Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds Phase 2 (1985-2017) data

Richardson, P.; Seehafer, Jayme E.; Keppeler, Elizabeth T.; Sutherland, Diane G.; Wagenbrenner, Joseph W.

doi:10.2737/rds-2020-0018

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…A 2 m LiDAR DEM was used to estimate the cross sectional area of eight individual cross-sections in the South Fork. A historical weirstage to cross sectional area relationship was used to estimate the stage at each of the cross sections, which was then matched to the corresponding average discharge of each cross section using 1996-2016 historical streamflow data from the South Fork Caspar Creek Weir (Figure 1; Richardson et al, 2019). Velocity was then back calculated, resulting in depth and velocity to stream discharge relationships.…”

Section: Leopold Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Streamside Buffers on Stream Temperatures Associated With Forest Management and Harvesting Using DHSVM-RBM; South Fork Caspar Creek, California

Ridgeway

Surfleet

2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Forest harvesting has been shown to effect water quantity and water quality parameters, highlighting the need for comprehensive forest practice rules. Being able to understand and predict these impacts on stream temperature is especially critical where federally threatened or endangered fish species are located. The goal of this research was to predict responses in stream temperature to potential riparian and forest harvest treatments in a maritime, mountainous environment. The Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) and River Basin Model (RBM) were calibrated to measured streamflow and stream temperatures in the South Fork of the Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds during critical summer periods when temperatures are highest and flows are low for hydrologic years 2010–2016. The modeling scenarios evaluated were (1) varying percentages of stream buffer canopy cover, (2) a harvest plan involving incrementally reduced stand densities in gauged sub-watersheds, and (3) an experimental design converting dominant riparian vegetation along set reaches. The model predicted a noticeable rise in stream temperatures beginning when stream buffer canopy cover was reduced to 25 and 0% retention levels. Larger increases in Maximum Weekly Maximum Temperatures (MWMT), compared to Maximum Weekly Average Temperatures (MWAT), occurred across all scenarios. There was essentially no difference in MWAT or MWMT between altering buffers along only fish bearing (Class I) watercourses and altering buffers along all watercourses. For the scenario with stream buffers at 0% retention, MWMTs consistently rose above recommended thermal limits for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Predictions when clearcutting the entire watershed showed less of an effect than simulations with 0% buffer retention, suggesting groundwater inflows mitigate stream temperature rises in the South Fork. The harvest simulation showed a small but consistent increase in MWATs (avg. 0.11°C), and more varied increases in MWMTs (avg. 0.32°C). Sensitivity analyses suggest potentially unrealistic tracking of downstream temperatures, making the vegetation conversion simulations inconclusive. Additional sensitivity analyses suggest tree height and monthly extinction coefficient (a function of leaf area index) were most influential on temperatures in the South Fork, which was consistent with other modeling studies suggesting management focus on tall, dense buffers compared to wider buffer widths.

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Section: Leopold Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Streamside Buffers on Stream Temperatures Associated With Forest Management and Harvesting Using DHSVM-RBM; South Fork Caspar Creek, California

Ridgeway

Surfleet

2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…Phase 3 begins on 1 August 2017. Publishing the data is an ongoing effort and data from Phase 1 (Richardson, Seehafer, Keppeler, Sutherland, & Wagenbrenner, 2021) and Phase 2 (Richardson, Seehafer, Keppeler, Sutherland, Wagenbrenner, Bladon, et al, 2021) are currently available through the USDA Forest Service online archive. Table 1 summarizes currently available data.…”

Section: Caspar Creek Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fifty‐eight years and counting of watershed science at the Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds in northern California

Richardson

Seehafer

Keppeler

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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The Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds are the site of a long‐term paired watershed study in the northern Coast Ranges of California. The watersheds are predominately forested with coast redwood and Douglas‐fir. Old‐growth forest was logged between 1860 and 1904. Two harvesting experiments have been completed since then and a third experiment is currently underway. Caspar Creek data are split into three phases corresponding to three experiments: Phase 1 (1962–1985) reports on a selection harvest (1971–1973) and initial recovery in the South Fork watershed; Phase 2 (1985–2017) includes clearcut harvesting of ~50% of the North Fork watershed (1985–1992) and recovery; and Phase 3 (2017 onward) corresponds to a second selection harvest in the South Fork watershed with a range of subwatershed harvest intensities (2017–2019) and recovery. All three experiments included harvest‐related road‐building and relied primarily on measurements of streamflow and sediment delivery from both treated and reference watersheds. Major findings include modest increases in post‐harvest peak flows and cumulative flow volumes, post‐harvest low flows that initially increased and then decreased 12 to 15 years after harvesting, and the consequences of different yarding techniques and road design on sediment yields. Some of the data for Phase 1 and Phase 2 are available in a USDA Forest Service online archive. The archived data include precipitation, streamflow, suspended sediment concentrations, turbidity, accumulated weir pond sediment volumes, bedload transport rates, water stable isotope data, and geospatial data. Archiving activities are ongoing. Phase 3 data are currently being collected and will be archived after a post‐harvest monitoring period.

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“…Discharge, SSC, pond volumes, and bed load transport rate data used in this study are publicly available (Richardson et al, 2020a(Richardson et al, , 2020b. Additional data including annual suspended sediment yields, reconstructed bed and gravel yields, predicted gravel yields, velocity meter data at the Arfstein station, grain size distributions of the streambed near the Arfstein reach and also for the North Fork delta, profile elevation for the Arfstein reach, cross-section data for NFC-18, water depth and stream width measurements made during storms, and North Fork pond sediment sample data are also publicly available (Richardson & Wagenbrenner, 2020).…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring and Modeling Gravel Transport at Caspar Creek, CA, to Detect Changes in Sediment Supply, Storage, and Transport Efficiency

Richardson

Wagenbrenner

Sutherland

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

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We developed a technique for reconstructing annual gravel yields and generated a 55‐year record of gravel transport for the North Fork catchment of the Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds in Northern California. The technique relies on field data collection including annual surveys of weir pond volumes and suspended sediment measurements, as well as an accounting for settling of suspended sediment and organic matter in the pond. We compared these annual yields to gravel yields predicted by the Wilcock two‐fraction bed load transport model, which we calibrated from measured values at Caspar Creek. We considered three velocity‐discharge relationships and found that values of hydraulic variables measured during storms produced the best fit between reconstructed and predicted annual gravel yields when years with large disturbances were excluded. We also compared predicted gravel transport rates to bed load transport rates measured from 1988 to 1995 with bed load pit samplers. We found that the calibrated model predictions agreed well with the field‐measured bed load transport rates. To investigate the role of supply and storage on gravel transport, we compared the reconstructed gravel yields to predicted gravel yields and found that increased occurrence of landslides and headcut erosion in the 1990s and early 2000s did not lead to an increase in gravel yields. Instead, input of large downed wood in the 1990s created storage space and decreased bed load delivery to the weir pond.

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Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds Phase 2 (1985-2017) data

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Effects of Streamside Buffers on Stream Temperatures Associated With Forest Management and Harvesting Using DHSVM-RBM; South Fork Caspar Creek, California

Effects of Streamside Buffers on Stream Temperatures Associated With Forest Management and Harvesting Using DHSVM-RBM; South Fork Caspar Creek, California

Fifty‐eight years and counting of watershed science at the Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds in northern California

Measuring and Modeling Gravel Transport at Caspar Creek, CA, to Detect Changes in Sediment Supply, Storage, and Transport Efficiency

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