Introduction

The Fernow Experimental Forest, a 4,600-acre outdoor laboratory and classroom, was established in 1934 and named for Bernhard Fernow, a pioneer in American forestry research. The early research program focused on the silviculture of mixed hardwood forests and watersheds of the central Appalachians. Current research topics include silviculture, hydrology, soil productivity, species restoration using fire, and acid deposition effects on forest ecosystems.

The Fernow, located in the Monongahela National Forest near Parsons, West Virginia, lies within the Allegheny Mountain section of the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. Elevations range from 1,750 to 3,650 feet; slopes generally are steep and soils shallow. The Fernow is a second-growth forest that developed after exploitive logging in the early 1900s and is classified as mixed mesophytic, having characteristics of both mixed-oak and northern hardwood forest types.

More information can be found on the Fernow EF website.

Data Description

Watershed research was begun on the Fernow in 1951 when different levels of harvesting and harvesting techniques were applied to several watersheds. Basic questions about forest hydrology and water use by forests, as well as important questions related to forest roads, best management practices, and forest management effects on water and soil resources have been research topics over the past 60 years. Long-term monitoring sites include seven gauged watersheds and two weather stations.

Browse our full list of data publications.

Queryable databases

• Fernow data
   Database query tool
  This project measures precipitation, streamflow, and stream chemistry on seven watersheds subjected to various treatments (see metadata for details). Air temperature and precipitation chemistry data are collected from two weather stations (one in the reference watershed and one near the mouth of two gauged treatment watersheds). Data have been collected since 1951, except for the chemistry data (collected since 1983). You can retrieve data from any of these data sets using the database query tool.
  • Daily air temperatures
    • View metadata
    • Download metadata and fileindex (ZIP file)
  • Daily precipitation
    • View metadata
    • Download metadata and fileindex (ZIP file)
  • Daily streamflow
    • View metadata
    • Download metadata and supplemental files (ZIP file)
  • Precipitation chemistry
    • View metadata
    • Download metadata and supplemental files (ZIP file)
  • Stream chemistry
    • View metadata
    • Download metadata and supplemental files (ZIP file)

All data publications

• Browse our full list of data publications.

If you have questions about these data or have conducted a research study on the Fernow Experimental Forest and would like to make your dataset available for use by others, please contact Frederica Wood.

Some supplemental data documentation available on this site may be provided in PDF or PDF/A format. Get the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to interpret these files.