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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Boise, Idaho » Northwest Watershed Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #96648
Title: RANGELAND VEGETATION/HYDROLGY INTERACTIONS: SUMMARY OF THE USDA-NRCS/ARS NATIONAL RANGE STUDY TEAM'S RAINFALL SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS

Author
item Pierson Jr, Frederick
item SPAETH, KENNETH - NRCS

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/8/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service and Agricultural Research Service worked closely together for over four years to collect and extensive plant, soil, runoff and erosion database. Using a large-plot rotating-boom rainfall simulator, data from a total of 156 plots were collected from 26 rangeland sites across 11 western states. Six 3.05 m by 10.67 m plots were sampled at each site using two or three different rainfall regimes for a total of 444 plot-runs. Subsets of this database were used to validate the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model and estimate a variety of parameter values to enhance the applicability of WEPP to rangeland conditions. This paper provides site-specific summaries of the soil, vegetation, hydrology and erosion data collected from all sites and presents a discussion of interactions between vegetation characteristics and hydrologic response.