A living laboratory

Dry Creek Experimental Watershed (DCEW) is a laboratory for research and education in watershed sciences operated by Boise State University. Its mission is to provide temporally continuous and spatially distributed hydrometeorological and geographical data from point to watershed scales for researchers and educators, for Boise State Magazine, photo by Priscilla Grover

The Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, an extension of Boise State's geosciences and hydrology classrooms, has been in operation since 1999, spanning foothills and mountainous terrain in Ada and Boise counties, about 20 miles north of Boise State's campus. Geosciences Professor James McNamara, creator and director of the watershed, became interested in creating a long-term field lab for environmental science and hydrological research before he even knew what questions it might help answer.

McNamara said he also wanted the watershed to serve an educational purpose. In his 400- and 500-level watershed hydrology classes, he designs labs that use the watershed's local long-term data to illustrate global problems, rather than relying on exercises from textbooks.

"We have climate data that documents the decline in mountain snowpack over a 20-year period. We have streamflow data over that same period. We can evaluate how streamflow volume and timing respond to changes in snow conditions in a place that we can see out the window," McNamara said.

What was once snow is now rain

The watershed supports dozens of student research projects. Long-term data help explain decades of water and snow patterns and provide insight into the future of Boise area water supplies. Over the past 25 years, the share of precipitation falling as snow has dropped from about 50 percent to 30 percent, even though total precipitation hasn't changed. If this trend is any indicator, the next 25 years could spell a major change for the Boise area's critical snowpack.

The shift from snow to rain is mostly occurring in the fall and spring shoulder seasons, which means that the timing of streamflow is also changing.

"When precipitation is mostly snow, that snow is stored on the landscape until it melts in the spring, recharging groundwater and providing water for streams through the long dry summer," McNamara said.

In the field

For Kyle Formigli, a geosciences master's student who hails from Sacramento, California, this data spurs his research project: to find out where that growing percentage of rainwater goes once it hits the hillslopes and what implications that could have for the watershed's hydrological processes.

Alongside Formigli, graduate student Avalon Johnson, from Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota, is also investigating where the water is going. Instead of looking at groundwater, her research focuses on how plants, such as ponderosa pines, Rocky Mountain maples, Douglas fir and water birch use water in higher, snowier zones as well as lower, rainier ones.

For Johnson, much of the technical work she encountered at the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed was unfamiliar. "I'd never installed a sap flow sensor before," she said. Tasks such as digging soil pits and installing moisture sensors were also new experiences.

Being introduced to new tools, techniques and the breadth of research projects at Dry Creek has been equally valuable to Formigli. "Dry Creek is cool because almost all hydrological field methods are used to study out there. Even the drill I use for my wells is a specialized piece of equipment that you'd only see in scientific research," Formigli said.

Hydrologists prepared for the profession

"We've had over 50 students complete master's theses and doctoral dissertations in the watershed and dozens of undergraduate students who worked as assistants or interns. Many of our alumni are working in Idaho, mostly in state and federal agencies, managing our water resources," McNamara said.

One graduate of Boise State and the watershed laboratory, is Ethan Geisler (MS, geosciences, 2016), technical services bureau chief at the Idaho Department of Water Resources in Boise. He oversees a team that conducts geospatial and hydrological research and analysis across the state.

Dry Creek provided lessons that still serve Geisler today, he said, including meticulous planning to conduct field work at remote sites and preparation to troubleshoot and fix equipment on the fly. "When you go out into the field, it gives you a different perspective."

A laboratory's legacy

What began as one professor's hope for the future has become a hydrological sciences springboard for students as well as a producer of research and watershed data that will be critical in a state facing an uncertain water forecast. For McNamara, these two points are sources of pride.

Water resource forecasters, he said, need models that predict how water availability changes with climate variability. They need to be reliable and based in solid field work. "We provide that understanding," he said.

The Dry Creek Experimental Watershed spans lands managed by Boise National Forest, the state of Idaho, the Bureau of Land Management and private landowners. It is made possible by funding from federal grants, such as the National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and Boise State funds that ensure the site maintains a full-time technician.

Share This

• Share on Facebook
• Share on X
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share through Email