Abstract
In recent years, water resource issues concerning quality, quantity, and timing have been dominating natural resource management discussions around the world. Forest hydrology has historically been an important topic in forest management leading to some of the earliest forest research conducted in the United States. While there are a few textbooks on forest hydrology, there has always been a dilemma in what to include in such books. The hydrologic cycle may be briefly covered in ecology courses. However, without a significant introduction to water resources, most forestry and nonforestry students who enroll in a forest hydrology course do not have sufficient background in water resources to really understand the effect forests have on water quality, quantity and timing. A textbook for most forest hydrology courses should not only cover topics on forest impacts on water but also provide the basics of water properties, movement, and storage in the atmosphere, soil matrix, and surface water bodies. Putting both major topic areas in one manageable textbook requires trade-offs that do not dilute either subject area too much, but rather skillfully blend the two together. Mingteh Chang has done just that in writing this book.