Pacific Northwest Research Station

Young Bay Experimental Forest

Introduction

The Young Bay Experimental Forest, located on Admiralty Island about 24 miles southwest of Juneau was established in 1959. It comprises 2,600 ha and was designed as a paired watershed for forest hydrology research. The vegetation is an old-growth forest with mature timber cover consisting primarily of Sitka spruce and western hemlock. It is a glaciated watershed with two short streams that are incised through thick (> 6 m) glacial till in their lower reaches and rise rapidly (gradient >10 percent) from sea level to an elevation of 1,160m. Both streams support small runs of pink and chum salmon, and a small population of Dolly Varden trout.

Research, Past and Present

Research on Young Bay has centered on artificial channel studies. Stream-gauging stations were installed on both streams in 1958 and stage and temperatures were recorded from 1958 through 1966. An artificial stream channel was installed in 1967 and was used for studies of gravel bed movement, gravel morphology, and the survival of eggs and alevins in different substrate compositions and fine sediment concentration. Subsequent work included the development and testing of an electronic device to measure intra-gravel water flow was part of this study. Research on the electronic gravel device was discontinued following the development of a prototype device. An evaluation of fish movement up a baffled culvert was conducted in the mid-1980s. There are no active studies on the forest at present.

Collaborators

There are no collaborators at present.

Research Opportunities

The Young Bay has excellent potential for the reestablishment of an artificial stream system to evaluate stream productivity in a controlled and statistically verifiable setting.

Facilities

All structures and equipment were removed from Young Bay in 1994.
Lat. 58° 8' N, long. 134° 32' W

Contact Information

Young Bay Experimental Forest
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Research Station
Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory
2770 Sherwood Lane, Suite 2A
Juneau, AK 99801
Tel: (907) 586-8811
http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/exforests/young-bay/index.shtml

¹Information has been updated since original publication.

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