HJ Andrews Experimental Forest

Location of th HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon, USA

Location

44.2 N, 122.2 W, in the central western Cascade Mountains of Oregon, USA, about 80 km east of Eugene.

Catchment size

The main drainage within the HJA is Lookout Creek with 62 km² with a range in elevation from 400-1600 m asl. Lookout Creek is a tributary to the Blue River in the MacKenzie River system. The upper portion of the watershed is divided into three major streams - Lookout Creek, Mack Creek, and McRae Creek.

Climate

Climate is Mediterranean with strong contrasts between summer and winter precipitation amounts. The catchment experiences a gradual wet-up period from about October to December and thereafter maintains very high wetness until late spring. Snow accumulations are common, but seldom persist longer than 1–2 weeks and generally melt within 1–2 days. While winters are generally wet and mild, summers are dry and rather cool. The mean annual temperature at 420 m is 8.5 °C ranging from a monthly mean of 0.6 °C in January to 17.8 °C in July. At 1,300 m the values are approximately 2 °C lower. The long-term mean annual precipitation varies from about 2300 mm (lower elevations) to 3550 mm (upper parts). Most of the precipitation (80%) falls between November and April, typically during long-duration frontal storms of low to moderate intensity.

Geology

The catchment contains residualand colluvial clay loam soils derived from andesitic tuffs (30%) and coarse breccias (70%) comprising the Little Butte Formation formed as the result of ashfall and pyroclasitic flows from Oligocene-Early Miocene volcanic activity.

Vegetation/Land use

Most of the forests are within the Tsuga heterophylla zone (sensu Franklin & Dyrness 1973) with large old-growth trees of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirbel) Franco., Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg., and Thuja plicata Donn. dominating the tree layer. At higher elevations (>1,100 m), forest stands belonging to the Abies amabilis zone occur.

Context of investigation

• effects of forest management activities on water yield and sediment transport
• peak flows responce
• snowmelt and accumulation processes
• catchment nutrient budget

Measurements/Equipment

Precipitation

Meteorology CS2MET (44.12.54 N, 122.14.57 W, 485 m) since 1957

Runoff

Soil Moisture

ET

Sapflow

Snow

Catchment nutrient budgets

Water residence time

Sediment transport

Links to project webpages

• HJ Andrews Experimental Forest

References

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Burt, T.,P., Howden, N.J.K., McDonnell, J.J., Jones, J.A., Hancock, J.R. 2015. Seeing the climate through the trees: observing climate and forestry impacts on streamflow using a 60-year record. Hydrol. Process. 29(3), 473–480, DOI: 10.1002/hyp.10406.

Carey, S.K., Tetzlaff, D., Buttle, J., Laudon, H., McDonnell, J., McGuire, K., Seibert, J., Soulsby, C., Shanley, J. 2013. Use of color maps and wavelet coherence to discern seasonal and interannual climate influences on streamflow variability in northern catchments. Water Resour. Res., 49(10), 6194-6207, DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20469.

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Greenland, D. 1995. The Pacific Northwest Regional Context Of The Climate of the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest. NORTHWEST SCIENCE 69(2), 81-96.

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