Teakettle History

In the 1930s state and federal agencies began exploring how the Central Valley's water supply might be increased through management of Sierra Nevada watersheds. Beginning in 1936, three potential experimental watersheds were the subjects of intensive geology and soil studies: Onion Creek (Tahoe NF), and Big Creek and Teakettle Creek (Sierra NF). In 1938 a 1300 ha area surrounding Teakettle Creek was designated the Teakettle Experimental Area and five drainages were chosen, stream gauging stations and sediment basins were built, and studies begun. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the original residential/office building and warehouse/storage shed in 1938. Research continued at Teakettle until 1942 when work was halted during World War II.

Starting in 1957, studies were re-activated and regular records of snowfall and water yields were collect again. The area was officially designated The Teakettle Creek Experimental Forest on December 16, 1958. The experimental forest's objective was "to develop timber harvest patterns, which would increase water yield". However, studies completed in the 1950's and 1960's at Yuba Pass, Onion Creek and Sagehen Creek indicated forest cover removal had little effect on water yield in the Sierra Nevada. Furthermore, Forest Service scientists felt that existing caching studies indicated timber harvest effects on waterflow were highly idiosyncratic and that results from any single area were probably only applicable to the gauged cachement. In the 1960's the focus of Teakettle research switched to waterflow measurements in relation to weather patterns. This study was continued into the 1980's when budget constraints and the logistics of maintaining a remote site led to closing the study.

In the mid 1980's Drs. Jerry Verner and Kathy Purcell of the US Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station in Fresno, California began studies on snag dynamics and spot mapping songbird density. In 1997 the current Teakettle Experiment began with a systematic vegetation sample of the forest (100 by 100 m mapped grid) and selection of the plots used in this project within Teakettle's mixed conifer forest.