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- The Northwest Watershed Research Center is part of the Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) which is part of the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA). NWRC and the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW) were
established in 1960 to conduct long-term research in the areas of water supply,
seasonal snow, soil freezing, water quality and rangeland hydrology. The scope
of NWRC and RCEW research has been subsequently broadened to include additional
modeling and remote sensing objectives, and landscape-scale processes related
to fire and invasive weeds. These new program areas, however, retain a core
emphasis on hydrologic processes and the movement of heat and water within and
through wildland ecosystems. Current research topics under investigation at
NWRC include: hydrologic modeling of snow distribution, accumulation and melt;
frozen-soil effects on infiltration, runoff and erosion; characterization and
modeling of heat and water flux within the soil-plant-atmosphere system;
spatial and temporal variability in streamflow and water quality parameters of
temperature and sedimentation; variability and modeling of weather and climatic
variables; wild and prescribed-fire impacts on vegetation, soil and water
resources; invasive weed management; emergency-fire rehabilitation; rangeland
restoration; remote sensing; and development of decision support tools and
models for sustainable management of rangeland ecosystems. NWRC conducts
research at a range of scales from point, to field, to basin, and in diverse
field sites in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Colorado, Nevada, and
western Canada. NWRC research, conducted under the ARS National Programs in
Water Quality and Management; Rangeland, Pasture and Forages; and Global
Change, is oriented towards interdisciplinary and systems approaches that
address both long-term research needs and critical emerging problems in
management of public and private wildlands. Please visit the rest of our web
site to learn more about our previous, current and projected-future research
efforts.
Website: "http://www.nwrc.ars.usda.gov/"
[Summary provided by the USDA.]
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