History of Sleepers River Research Watershed

Sleepers River has one of the longest historical data bases and continuous research programs for a cold-region area in the United States.  Hydrologic and energy data have been collected continuously since 1958 (Pionke and others, 1986).  The site has been administered by the Agriculture Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1957-1975), the Office of Hydrology of the National Weather Service (1966-1986) and the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL)  (1979 to present).  Numerous other institutions and agencies also have participated in research at Sleepers River.  The Sleepers River data set was selected by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as one of six high quality data sets for its project on the Intercomparison of Models of Snowmelt Runoff.  Prior to USGS involvement, water quality had not been a major focus at Sleepers River, although some investigations of stream chemistry were made (Hall, 1971; Kunkle, 1971; Pangburn, 1981; and  Thorne, 1985). 

Map of Watershed

Soil Map

W-9 Map

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