The Western Carolina Hydrologic Research Station (WCHRS) is located on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
There are four study areas, including three main sites (Cullowhee Creek, Long Branch, and Gribble Gap) and a fourth site, upper Long Branch, which has less instrumentation but serves as a reference, natural site. In contrast to the rest of the research station, Upper Long Branch is completely forested, has had minimally logging activity over the past 100 years, and was likely never logged extensively.
Most of the groundwater wells are in clusters (nest) with three wells installed to different depths: shallow (s), intermediate (i), and deep (d). The station includes a wide variety of hydrologic equipment past groundwater wells—from stream gages to soil moisture probes.
Slope hydrology is monitored at three locations, two in the Gribble Gap basin and one in upper Long Branch. The general equipment design to study slope hydrology is shown in the schematic 'Instrumentation for Slope Hydrology'. These sites are especially important for groundwater recharge studies.
Explore our research locations in depth by using our interactive map. Each layer on the map includes images and details pertaining to that location and specific research.