Nutter & Associates, Inc., Environmental
Consultants
- 2002-2003: Research Assistant, Warnell
School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia
Awards:
- Horton
Research Grant Recipient, American Geophysical Union, 2009
- Forestry
Graduate Fellowships, OSU College of Forestry, 2005-2010
- Best
Speaker, Forest Engineering Graduate Seminar, 2006
Conference Proceedings:
Hale, V.C. and McDonnell, J.J. 2009. Puzzles and paradoxes
of forest-stream connections in humid watersheds. In: Proceedings
of the Chapman Conference on Examining Ecohydrological Feedbacks
of Landscape Change Along Elevation Gradients in Semiarid Regions,
October 4-8, 2009, Boise and Sun Valley, ID.
Hale, V.C. and McDonnell, J.J. 2009. Dry season forest-stream
connections in Pacific Northwest headwater catchments. In: Proceedings
of the Second International Conference on Forests and Water in
a Changing Environment, September 14-16, 2009, Raleigh, NC.
Hale, V.C., McDonnell, J.J., and Ice, G.G. 2008. Understanding
hydrologic impacts of forest management: Moving beyond the paired
watershed assessment. In: Proceedings of the 2008 Oregon Society
of American Foresters Conference, May 7-9, 2008, Eugene, OR.
Hale, V.C., Schoenholtz, S.H., Ice, G.G., and Stednick, J.D.
2007. Spatial variations in stream temperature and water quality
criteria. In: Sustaining America’s Forests: Proceedings
of the 2007 Society of American Foresters National Convention,
October 24-26, 2007, Portland, OR. Society of American Foresters,
Bethesda, MD.
Hale, V.C., Schoenholtz, S.H., Ice, G.G., and Stednick, J.D.
2007. Nitrate variability in three small Oregon Coast Range streams.
In: Sustaining America’s Forests: Proceedings of the 2007
Society of American Foresters National Convention, October 24-26,
2007, Portland, OR. Society of American Foresters, Bethesda,
MD.
Hale, V.C., Schoenholtz, S.H., Ice, G.G., and Stednick, J.D.
2006. Variations in suspended sediment yield and nitrogen export
in three small Oregon Coast Range streams. In: Proceedings of
the 2006 Fall American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA.
Hale, V.C., and Jackson, C.R. 2003. Hydologic Modifications
to the Lower Savannah River. In: Proceedings of the 2003 Georgia
Water Resources Conference, April 23-24, 2003, Kathryn J. Hatcher,
editor, Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens,
Georgia.
Hobbies/interests:
I enjoy cooking with my wife (and dog!), backpacking, skiing,
fishing, leisure games, and generally anything outdoors.
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