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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Boise, Idaho » Northwest Watershed Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #103844

Title: INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AT NORTHWEST WATERSHED RESEARCH CENTER AND REYNOLDS CREEK EXPERIMENTAL WATERSHED

Author
item Slaughter, Charles

Submitted to: Riparian and Watershed Management in the Interior Northwest
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/12/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Long-term landscape-scale research is fundamental to full understanding of hydrologic processes and dynamic relationships over broad spatial and temporal scales. The Northwest Watershed Research Center(NWRC) and Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW)were established in 1960, to conduct research addressing water supply, flooding, and erosion in rangelands where seasonal snow and frozen soil conditions strongly influence hydrologic regime. The Reynolds Creek basin (RCEW) in the Owyhee Mountains 70km south of Boise, Idaho, was selected as an outdoor hydrologic laboratory for the mountainous rangelands of the interior Pacific Northwest, reasonably representing a landscape with high relief and diversity of geology, soils, aspect, vegetation, and land use. The elevation range of RCEW is 1,098m to 2,254m. Mean annual precipitation varies from 23cm at the lowest elevation to over 110cm at the headwaters, where over 75 percent of annual precipitation comes as snow. An intensive precipitation and streamflow measurement network includes 18 dual-gauge precipitation sites, 5 comprehensive climate station, 7 snow courses, and 9 stream gaging stations within RCEW.