Since 1951 this watershed has been used as an untreated control. The trees growing on the area are also used as a reference for timber management studies. By maintaining this watershed in a natural state and comparing water quantity and quality data collected on the control watershed to that collected on treated watersheds, scientists can determine the degree of change brought about by various timber and watershed treatments.
The round, finned device is called a Coschacton wheel. It is used to proportionally sample 1% of the flow coming through the flume. This sample is stored in the large trough downstream and evaluated for sediment content.
Through more than 40 years of monitoring of sediment export from this undisturbed watershed, scientists now know that sediment is about 20-30 lbs/acre. This is a very small amount compared to erosion losses from cropland, for example.