Canadian Forest Hydrology Upper Penticton Creek Watershed Experiment Site

Upper Penticton Creek Watershed, BC
Research Site Metadata

Location
South Central BC Montane Forest Region
 49°39′N 119°23′W

Watershed Area(s): 3.7 to 5.0 km²
Total Relief: 400 m
Mean Annual Runoff: 388 mm
Mean Annual Precipitation: 687 mm
Mean Temperature: Jan -6.3°C; July 12.5°C

Landscape

The Upper Penticton Creek Watershed Experiment includes the 240 Creek, 241 Creek and Upper Dennis Creek watersheds. These watersheds are drained by small intermittent and perennial headwater streams tributary to Penticton Creek. The annual hydrograph is snowmelt dominated. The forest cover is composed of lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. The area is underlain by coarse-grained granitic rocks covered by glacial till and is overlain by glacio-fluvial sand and gravel in the lower portions of the 240 and 241 Creek watersheds. Soil textures are coarse sandy-loam over loamy-sand. All soil horizons are low in clay and high in coarse fragments, have a low water holding capacity, and are well drained. The forest floor is generally less then 4 cm thick.

 Experimental Design

Study type Paired Watershed
Treatments 2 clearcut watersheds (241 and U. Dennis Crs.); over an increasing area in phases from 10% to 50%
Controls 1 watershed (240 Cr.)
Study Duration 1984-present
Pre-Harvest 1984-1992
Harvest 1992-2007 (241 Cr.)
1995-2000 (U. Dennis Cr.)
Post-Harvest 2007 – present (241 Cr.)
2001 – present (U. Dennis Cr.)

Parameters

Discharge, air temperature, soil temperature, snow temperature, relative humidity, rain, snow, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, stream chemistry, soil chemistry, stream morphology, suspended sediment, aquatic ecology and groundwater.

Contact

Rita Winkler
BC Ministry of Forests and Range
Southern Interior Region
515 Columbia St.
Kamloops, BC, Canada V2C 2T7
Ph: (250) 828-4162
Fax: (250) 828-4154

Email:rita.winkler@gov.bc.ca