Pacific Southwest Research Station

The Caspar Creek Experimental Watershed Study, located on the Jackson Demonstration State Forest near Fort Bragg, California, is a cooperative venture of the Redwood Sciences Laboratory and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection that has been operating continuously since 1962.

Caspar Creek Data:

• Plot current streamflow, sediment, rainfall, and temperature
• Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds Hydrologic and Climatic Data

  Note: due to technical problems, data downloaded before 8/16/02 contained errors that have now been corrected. Details.

  • 1962 - 1997
  • 1986 - 2004 (1986 - 2004 for Rainfall, 1989 - 2003 for Temperature, 1996-2003 for Streamflow)
    Complete data sets are available on CDs released in May 1998 and in June 2001. For a copy, contact our Data Manager, Jayme Seehafer.
    These data files now include:
    • Streamflow
    • Sediment
    • Rainfall
    • Solar
    • Air and water temperature
    • Channel cross-sections
    • Subsurface hydrology
    • Detailed streamflow and sediment data for 13 tributary stations that were installed in the North Fork in August 1985.

• Fish surveys
  • 2004-2005 adult salmonid estimates from redd surveys
  • 1987-2005 juvenile salmonid counts from downstream migrant traps
• Maps of Caspar Creek
• Entire Caspar Creek watershed
• Topography of North and South Forks Caspar Creek
• North Fork Caspar Creek
• South Fork Caspar Creek

Information about the names of the South Fork Tributaries.

• Longitudinal profile of North Fork stream channels
• Geologic and Geomorphic Features Related to Landsliding, North and South Forks of Caspar Creek, Mendocino County, California. California Division of Mines and Geology Open File Report OFR 95-08.
• Table of annual precipitation, streamflow, and sediment (1963-2006). [Updated May 21, 2007].
• Thornthwaite Potential Evapotranspiration (1990-1995)

About the Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds:

• A brief history of the Caspar Creek study
• A brief description of 26 gaged watersheds in North and South Forks.
• Description of long-term cooperative research at Caspar Creek.
• The Caspar Creek Watershed Study Completes 40 Years of Research (June, 2003)
• 100-year Caspar Creek Memorandum of Understanding between California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and Pacific Southwest Research Station was signed on August 17, 1999.
• Caspar Creek Phase II: Discovering How Watersheds Respond to Logging
• North Fork tributary treatment variables
• Information about the community of Caspar, California

Caspar Creek Publications & Presentations:

(To request a hard-copy of the Proceedings)

Other Caspar Creek Links:

Research is being conducted by: