About Us
A watershed is a basin of sloping land surrounded by ridges and drained by a stream. Individual watersheds may vary over a wide range of sizes.
The Coweeta watershed contains 5600 acres of mountain land divided into distinct small drainages. The steep slopes, varying in elevation from 2250 to 5230 feet above sea level, are covered with dense forest typical of the southern Appalachian mountains. Each of the experimental watersheds has a weir in its stream to measure the flow of water. The weir is an accurate stream gauging instrument. The height of the water behind the weir blade is continuously monitored by an automatic recorder. Silt that accumulates in the ponding basin behind the weir may also be measured. These measurements are used to show how disturbances to the watershed change stream characteristics.
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