DESCRIPTION

In 1995, Indiana University, through the Judson Mead Geologic Field Station, instituted a 400 km2 (160-mi2) Demonstration Watershed in part of the Willow Creek Drainage, Madison County, Montana. While the watershed is used extensively as part of our field instruction, the materials and data are available for use by other groups. Please contact the field station for other resources related to the WCDW such as aerial photographs, field photographs, well logs, stream gaging station descriptions, and data achieves.

The Willow Creek Demonstration watershed was created in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Madison Conservation District. From the outset, the Willow Creek Demonstration Watershed (WCDW) has been designed to facilitate three basic components of the Judson Mead Geologic Field Station: teaching, research, and outreach. Integral with the design of the watershed was the development of a state-of-the-art curriculum aimed at interdisciplinary training in environmental science (Douglas et al., 1996). The new field course, Geological Science G329, which has become highly successful, utilizes the WCDW for instruction that includes collection and analysis of data on: bedrock and surficial geology, slope stability, vegetation, water budgets, surface–and ground–water quality, biologic conditions of streams and riparian habitats, and land use. The WCDW also became a focus of the environmental component of G429e, introduced at this same time. A number of research projects have also been initiated including hydrologic studies, the geologic framework of the area (Douglas et al., 1997; Elliott, 1998a, 1998b; Elliott et al., 2002), and remote sensing studies coupled with WCDW data to develop a physically based model for forecasting timing and patterns of snowmelt in the headwaters of the drainage (Letsinger, 2001).

The WCDW is typical of many snowmelt-driven intermontane drainage systems in the northern Rocky Mountains region whose natural ecosystems are being increasingly influenced by human impacts, and where issues of land-use management and resource exploitation are at a critical juncture (e.g., Adams, 1995). By clearly understanding how natural systems interact with human activities in the geologically and climatologically complex setting, it will be possible to effectively evaluate the effects of land use on the area and ultimately improve management practices within the entire region.