Discharge and Sediment Loads at the Kings River Experimental Forest in the Southern Sierra Nevada of California

The Kings River Experimental Watershed (KREW) is now in its third year of data collection on eight small perennial watersheds. We are collecting meteorology, stream discharge, sediment load, water chemistry, shallow soil water chemistry, vegetation, macro-invertebrate, stream microclimate, and air quality data. This paper primarily examines discharge and sediment data from six watersheds between 1600 m and 2400 m in elevation in the Sierra Nevada, California. The discharge discussion focuses on water year (Wy) 2004, which was relatively dry. The sediment discussion examines bulk mass data from Wy2001 through Wy2004, and presents some detailed analysis of the sediment load beginning with the Wy2003 dataset. Sediment loads in kilograms per hectare were low with the exception of Wy2003. Meteorology data from two stations at the top of the watersheds and two stations at the bottom is presented. Between 2007 and 2009, six of these eight watersheds are planned be harvested, undergo prescribed burns, or both, to quantitatively measure the effects of these USDA Forest Service land management practices.