The San Dimas experimental forest: Hydrologic research in semiarid steepland terrain

Abstract

AbstractThe San Dimas Experimental Forest (SDEF) is located in southern California and is representative of the chaparral shrublands of the Southwest USA. Chaparral – including genera of Ceanothus, Adenostoma, Quercus, Salvia and Arctostaphylos – is a dense, drought‐tolerant vegetation assemblage with a closed canopy 3–5 m in height. Chaparral is a fire‐prone ecosystem and wildfires have burned the SDEF about every 40 years. The SDEF was established in 1933 to quantify the water cycle in a steep, semiarid landscape. Study catchments range in size from 15 to 1160 ha and measurements of stream runoff are made in a nested weir and flume arrangement to account for the very flashy flows. Apart from native chaparral vegetation, streamflow measurements in these study watersheds have also quantified the hydrologic response of vegetation type‐conversion and fire. Innovations in hydrologic monitoring developed on the SDEF include a critical depth flume (the San Dimas flume) and tilted rain gages to better sample precipitation in mountainous terrain. Subsurface runoff and plant water relations have been measured in a large lysimeter complex. Water quality monitoring shows that stream water in the SDEF has very high levels of nitrate, derived from atmospheric deposition of chronic air pollution, that approach the Federal EPA standard of 10.0 mg L−1 for nitrate‐N. Spreadsheets of rainfall and streamflow (from 1938 to 2015) – the San Dimas Experimental Forest hydrologic database – may be found at the right‐hand side of the web page at https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/ef/san_dimas/index.shtml. Hard copy charts, tables and other records associated with the foregoing data streams are available from the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 4955 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, California, 92501 USA or at pete.wohlgemuth@usda.gov.